Tutus & Tinsel

Okay, it’s official. I’m panicking…

There are just 11 days until Santa and his sleigh arrive and I haven’t got a single present wrapped or card written. The internet order I placed to cover all possible pressie problems hasn’t arrived yet and I’m in Christmas crisis.

I’ve been planning the preparations (in my head) for weeks, but just haven’t got round to actually doing anything about them and now I realise that even if I enlisted Nigella and Delia to give a helping hand, I still wouldn’t be ready with a carrot for Rudolph.

Having decided it must be because we weren't feeling festive enough, Kevin and I celebrated our 17th Anniversary (Furniture is the official present for 17 years just in case you’re wondering) by going to see ‘The Nutcracker’ on Saturday night.

Usually that or a screening of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ is enough to have us topping up the tree with tinsel and piling up the parcels beneath its branches. But this year – nothing.

The ballet was beautiful, but it didn’t fill us with the Xmas Atmos we had hoped for. I guess it’s time to hit the mulled wine and hope the elves will do the rest…

My Halo Slipped...

My five pounds a day rule has suffered a bit of a setback.

A couple of friends’ birthdays (one was the big four-oh so a decent bottle of bubbly was required) and an emergency food shop put paid to my smugness at having kept to my budget so well over the last couple of weeks.

Most people are not familiar with the ‘emergency food shop’. Most people realise long before we do that their fridge needs a top up, but as I keep all my nail varnishes in there - it stops them going gloopy - we’re usually too dazzled by their jewelled colours twinkling in the glow of the refrigerator light to see that nothing much else is on the shelves.

I would feel a bit guiltier over my inability to stick to my promise, but I doubt even Nigella Lawson could have conjured up something edible out of the one old lime and half-eaten jar of cornichons that were lurking in the back of the fridge - although if anyone has a recipe that proves me wrong, I’d love to see it.

I know I’ve fallen off the wagon but it was just a minor tumble, so I’ve put my wallet away again and clambered back on.