Be Excellent To Each Other

Finish work tomorrow and off until the 3rd. Done the dept Christams night out on Friday, this year I booked a cab home @11.30 to avoid staying out with the die hards until 2am.

Still feel a bit tired this morning, sadly a 3 day pay back is now the norm for big sessions

Have a quite one planned with just my parents coming over, then my brothers for Boxing Day. My parents leave on the 27th so no plans really after that.

Off to see Santa on the 23rd with my son as well!

Have most things done, need to get some things for my wife and a few more food items but thats it.

Would like to think I will get some TV watched and a bit of gaming done, but in reality I will be keeping my son happy.

Looking forward to it though, now he is 3 Christams is different from when we had no kids, he is excited and I can't wait to see his face when he opens his presents.

My wife goes to Dublin 6th of Jan and I'm traveling to Belgium on the 9th so I will get a weekend to myself then and also a lie in when traveling (well later than 6am!)

Any reason why this is in the members thread? Would you object to me moving it to the main forum as some people may not see it here and it should be a well discussed topic.

Yes sorry please move, didn't mean to post it here!

I thought it was because you were telling us when your house was going to be empty and full of presents.

Empty and full. So zen

Moved!

Carry on.

Empty of presents, full of people.

Something like that. Maybe the other way around.

Full of people, full of presence.

Not expecting much of Christmas this year. It's not really my favourite time of year anyway, but the work situation is aggravating things further.

- Christmas Eve over with my brother and various relatives (my niece turns 3 on Christmas Day so it's a birthday celebration too). I'd hoped this would just be a small gathering but the numbers seem to have grown. As I socialise so rarely these days, I'll unfortunately spend most of the time feeling anxious rather than being able to relax and enjoy it properly.
- Christmas Day. I imagine this will involve dinner at my parents and a few hours of bad telly.

Technically I have booked this week and next as holiday but I'm not actually sure how much of it I will actually be able to take.

Er.. merry xmas

I'm working this week until the 22nd and have to be in one day between Christmas an New Year, Thursday 29th fact fans.

Got my all expenses paid Christmas do this Thursday, determined to take it easy so I don't feel like shit the day after, but I know I'll be hurting.

Friends round on the evening of the 23rd for food and drinks, Mark, you can fit my new VTX to my quad while you're over if you like

Christmas Eve will involve me delivering presents to family in my Hella Flush Seat Leon MK1 TDi fact fans. Making a spare bed up for my sister-in-law who's staying with us for Christmas day, she split with her boyfriend recently. He was a boring fat cunt. He didn't own any trainers.

Christmas Day will be slightly different than normal as we're going out for dinner, I've pre ordered a brace of partridge (A-ha) rather than Turkey, as turkey is shite.

I’m at work until Friday which in hindsight, I should have booked this week off. It was my youngest daughters birthday over the weekend and we crammed loads of stuff into it so it would have been nice to carry on celebrating all week. Still, at least I’ve got some peace and quiet here.

This Friday is our annual Christmas curry night. It’s been going on for nearly 20 years now and it’s made up of my old school friends and wives/husbands. It’s great that we’ve all stayed friends over the years and it’s a good night without the kids. They’re stopping at my moms and are bound to blow it and not go to sleep but, we’ll see how it goes.

Roll on Christmas ever where I shall carry on my tradition of playing Mortal Kombat on the night before bed. That’s gone on since my Amiga days. I had asked for Mortal Kombat for Christmas one year and for some reason, my brother and I opened a present early and it was Mortal Kombat! Neither of us were 18 but still, we had a go and ever since then I’ve played it on Christmas eve. It’s a nice time where I get to sit down and reflect on the festive period while pulling off another mans head.

As for Christmas day, I’ve got my parents, brother, his girlfriend and my niece coming round for Christmas dinner. It should be good and it’s good to see my dad out of hospital and able to come round. He still can’t walk very well but he’ll be there, that’s the main thing. Then on the evening, everyone will pile round my mom and dads house where we’ll probably see my uncle and possibly my cousin and her husband but they travel a lot so I’m not quite sure.

Then boxing day is a day round the in-laws. Guaranteed to be tense just because, so I shall keep myself amused by looking after the children. Then I’m off work for a week and back on the 3rd.

I go out of my way to avoid that sort of situation at Christmas, more so now I have children.

Had a bit of a row with my wife as I wouldn't go over to Dublin for Christmas, its not her parents that would cause the tension its the situation with her sisters husbands side of the family who now live over there.

The worse Christmas I ever had was about 5 years ago over there, the brother in law was pissed when I picked him up at the airport @10.30am and then had some drink related nervous break down and ruined it for everyone, thankfully no kids where born at that time, but never again.

That sounds terrible. Both that it was a horrible situation, but also that it has affected your future family time with your wife and child.

