Christmas day is nearly over. Weeks of preparation for the festivities behind us. We were only four this year and Ian reminded us that its the first time in many years that its been that way. We were one more as Matt's recent split from his ex meant he was here and not in Wigan! Matt has tried very hard not to let his unhappiness spoil Christmas for the rest of us. Our day has been quietly enjoyable. Long gone are the days when we would all be up at the crack of dawn, the Children excitingly opening their stockings as early as they could get away with. Father Christmas stopped delivering a couple of years ago, so this morning after a leisurely breakfast we sat down to hand out the presents piled under the tree. We decided that we would stretch out the process, it was fun guessing what was in the parcels and taking pleasure as each of us opened their gifts. We had decided that we wouldn't buy large presents, as is usual with families with youngish adults, there has been need of monetary assistance recently and the need to be financially sensible was necessary. Ian was particularly pleased with the glass teapot/infuser and the lap sang su chan tea that Matt gave to him. Matt was equally delighted with his T shirt from Ian with slogan 'Destined for greatness, just pacing myself'.

Christmas lunch was was served at 4.00pm and was a joint effort between Steve and I, it was jolly nice, but we didn't fit in pudding until an hour ago. Home made Christmas pud with Steve's rum sauce- delicious.

It was the weekend of my fiftieth birthday. It started on Friday evening with a great evening, a Chinese meal with our friends from Lee On Solent at the restaurant in Stubbington. A fun evening and the celebrations just carried on. On Saturday evening we travelled to Romsey where Annie cooked dinner for us & Matt came too. It was a lovely evening.
Sunday began with a rather rushed breakfast in bed and the opening of presents before we rushed to collect Maggie & Cameron and travelled with them and Matt up to London. We walked along the South Bank, where outside we met Linda my friend from Bedford. I had found on the Internet that the 'Frost Festival' would be taking place and lots of stalls and street entertainment was set up between The Globe and The Tate Modern'. The Globe was open with free entry and after looking at their exhibition we were entertained in the theatre, it was fabulous and we joined in the heckling! After the little glimpse, a visit to a whole performance is a definite must.
We met up with Ian and Hazel (Maggie's daughter who had come along in place of Matt's ex).
The highlight and very extravagant part of the day was afternoon tea at Claridges. The table was booked for 3.30 and before we took our place in the restaurant, we ladies went to the loo or should I say lavatory. We deposited our coats with the female attendant, used the loo and after we washed our hands, we were all handed an individual fluffy hand towel!
Claridges looked resplendent in all its Christmas glories, My humble little tree,looks more like a twig in comparison. The hotel was beautifully decorated in art deco style. In the restaurant where tea was served, music was played by a cellist and pianist. We were waited on by two very smart waiters, who service was flawless. Champagne was served with the delicious delicate sandwiches, there were plenty of them and the platters were filled as often as we needed. Unknown to me, Steve had informed the hotel that we were celebrating my birthday, so the musicians struck up 'Happy birthday' as the waiter arrived by my side with a perfect piece of birthday cake with one candle and 'Happy Birthday' piped in chocolate on the plate. perfect scones, pastries and cakes were served. We took a leisurely two hours over tea and left the Hotel feeling very full and satisfied with the wonderful experience, and wondering how well to do Edwardian 's managed to eat dinner on top of tea!
The celebration weren't over and we walked from Regent Street to Somerset House where we were to ice skate at the open air rink. On the way, we stopped and sang Carols around the tree at Trafalgar square.
The skating was fun and then it was time to take our leave, Ian to Sheffield, Linda to Bedford and Hazel to Eastbourne. The rest of us made our weary way to Waterloo to catch the train home.
What a wonderful day it was.

Steve arrived safely back around 9.00pm last night. I thought yesterday was the worst possible weather in which to to be driving to Liverpool. I was wrong, today the winds are blowing up to 80 mph, so I'm glad that guys aren't on the road today.

Matt is home and last night he showed very little sign of the hurt that he's really feeling, his gregarious personality was at the fore. This morning he seemed a little more stressed and this afternoon he has been in his room and I have hardly seen him.

Matthew's return home forced me to have an unexpected clear out to make space for Matt & all his stuff. There is a big bag of 'stuff' to go to the charity shop and I hope the ceiling holds up with all the extra weight in the loft.

Tomorrow I'm going to the optician, I trod on my glasses a few days ago and also I think that I may need to wear glasses for driving. I'm not able to read the speedometer in the car and I don't think poor eyesight will be a good defence if I'm stopped for speeding. My friend Elaine is coming with me so she can give her opinion on my new specs. We will probably mooch around the shops and have coffee & Cake. ( Elaine in centre of photo with Janet on the left and me, during our trip to Spain).

I had a long chat with Ian on MSN this morning, he is spending his last days in Australia and will leave Melbourne on Tuesday, spend a couple of days in Singapore and then will arrive back in the UK on Friday.

Well I don't know yet exactly why Matt wouldn't talk to me yesterday, but I will find out. We had call from our distressed son and Steve is now on his way to Liverpool to bring him home. My heartaches when my kids are hurting.

I'm generally quite easy going and I don't very often swear, but today I'm utterly 'pissed off'. It's younger son that has led me to feel this way. I have tried to be supportive during the last two weeks as Matthew coped with the split from his girlfriend and although I think its the wrong thing to do I have again supported him as he has got back with her. Why would anyone want to reinstate a relationship with someone who has had sex with another and who also spread horrendous lies about you. But if that's what he wants then I will back him. Then why am I so p****d off? Matt contacted us yesterday and said he'd like to come down for a long weekend. Steve and I juggled our day, so that I would be able to go to Southampton Parkway to pick him up! This afternoon Matt sent me a text saying he wouldn't be coming today,but would make it tomorrow. I have sent Matt a text, to which I got no answer and when I saw him on MSN, he told me he didn't want to talk! WHY!

It's Monday morning and we have woken up to a glorious sunshiny day. Yesterday was very stormy, heavy winds and torrential rain all day long. I'm surprised that we didn't have any fences down and that the roof is intact. I didn't in fact go out of the house, not even into the garden. Elaine & Brian had stayed over on Saturday night and left about 11.00am and then it was a quiet day at home. I watched a film, wrapped up Christmas presents and wrote Christmas cards, didn't do very much else and lazily went to bed at bed at 9.00am

This morning I'm expecting my friend Sue to call in, Sue begins a new job in Gosport and is doing a test drive over from Portsmouth, so she will come for a chat and a coffee. I'm hoping she will bring her daughter's wedding photo's. Steve and I didn't make the wedding as it was the day we were going on holiday to Greece.

Sue has just been, we had a long chat, she did bring the photo's, so it was nice to look at them.

I was thinking about walking up to see my Mother, but just telephoned her and as she is not in so I'm not going to go out any where. Would you believe the weather is changing again and its looking very overcast.

I have just chatted online to Ian, he is in the last phase of his trip to Australia and is at a research station in Broken Hill in New South Wales. He sent me a wonderful e -mail overnight, expressing his support for Matt. Ian will be home in 12 days after a stop over in Singapore.

Matthew is going through a really tough time at the moment. He rang me yesterday and was very upset. The split from his girlfriend has been difficult enough, but he has found out that she has been cheating on him, by cheating I assume she has been sleeping with someone else. Matthew is hurt, but the thing he is finding truly devastating is that the girl he loves is spreading lies about him!

How do you help your children through these things, he may be 22 years old and a giant, but I'd like to be able make his pain go away.