Christmas - already!

It has started, I can’t believe it, the children have been designing Christmas cards at school, the school Christmas fair is planned for the end of November, and a particularly sickeningly, organised friend of my neighbours, has already wrapped and delivered their Christmas presents to them. It is EARLY OCTOBER!

I need to get Ben’s November birthday out of the way before I can even think about Christmas. It is trying to creep in though. Rachel has just asked me to put on Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer – the Movie. Where did she even find that? Patrick, rather sweetly, used to call it, the one about the ‘merry Christmas horse.’

The stock answer in my house to any ‘I would like to get’ notions, is “Put it on your Christmas list, then.” Of course they never do, and I think I’ll remember what they’ve asked for, and don’t, so it looks like it will be another stocking full of pants and satsumas this year. On the positive side Patrick has got rather a taste for satsumas lately.

I heard a story once, about a child who received, among his gifts, pieces of coal or potatoes in his stocking, which replaced the presents he would have got, had he always been good. My friend’s son thought the satsuma in his stocking was like that, and spent Christmas morning wondering about the naughty thing he must have done to deserve it.

My brother took the ‘Better watch out, Santa’s watching’ bribe, to a new level, when one year, he told his sons that the red flash of some burglar alarm or sensor in some of the rooms in their house, was Father Christmas, keeping an eye on them, making sure they were behaving.

Anyway, it is far too early for talk of Christmas, my children are already busy planning their trick or treating costumes, and it is still three weeks until Halloween! If only they were so forward planning in their homework.