Santa's coming!!

TONIGHT!!!!!!
how exciting - and he's coming on a real fire engine with real fire men - yippeee!!!!!
I am slightly apprehensive about it, as I have a feeling Grace is going to take one look at him and panic again - but it'll be a nice start to the festivities.
Unfortunately it also heralds the beginning of the most hectic 72 hours of the year!! I'll b eup at 6.30 tomorrow so I can hit Tesco before 7.30 - I might have a vague chance of escaping before new year!! Then home for a 10.30 video call from Owen's cousin in Australia. We're trying to set up a video call between Owen's mum and her brother Tommy on Boxing Day - she hasn't seen him in over 40 years. Then bake vegan cake for my best mate's present, pick up dry cleaning, visit an old family friend and pick Owen up from work at 3pm. After that it's home, showered and out to Nana's for christmas eve tea and pressies!!
Flip I'm getting tired just thinking about it, must go make a coffee and then start writing a shopping list.....

Homesick

I came back to work after maternity leave in early May. So it's been almost 9 months...and suddenly, today, i have started to get really badly homesick.
I found it relatively easy to come back to work at the time. I enjoy my job (most of the time!!) and I work with (mostly) nice people. I was happy to be back, and although I missed being home with Gracie I was fine with it...until today. And all I want to do is go home to my baby for kisses and cuddles and games and songs and...whatever we feel like getting up to.

Make do and mend...?

I have a question. Why wasn't I taught proper domestic science/home economics/whatever PC name it has these days at school?? I "made" one pair of oven mitts (teacher sewed them together because she didnt have time to teach us how, so she did them for us) one wheaten loaf and a strawberry milkshake. And I did it to GCSE level!!!!!!
I wish, oh how I wish now that I had more education in this way. I still have not mastered the sewing machine, socks that have holes get binned rather than darned, I have a heap of clothes that need mended, although I try very hard I feel my cookery skills could be improved...
I was lucky, I did sone Home Ec. in a well-equiped room with cookers etc. - I doubt my daughter will have the benefit of this when she grows up. Children are being horribly failed by an education system that does precious little to teach them and proper life skills that will be of any use when they are adults. We can't fix things because woodwork etc. are no longer taught, we can't feed our families because cookery lessons have been cut, we can't mend out clothes because no-one shoed us how....
I'm determined to learn more this coming year - someone needs to be able to teach Grace how to REALLY look after herself rather than how to buy new things all the time.