Well, I’m not really sure how to sum up the last 7 days. With the excitement building up all week and preparations well underway for a 5 day Christmas trip north of the border, everything came crashing down last night. Cue an emergency sourcing of a turkey and an awful lot of parcel deliveries as it appears every present in our family is now in the wrong city. Santa will need to act quick to redirect all of the parcels before Friday! But you know what? After the initial disappointment passed, I was able to gain a bit of perspective and realise that we just need to be thankful that we are all still healthy as there are plenty of people in more difficult situations.
So whilst Christmas plans have all changed, my running is the one constant and I’ve now clocked up 100k so far in December. I’ve found it particularly tough this week partly because it was Sharky’s anniversary and I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about him whilst pounding the streets. In a way I have to chuckle as I’m confident he would feel shocked at the profound effect he’s had on me. Me, a runner? Ha! He certainly has a lot to answer for. 
It feels like a very deep and meaningful diary entry tonight so I’ve turned to my kids for this week’s top 5 (guaranteed to be a little more light hearted!):
1. E’s school play was recorded on Monday this week and is an absolute sensation. What a great Star #5 she was! We found her Mary costume from last year and donated it to the school as it made far more sense for them to keep it and use it year after year. Whilst they gratefully accepted the donation, they didn’t need the Baby Jesus which came with it and that was actually a bit of a relief as E has formed quite an attachment to him. And so Baby Jesus now has pride of place in her bed and a couple of nights this week I’ve found him being hugged tightly whilst she is asleep. Such is the size of her heart that she’s now asked if Baby Annabelle can stay in my bed. When I asked why, she whispered that she thought Annabelle was getting jealous of Baby Jesus and she didn’t like the thought of that. I can’t wait to see how much Baby Jesus features on Christmas Day…. maybe a cake and a candle for him? 
2. Tuesday’s was a day off for Steph so she had some good old mother/son bonding, which included her tidying up while M played in the living room. While she was in the kitchen M brought his advent calendar through to her for another chocolate. He was promptly told no and told to go on his merry way and on his merry way he went. Five minutes later he was back in the kitchen but this time his face was a bit dirty. My distracted wife thought nothing of it and cleaned his face. When she moved the cleaning routine through to the living room she was surprised to find foil wrappers on the floor and just thought the kids had been messy, again, that morning. It wasn’t until she caught him standing on the coffee table reaching into the other advent calendar that they have that she realised he had been at the chocolates!! Luckily by that point only two were gone and he was going for his third and Steph was able to replace one of the days but unfortunately for M there’s now no chocolate for the 22nd December. Strangely E is already aware of this, so I assume she checks the calendar multiple times each day to ensure her chocolate fix is in tact! 
3. This week I was asked at short notice by my wife to pick E up from school. No problem, I thought, as actually it’s something I’ve been able to do quite a lot this year and really enjoy surprising her at the school gates. What I didn’t know at that point was that I had to pick my nephew up as well. I mean I haven’t seen him for months, so thought it was a nice addition to my trip out. So I picked up E as normal and walked around to the other gate to collect her cousin. I waved at him, he waved at me but the teacher wasn’t having any of it. “Are you on the approved list of collectors?” she shouted through the fence and I just shrugged and probably looked a bit gormless. There followed a conversation between pupil and teacher she then disappeared off and it turns out was phoning his mum to find out who the strange man trying to pick him up was. It did mean we had to wait around a bit, but actually I’m all for double checking and quite reassured that the school puts pupil welfare first. When he was released into my charge I did ask him what he had said to his teacher when I turned up. Apparently he just said “I do know him, Miss. He’s Aunty Steph’s wife!” No wonder she wasn’t convinced! 
4. Earlier in the year I made a comment in this diary that basic washing every day was beginning to slip. It’s amazing how some things have changed, and now I’m having to shower twice each day because of my running. I’ve never been so clean! The problem is that the kids are also loving the shower and so I’m having to remember to lock the bathroom door. I forget one evening this week and the next thing I knew, M had opened the door, opened the shower screen door and climbed in beside me whilst fully dressed. Suddenly E appeared in the bathroom and it looked like she was planning on joining us so I made a rather unmanly noise and think I scared her as she went running off to her bedroom! My little boy didn’t have a clue what he had done wrong but after a bit of stripping I managed to get them both in the shower and they happily started playing puppies. Don’t ask me what that game is all about but it seems to be their favourite thing as they take each other for walkies. 
5. We have ended up having quite a busy weekend, including going to see Santa who was walking the streets of the village, and being involved in a number of online quizzes. We therefore couldn’t watch the Strictly final until Sunday morning but that was okay as we avoided social media in the meantime. There’s something lovely about enjoying a light entertainment programme as a family, E sitting on my knee in between dances and M cuddling into his Mammy. These special moments don’t take long to tarnish in this house unfortunately:
“I’m going to pump!”
“Okay…”
“On your leg though. It’s coming. It really is.”
“Just get on with it E.”
“Are you sure Daddy? It’s really coming now and I can’t stop it.”
“Stop making such a song and dance about it. It’ll be over in a second.”
“Okay. If you say so Daddy. It’s coming now. Oh no, it actually a wee. I need to go to the toilet now.”
“Well get off my lap then!!!!!”
Never a dull moment! 
LawyerLow Diaries 