Just Jo!

I have fond memories of the days when my children used to sleep in on Christmas mornings. It was always me who got so excited that I’d have to bang on connecting walls to rouse them both.
Yesterday morning? What happens? 6am…. Olivia’s knocking on my door, almost as loudly as when I knocked on Adam’s the other day….
I managed to hold her off ’til 8am, then really couldn’t control her after that!
Santa had left a letter, he’d actually used my computer to type and print it!! But, “Ha! He didn’t turn off the screen!” The reindeer had made a mess of their food, oats and glitter all over the carpet! But Santa thought the home-made mince pies were delicious!
She hadn’t asked for anything from him this year, but was just so excited that he still got her something…. some origami wishing stars.
She loved her pressies, nothing big, I think the most expensive was a dynamo torch she really, really wanted from Hawkins Bazaar that cost about a fiver…. Guess what kind of a Christmas next year? Yep, it’ll be another un-commercialised one. Much more funner!!!
We watched a few DVDs, Olivia got ‘The King and I’ from her Nan and Grandad.
She’d got a card and a poster all about ‘her’ vegetable plot in Bangladesh, so she coloured that in, it’s got a crossword and puzzles too…. and it’s a Christmas present so it doesn’t count as a ‘worksheet’!!!!
And she quite likes (in a roundabout way) sprouts now! I had to slice and fry them with onions, lots of garlic and chestnuts. But she ate them with not a single moan! And she ate roast parsnips no problem too! Hooray!!! They’re my favourite so that means we can have them loads more now!
We had a long chat with my mum and stepdad which was lovely.
On a downer, she didn’t even get a phonecall from her dad, let alone a card or present.
I always used to make excuses for him….’he does love you, he’s just not very good at showing it’, ‘he works shifts and is on call a lot of time, so he hasn’t always got the time’, ‘he doesn’t know he’s upsetting you, try talking to him and let him know’ etc. etc.
Olivia’s relationship with her dad is totally seperate from my relationship with him, so no matter how angry he’s made me, I’ve always kept my mouth well and truly shut. I’ve never so much as criticised him, and I will still try not to, but I will not make excuses for him anymore….
I overheard Olivia, on Saturday, telling her nan that she’s cried the last few times she’s talked to her dad on the phone (last contact was back in July!). Her nan (his mum!) said maybe she should tell him she loved him instead, Olivia replied “Not sure I do though”….. didn’t hear her reaction, but can’t imagine it went down well. But it’s all his own doing, I can hold my head high with no feelings of guilt!!!
Anyway…. neither of us stirred ’til about 11 today. I think I might have had a wee about 8 though.
Breakfasted, a few worksheets on Kwanzaa…. Oh, shut up! It’s only colouring, a wordsearch, crossword, vocabulary matching….
We’re watching Casper in a minute, so I might have to crack the whip a bit!
And I think we may be having some friends round later, but the text came about 2 on Christmas morning…. obviously got a new phone and opened it early! Wonder if she’ll remember?