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It’s Princess’s birthday today, so we gathered in a softplay area and gave her presents. We gave her a pack of books and an England supporter kit, and other ppl just kept on giving. I lost count of how many presents there were, took up several bags when we went to carry them all out anyway.

After an hour or so of playing we retired to K’s house to exchange Christmas gifts with ppl we hadn’t seen yet. There were 6 children, many of whom had already had most of their Christmas presents from this side of the family. Despite this there were 4 red sacks, several bin liners and a large number of carrier bags. I quickly lost track of who was being given what, and my camera batteries gave up as well, so I couldn’t even get pics of the unwrapping. Then I ended up pinned to the couch under a pile of my own presents and with another bag at my feet that I couldn’t reach down to open.

It was all a bit over the top tbh. Well, no, it was extremely over the top. I thought we’d gone a little overboard with 6 presents each (and that included a pack of underwear, a couple of books and the traditional video each) – they got more than that from J and from mother, and I don’t think K was that far behind. Small got a castle larger than the one Big got from us as her main present last year, and Big got a dressing table. (Anyone who has visited here knows it’s staying in the box for the duration, there’s absolutely nowhere to put it in her room, and I’m not exagerating , that’s why we bought her one of those cabin beds with drawers and stuff underneath.)

There were craft kits galore – mother has taken on board that I’m not fond of tat, so she got two card kits, a pop art t-shirt set, Paint Your Own Statue – The Wind in the Willows – Badger, as well as the requested and much longed for Barbie Toffee and Puppies. There were loads of other things as well, but I haven’t a clue what they all were.

Small was in his element. He got Hulk Gamma Rage Hands, that he’s been ogling in Tescos for ages. There was also a Spider-Man vs Sandman which he’s taken to bed with him to open in the morning, as well as a Batman New Batmobile. There were all sorts of other things, including a Paint Your Own Statue – The Wind in the Willows – Ratty, a book with 1000 (get that, 1000, that’s a lot that is) stickers in it and enough other things to require we pack the boot with three bin liners and two carrier bags. Given that we hadn’t taken the sleeping bags or case of wine out from last week, and there were also the two large boxes to fit in, we struggled to fit it all in. I ended up with Hulk’s hands on my knees.

Despite the present excess, it was a surprisingly pleasant evening. I did take a while out and go up to the stables with K to give her a hand. Been a while since I’ve mucked out but it appears there are some skills you never lose 😉

And then we came home. Now we’re companionably laptop/ netbooking while half watching tour of duty. Nearly midnight, and I’ve just finished my cup of tea. Not sure I can be bothered to go find any alcohol now, Happy New Year to you all.