[shillelagh]

always loved christmas when i was a kid .. used to get the phone calls from ireland my aunts and uncles ringing up to wish us merry christmas .. more often than not my dad was in his pj's cos i'd got up at an unearthly time to see if father christmas had come .. lol then it was a race to get dressed before everyone arrived ... because we'd have christmas at our house. After dad died the first xmas we had at our house .. but after that we split up .. mum would go to my eldest sisters - she did roast beef instead of turkey .. and id go to my other sisters because she always did roast turkey and all the trimmings .. and thats what i did every year till 2005 and didnt go that year cos my sis had gone to india for the month of december .. so i did the cooking that year for me and my brother ... but after that gone back to my sisters except for 2 years ago .. when i went up to the spugsters .. and that was strange not being wi family ... first time id not spent christmas day wi the family ... last year spugs came down .. and got my familys idea of xmas ..