We're hosting Christmas this year for Mimi's Mum and her husband, and Mimi's two twin brothers.

So that makes 7 in the house, and the sleeping arrangements will be cosy.

My wife is ok with not going to Dublin for Xmas now, we would have had to drive and that trip can be murder, last trip was over 7 hours home.

She is 22 weeks pregnant now and a bit more tired now than she was when this came up.

Also she is going over there on the 6th as I have to travel for work the following week.

I've glad that I don't have kids at this time of year. I imagine that my parents would call them "half-caste" and be overtly hostile to any children I'd have with my gf, I mean, they're hostile enough to her as it is.

Bloody hell, that's awful. Sorry to hear about your parents views.

Had our first Chrimbo party on Sat, here I am, ahem "somewhat worse for wear" with the vastly more composed Mrs C and BOTH Teen Angels!

And still another two bottles to go!

They can still be teenagers! It's been eight years!

The name's stuck. Youngest is now 30.... man, time flies.

Jeez, I just realized how huge that place is. Is that some sort of works party or are you just so popular you had to rent an aircraft hanger to fit all your friends in?

Thanks to Great Western Rail deciding they can't really be arsed over the festive period I've just had Christmas, a nice weekend spent at home with the family including my two nephews who were deeply thrilled at the opportunity to have Christmas twice
I cooked dinner for everyone, sort of a full Christmas dinner but gammon instead of turkey, because who wants roast turkey two weeks on the trot?

I don't want once turkey!

You will partake of this tradition and you will like it!

Lobster for us on Christmas day!

As... as a starter, right?

Before the turkey.

@Squirt

It's Tatton Park mate, around 1,500 covers IIRC.
They themed it on 'New York, New York' this year, they had show girls and stuff, even full size dodgems (which my sons in laws knocked the shite out of me on, the bastards ). It was a good night that passed the key test: I don't remember getting home.

You scrub up alright, Cavey

Absolutely no idea what I'm doing for Christmas this year and it feels a bit weird Kids are going to their dads for the first time so it's just me and GazChap for a lot of it.

Heading off to Belgium to see my Dad again for the bit in between Christmas and New Year.

I imagine I'll mostly be sat on my butt a lot eating and drinking.

Turkey Jerks!

Whatever happens, I won't be having turkey.

Ah, not celebrating Christmas this year then?

Going down to that London for the a couple of days tomorrow which includes the office Christmas Lunch...then back oop north for dinner out with my folks and my brother's family on Thursday.

Christmas Eve will be spent at my friends for dinner as we've done for the last twenty years or so then back home for a couple of hours before heading off to the folks to sit around and eat and drink with my sister's family until Boxing Day. At that point I will shoot back home for a few days peace and quiet.

Turkey is for losers

People that don't like turkey are broken.

People who like Sprouts are broken. In the head.

Yup.

It's a shit meat.

I think I've found where you're going wrong.

You are Wrong. A Wrong that will echo through Infinity. A Wrong that will be passed from Father to Son long after our society has burned and turned to dust. So Wrong that Tribal people in the Andaman Islands, who have had no contact with the outside world, still somehow instinctively know you are Wrong. So Wrong that Norse Skalds, born 1500 years ago in the misty forests of Norway, were telling poems around the fire about how wrong you will be. WRONG.

That's fine, I accepted my broken-ness years ago.

(TBH it's not that I don't like turkey. It's OK. I just prefer virtually any other meat.)

Frozen duck from the Aldi round the corner, here.

Look its simple the most important meat on the plate is pork

Its pork stuffing (maybe with onion / sage / chestnuts ) , its pork sausages wrapped in bacon , its bacon bits with whatever other food is on the plate and its possible some other meat things which are also wrapped in bacon.

You can add anything you like and as long as bacon or pork is involved it will be fine.

They do a similar thing at Lego Land, you can book the whole place or just a table. Our place used to book the whole place out before the banking crisis. The last one we had there the bar was completly free all night it was carnage, at least 10 people got chucked out (they had bouncers there) as they were so pissed. Bar staff didn't really promote sensible drinking though, any spirit and mixer you asked for was served in a pint glass after 9pm and must have had 3-5 shots in it

Cool! My kind of party, love it mate.

I wouldn't eat sprouts when I was a kid, couldn't understand how anyone could.

Tried them again a few years ago when they were already on my plate and I liked them.

True story.

Have a 5.5lb turkey breast stuffed with sausage meat this year, I find that Turkey is always fine hot, but the white meat drys out the next day, so don't often do a full bird so to speak.

Would really like to try other ways of preparing them, but you never see the bloody things for sale after early January!

My wife was debating whether turkey's laid eggs the other day as she'd never seen one.

I do them with Pancetta and other stuff (once a year recipe that i need to dust off this week:)) , have to say never eat them at any other time of year though.

I've been left in no doubt what my son wants from Santa