almost organised

Current work: Medical Christmas Duo
Listening to: Christmas compilation

Fab weekend – dinner out on Friday night (excellent food and company… and I did indeed wear the outfit).

DH’s reaction to the weird Christmas present request: ‘You’ve spent more than that on pillows in the last six months. So if this one lasts for six months it’ll be worth it. Go and order it. And you don’t have to wait until Christmas – you can have it as soon as it arrives.’ (What a star. And no, that doesn’t mean he gets to rummage in the bag in my office – which he did yesterday and worked out what the dog bought him.)

My best friend came up for the weekend, so there was much chatting and much wrapping of pressies (thank you, Fi, for saving my sanity), and much playing of games. Fi is one of the few people who will play Boggle with me; I think my daughter is up for it now, but clearly there’s a huge gap between the vocabulary of a 7-year-old (albeit a booky one who’d annihilate most 10-year-olds) and one who’s spent 20 years making her living from words. I might change the rules slightly so it’s a joint game and we see how many words we can find together – she’s quick to ask if she doesn’t know what a word means, and she only needs to ask once before she’ll start trying it out in a sentence. (She’s scarily like I was as a child when it comes to reading and words… and at the moment she’s writing poetry in her special notebook. I’ve bought her a sparkly ‘jewelled’ one as part of her stocking – you can guess the colour.)

There was also much eating of chocolate and much listening to music and much laughter; and later, much writing of Christmas cards. And I did indeed opt for the ‘off my desk and into a box’ temporary tidying. Followed by a long chat with DH about what I want to do next year with my career. Being a star, he is supporting me (something has to give, and this means I’ll get more time to write – and both he and the children have pointed out that I have shadows under my eyes). So I have to write a letter today which isn’t going to be easy but… it needs doing because this pace probably is too much. (OK, SDP, I admit it.) And after that and my piano lesson, fingers crossed, I’ll be able to work on fiction today without interruption. Ten days until the children break up for holidays, so I’m making the most of a quiet house: just me and my dog. Am also laying off the coffee – I’ve bought lavender and lemongrass tea, so we’ll see how it goes.