A Very Crazy Wellington Christmas

The last few Christmases have been somewhat...melodramatic for my family. We've dealt with everything from a Christmas Day in hospital to a Black Friday in the crematorium. So this year it was nice to just relax, have fun, and be the totally crazy family we are. And seeing as it's the season of giving, I thought I'd invite you into the mad house.

On Christmas Day, Facebook and Instagram were full of pictures of all the lovely presents people had. Personally, I'm not exactly inclined to take a duck-faced selfie with all my gifts or name drop Calvin Klein, Apple, or UGG in my status. Personal preference. But I will say that I had some lovely gifts. Perhaps the most appreciated gift was a Snow White DVD.
"I didn't even know it was out of the Disney Vault!! This is amazing!"
That, along with my Muppet pjs.

First stop after unwrapping presents was my brother's house. By the time we got there, Lauren had already attempted to ride her new bike naked and had eaten an entire Terry's Chocolate Orange for breakfast. Ellis had retreated into the other room to play Disney Infinity.

The sight of us coming down the path with a bag of presents was almost too much for my little niece to bear and she had my present out of my hands and was ripping off the paper before I even made it into the living room. It was a dress like the one she saw Eden Wood wearing (a £30 homemade version of what Ebay wanted $500 for). For a moment she just stared at it and I worried that I had totally misjudged her and that the two days I'd spent with my fingers super-glued together were for nothing. But then came the words every gift-giver longs to hear:
"Oh my gosh! I wuv it!"
Ellis was equally impressed with the now notorious Wreck-it-Ralph (my battle with Christmas consumerism is in this post) and his face lit up when he unwrapped the Furby, which was mumbling away to itself and still complaining about being hungry as he took it out of the box.

This Christmas my parents and I went to a restaurant for Christmas dinner with some family friends. It was a nice change, but it was nothing on my brother's home cooked Christmas dinner with honey-glazed ham and endless pigs in blankets. I felt sort of bad as I ate my potatoes and stuffing, secretly thinking about the way my brother cooks them, as if I was having some kind of sordid love affair with the turkey or something.

But, generally speaking, our Christmas day was quiet and relaxed. Lauren was not sick on me this year, which I consider to be a bonus, and as the day came to an end we sat in our lovely new room and watched Paranormal Witness because, even on Christmas Day, there is never anything good on TV.

"goblin juice"

But the next day was Boxing Day and that was full of life to say the least. My brother and sister-in-law came for lunch with the children. Lunch and wine. And then wine turned into Black Russians. And then my Dad opened the bottle of mead I bought him from the Christmas market in Exeter. A glass for me, a glass for my brother, and a glass for my father. How very exciting! Except that the mead tasted foul.
"Let's mix it with some Jack Daniels." Suggested my father and, for some reason, we agreed.
In reality the Jack Daniels just brought out the burning sensation in the mead and added an aftertaste. It was the worst thing I have ever tasted, but waste it not allowed in the Wellington household so we all just had to deal with it. And so the 3 of us sat around the table pulling the most extraordinary faces as we tried to get through or glasses of 'goblin juice'.

"it's almost as though my
parents think I'm some
sort of alcoholic"

On the plus side, I did have a special bottle of Jack Daniels for Christmas (I refused to mix that bottle with the mead), which was quite possibly the nicest thing I've ever drunk. Between that, the Jack Daniels glass and the Jack Daniels hip-flask, it's almost of though my parents think I'm some sort of alcoholic. But who else's Christmas presents could include those alongside The Little Mermaid DVD, a pink desk hoover, and a Boo the cutest dog mug?

Ellis exclaimed that this was the best Christmas ever because he'd had turkey two days in a row (some people are very easily pleased) and Lauren ate half a jar of raw beetroot. Then we had the Frozen soundtrack on repeat for about 2 hours (I fear I will never stop singing those songs now) and made very merry indeed.

It was in fact the best Christmas we have had in a long time. And, as promised, as a special Christmas gift, here's a little sneak peak. Next year I plan on tackling my technophobia so I thought I'd make a start by putting together a little video to share. Don't judge too harshly. I'm so far removed from being a computer whiz that I should be using a quill right now. But here it is!

And because this was doomed to fail from the start, here's a link, because the Beacon has assured me my attempt to embed the video was a total failure...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBNhrGpn9Ig