Getting in the mood

Christmas tree is up and dressed. Presents - at least those that are bought - are wrapped. Christmas cards will be written today (well that's the plan), list of food to be bought for the *big meal* will be done, and then...?

Probably as it's Sunday, r & r is very much on the cards.

However, I spoke to Shirley today and we were talking about how we're going to manage our annual Christmas to get together - she and her Andy and me and my MM always have an evening of fun and game playing which we've been doing since our children were very small (Shirley and I met when we were pregnant with our youngest, who are both now 25 years old), so that's a whole lot of years of our traditional get together. This year we've decided on having it on New Year's Eve which is brilliant. Now MM and I have to get Wii practising!

The other news is... I'm now in the mood for organising the *big* *big* date that is going to befall me in January. As is usual on my birthday, most places - or at least the ones I want to go to - are shut. Also, because people are usually partied out by that date in January, it always feels like a bit of a low key time. But this coming year, it's not going to be like that. Well no, that's not entirely true, it will still be low key on the day, but I've decided I'm going to take the whole year to celebrate.

I'm going to have an 'official' birthday in July, as it'll be the 6th month anniversary of my being 60, and as it'll be summer and places will be open, it will be so much easier to organise something. But apart from that, prompted by a suggestion from Shirley, I'm going to designate the 11th day of each month as time to celebrate. Now I'm beginning to feel excited at the prospect and will have a whole 12 days of celebration instead of just one. Now doesn't that sound like a great idea?