Home! Phew!

I'm really sorry to admit that I couldn't stay in London until today, so came home yesterday after having lunch with my brother's ex-wife and her boyfriend.

Christmas was as awful as I thought it would be, but there were some very funny moments and I just feel so grateful that my wonderful sons were there to help me through it all.

It started when I got a phone call from my brother to say my mother was complaining that no-one was bothering with her. Meanwhile I had been running up and down the stairs to check on her approximately every half hour from around 7 and when I said she'd been asleep every time I'd been up she said, 'I wasn't asleep, I just had my eyes closed.' Yup... that'll be right!

My mother was alternately weepy, bad tempered and kind and that went on all day. We drank fizz and ate.

She informed me she didn't like nut roast (in spite of having it every time she goes to my brother's for Xmas!) and so I needn't have bothered to make my own and could have had the Sainsburys substitution. Ah well... I enjoyed my own cooking. My mother sat at the Xmas table for all of 5 minutes before declaring she was going to go back to bed and decided she didn't want anything to eat until she did. I'm saying no more.

The boys and I played games and watched Kubo And The Two Strings, a film No. 2 Son had brought with him on his hard drive. It was amazing and I urge you to check it out.

We also went on lots of walks to just get out of the house and have some fresh air. We needed it.

On Boxing Day the boys and I went on a very long walk and then back in the afternoon. My mother was still not feeling well and I made food for her and opened a bottle of fizz. The boys and I made our own dinner and sat in my room on the bed eating as my mother had gone to bed, but then she suddenly appeared and started shouting at us about the mess her kitchen was in. Great!

After getting her back to bed, we cleared up and then relaxed by watching another one of No. 2 Son's movies, Zootopia... another great film, and drank more fizz. As we were sitting there No. 1 Son said, 'There's a mouse.' And sure enough there was. In spite of my mother wanting her house to be clean and perfect, there was still a mouse. I had to laugh. We left it to its own devices.

Yesterday, when I got up I realised I couldn't possibly stay with my mother on my own, so exchanged my ticket home from today to yesterday and it was with huge relief that I got into my house at just before 10 pm.

I should have been in before then, but just one teeny tiny problem is that I dropped my house keys in my car and couldn't find them. No matter I thought, I'll get the spares from their hiding place and get a torch and search, but as I didn't have a torch I couldn't see a thing and didn't find the key. Back to the car and after a rather long look I found them in my open pocket of my bag where they'd dropped when I was fiddling trying to get myself sorted. Gotta laugh!

And that's the end of that. Now I'm looking forward to New Year with my dear friends, Shirley and Andy, which I know will be stress-free and fun. I need it, believe me!