Christmas time

I've been a bit busy, what with Christmas and all, but now it's over, and I can relax, and hopefully get my sleep pattern back on track (after today, of course).

Christmas Day went remarkably well. The plan is usually thus: We all go to church (practically next door to my grandparent's house) - me and my brother then go back to cook and prepare while mum entertains grandparents at their house - they all come to the dinner - we lunch all together - open presents - have a nice cup of tea and some cake - then at about 3pm granny begins fussing about going home - then my grandparents go home at about 3.15pm.

We turned up chez grandparents to find my granny essentially in her gardening clothes, and complaining about not being able to do up the button at the back of her trousers. We said we thought they were on back to front to which she replied "oh, don't you start as well" - this was what my grandad had been telling her. Sadly whenever my grandad points out something like this she thinks he's getting at her, not trying to help like he is. Still, my mum managed to get her sorted out, and church went fine. I did feel sad about her clothes though - she's always been so particular about being smart for church, it shows how much has changed this past year. As my brother said "she can barely dress herself, let alone choose a smart outfit". It's funny how things slowly change, I remember it being referred to as "creeping normalcy" in a very different setting, but it's the same thing. I guess little by little as the brain cells trickle away you get used to the new person you deal with, and with each 'event' you just learn to laugh so you don't cry at how tragic it all is.

This was my 4th (5th?) Christmas lunch, but the first cooked away from my mum's house. Thankfully we are all living in the same town at the moment so the shuttling between properties worked, and my fears about my evil fan-assisted oven were unfounded and lunch was a success. It gave my mum a routing point for my granny, as if there's one thing she does still understand it's the troubles of housekeeping, and sympathy for me cooking my 'first' Christmas lunch helped dispel any anxiety that began.

The day went brilliantly. My granny loved her presents - a horrid twinset from Edinburgh Woollen Mill from my mum and a big cuddly teddy from me and my brother. She must have spent about 10 minutes reading the label of the twinset ("ooh, Woolmark, that's good isn't it?") and absolutely loved the teddy as apparently she's always wanted one. Latest news from them is that the twinset has been largely forgotten and the teddy has been put away so it doesn't get damaged - ho well, we tried! The really good thing is that she does seem to have remembered the day, and remembered it fondly. There's *something* that's making her anxious at the moment though, and we don't know what it is. I hope it doesn't overshadow the day in her memory as she was so happy.