It is a bit disconcerting having a seven year old looking over your shoulder and reading out your manuscript. Thank fully I wasn’t working on a racy bit!
I’d forgotten how my time disappears when Daniel is on holiday. Hubbie is working from home at the moment too, so I seem to have become a washing and food preparation factory. Big son returns from university on Saturday with his girlfriend.
The cards are written, all 122 of them. I keep thinking that I have all the presents, but then today I realised I’d forgotten big son’s girlfriend and the gardener.
So to my dilemma. We have made an agreement between my sister, step-brother and step-sister, supposedly to simplify things, to buy a present for each family to the value of £15. This is instead of trying to cater for each individual in the four families. Sounded like a good idea at the time!
My sister is giving each family a photo calendar (she’s the photographer amongst us). My step-sister will probably (please Santa) bring beautiful chocolates from France. I haven’t got a clue what to get. Bearing in mind that step-brother’s family will be returning to Hong Kong before New Year and step-sister’s to Paris, so it has to be flat or consumable.
At the moment it will be a nice bottle of wine and home-made chocolate truffles or biscuits. What do you think or can you make a better suggestion please?
I LOVE Hotel Chocolat http://www.hotelchocolat.co.uk/default.asp?src=cj
ReplyDeleteAnd if you order online, they do sort of post-able packages.
Otherwise is there a shop near you?
Not sure what else to suggest... or a family DVD? Toy Story 3 is really good :-P
Hi Teresa,
ReplyDeleteThank you for suggestions.
Yes we do have a Hotel Chocolat near to us.
You made me realise that I should have been more specific. I'm ok buying for my sisters family and her brood of boys 5, 9, and 14. I think the difficulty comes in buying something for people you only see once a year and don't really know.
Step sister and husband are in their 50s. Step brother and wife have two late teenage sons. Mmm maybe Toy Story 3 isn't such a bad idea!!!
Wow so many cards! I haven't sent as many as usual this year as they don't seem to be so into them in NZ. Probably because it's so warm!
ReplyDeleteBoys are so difficult to buy for, aren't they? I sometimes get vouchers from sports shops or music shops; not fun to open but they seem to like buying their own stuff!
Hi Serenity. Nice to see you here and thank you for following me.
ReplyDeleteWe do have rather a lot of boys in our family. My sister has three, my step-brother two and I have two. My Mother has hoped for a girl each time. I love having two boys, even if there is a fourteen year age gap.
My step-brother’s family flew in to Heathrow yesterday. The eldest boy had Facebooked that he hoped it snowed. He certainly has his wish this morning. Mom was like a headless chicken in the morning getting the house ready for another four adults. I ended up making beds.
In fact it was a bed making day yesterday. When I got home, big son texted to say he was on his way back from Uni, so I made his bed. When he arrived home, he announced that he was going out for the evening (got back about 4.30 am!) and could his friend stay. I made up another bed!
I am not stressing any more about this family present. There will be homemade biscuits and homemade chocolate truffles, plus something nice to drink. It will just be good for all seventeen of us to be together sharing a buffet to which we all contribute. Which reminds me, I must dig out my ear plugs.