Mistletoe and whine

Regular readers of this blog will be aware of my often ambivalent feelings around the festive season. One of those things which I could see far enough is the trip to Tesco for the big food shop.  Battling an extremely nasty cold (it's not the flu, thank goodness) which started last Monday, then slightly cleared up, only to reappear on Saturday night with a vengeance.  It knocked me for six and has left me with a violent cough.  So I wasn't really firing on all cylinders when I hit Tesco today.  But the big shop is done, I'm many pounds lighter (purse-wise, sadly not weight-wise) and Operation Christmas Dinner - lemon marinaded chicken with home made roast potatoes - is ON.  

My sympathies are with the poor staff employed in the retail sector at this time of year, having to endure all the forced jollity, having to wear Christmas jumpers and listen to Christmas albums on a repeat loop.  Yet for a season which seems to be becoming more and more long and drawn-out (Christmas cards in August, anyone? No? Didn't think so) Christmas seems to evaporate very quickly indeed and before we know it, we're bombarded with ads for furniture shop sales and we're on to the year-end reviews and retrospectives etc.  

Anyway I would just like to wish all the faithful readers of this and my other blogs a very happy Christmas/holidays/whatever your particular preference - hope Santa's good to you all :)