Wow, it's nearly here!

Yesterday was the shortest day of the year. The day that I look forward to even more than Christmas since we moved to England. Dark at 3:30pm is just plain pants, but the days will all get longer from here on out!

I seriously can't believe that Christmas is almost here. I'm not stressing about it--I'm totally ready for it, actually. The gifts are all wrapped, the Christmas pudding is waiting in the cupboard, the mincemeat is maturing. Christmas eve is going to be chilled out and all about making the front room look magical. And cleaning the rest of the house so I'm not grumpy and stressed out on the day.

We've had a really nice week. Dylan's last day at school was Tuesday. Martin had the day off on Wednesday, which was nice. Yesterday we drove over to Penistone (near Sheffield) to visit Noelle in her new house. We made gingerbread houses, and had a wonderful time. Today we are having a birthday lunch for my mother-in-law. Her birthday is on the 25th, and sharing a birthday with Jesus means she doesn't get much of a birthday celebration. We're hoping she'll consent to opening her presents early, so we can celebrate HER instead of Christmas, but that remains to be seen. Then tomorrow the kids and I will be taking our turn to clean the church, baking mince pies and the Mundays (minus Lewis, who is working) will be joining us for a Christmas Eve feast of pizza and oven chips.

Christmas day is going to be busy, as well. Of course, there is the whole opening gifts thing. We'll have Skype up so Grandma Cook can watch the gift orgy. Then we're off for a short church service, and over to the Gilbert grandparents' house for lunch and even more gifts. Whew--I can hardly wait for boxing day. We have nothing planned, so Martin and I can just spend some time together relaxing. We both need it pretty bad. Especially Martin, who has been working 60+ hours a week in the run-up to Christmas. It seems like the whole town have been eating, drinking, and being merry at Stables. He hasn't been home before midnight all month. Bless him!

So there's the schedule and update. Loving this busy time--can't wait to see everyone open their gifts on Sunday. But the thing I'm most looking forward to is Martin's week off work next month. It's so nice when I actually get to have my husband at home and all to myself!