Entertaining

Hi all

We had some friends around this evening, for festive food - they have gone home now, but left their son behind for a sleepover.  He is no trouble - like a cousin or a brother to our lot - and they are delighted to have him to stay, not just because of the added opportunity for play, but also because I am much more lenient when we have a child from another family in the house.  I always get them to sleep reasonably early though - I hate those sort of sleepovers where the parents let the children stay up half the night, or even the whole night.  I just think it is so bad for them, to lose all that sleep.

Anyway, we have had a nice day, quite low key.  We had a good walk along the beach; the whole family, plus the dog, plus our friends.  And lots to eat.  But we still have numerous boxes of chocolates and biscuits in the house, and hundreds of mince pies, two Christmas puddings...  We are going to have a New Years Day party and I am hoping that most of the sweet and sticky stuff will be consumed then.  We have never had a New Years Day party before, and I am quite looking forward to it.   Have not issued many invitations yet though, due to being slightly disorientated in time and space because of the holidays. 

Thinking about it, today must be Tuesday, which means our party is on Sunday, which is not all that far away really, so I must get on with some planning.  Not tonight though - I have decided to watch the new TV, which Paul and I bought as a Christmas gift to each other and ourselves (and the children of course).  I have not actually watched anything on it yet.  I love the new TV - it is a flat screen, it looks great and the picture is fantastic.  The snag is that it has no remote control (we ordered that separately; long story) and I am not quite sure how to operate it via the buttons yet.  Also, the screen keeps going blank, which has to be fixed with a judicious tap, which is quite annoying.  The online shop we bought it from has been closed throughout the holidays and only re-opens tomorrow, so hopefully it will be sorted out then.  So yeah, to sum up, the new TV is great, except that it doesn't work properly.

I have become obsessed recently with looking up my book on Amazon, to see if it has sold any copies and whether anybody has written any more reviews.  I am going to limit myself to two checks a day from now on...  which means I have already exceeded my quota for today. 

I am off to be a couch potato for what is left of the evening.

All the best to all of you.  Hope you are well and happy.

Louise x