The Shopping Trip...

So this week I have gone Christmas shopping with both the other half and my mum.  Not at the same time I might add, that would possibly be hell on earth, probably more stressful than taking the boys food shopping.

Now there are merits in both these adventures into the foray of Christmas present buying.  For instance going with the other half was lovely, we don't get a chance to do much together alone and we were out early enough that we were able to sit down and have a cooked breakfast together.  Never mind the fact it was only a Tescos cafe one, it was simply the fact we were doing something normal, together and without being constantly pulled every which way by the kids wanting our attention.  After our relaxed breakfast we set about the task of purchasing presents, we probably should have had a plan.  But as usual with us it was all a bit spontaneous and impromptu.  We hit Boots the chemist first (does anybody else think that, Boots is a strange name for a place that dispenses medicine ??) and was able to in one foul swoop present buy for 8 nephews, 2 nieces and 2 sisters without breaking a sweat. Good job you might think 12 presents in under 20 minutes.  But Boots wasn't the reason we'd gone to this place of wonder called a shopping centre, no, we had vouchers for Tescos...

After our first success we headed over to the "big" store and quickly ascertained that there was a machine were by a few presses on the screen we would be able to effectively double our vouchers.  A no brainer you may think, well it was up to the point where we had to decide which department we were going to choose to receive our hard earned cash.  Now I don't know about your family but for us it seemed that with every department we chose what we would actually want from that department was, of course, excluded from the double up deal.  Toys and Games, no dvds, no pc games, no game station games, bugger.  Clothing, no pj's, no accessories, no shoes..Tescos are you trying to drive us mad, Health and Beauty, no make up, no skin products, no perfume or gift sets, hey Chairman of Tescos you do know its Christmas don't you ??

Having now spent 10 minutes randomly pressing different parts of the screen we decided that before we could even vaguely think about which department would we get the most value from, that we had to go see for ourselves what each one offered.  So off we went and headed for Toys and Games first. I would never want to argue that one of us knows the kids better than the other because that would just be a foolish statement. But as we walked around the aisle looking bewilderingly at the amount of plastic that was on sale in one moulded form or another.  I came to realise that we know our kids in slightly different ways.  What I mean by this is.  It has become apparent that if daddy and I were to make the same statement to the kids, but at different times, and not when we're together, I have a very strong suspicion that the kids would react in very different ways to both of us.

I don't know why this hasn't occurred to me sooner, but its something I must be aware of I think when I am making a judgement call, say when an incident at school has happened or a problem has arisen. I think if they came from school one day and said they'd got in to trouble for not doing as they were told, I am pretty sure they'd spin the story of events according to which ever parent they were speaking to.  What I mean is, with me I think it would be more slanted on their emotional upset, but with daddy I think the emotional upset would still be there but also a sense of bravado would also be implied.  I don't know whether this is just a male thing or whether it is the same for a girl. Its hard to tell now as the 16 year old is all bravado all the time with both of us, though actually thinking about it, it is less so with daddy.

Ultimately this whole epiphany of thought came to light because we had differing opinions on what the boys would like as their Christmas presents which surprised me somewhat as we discussing the same kids. Happily we compromised on most of it and eventually got through the whole voucher processing and then subsequent queueing and paying for the goods without to much hassle and hopefully we have struck a good balance of parental influence and child personality with each kid's gifts.

Well we'll find out Christmas morning, won't we :-)

Butlins, the survival guide......

Butlins...what a wonderful and scary place.  If I was to write a guide book on how to cope with a 4 night stay there here is what I would write:

1. Arrive 1-2 hours earlier than your check in time so you can drive around the camp several times to get completely disorientated and when you are finally given your room still have absolutely no idea where you are staying.

2. Find and grab anything that vaguely looks like its a luggage trolley and then use it to push whining whinge hungry kids from the car in to (thank god at least) ground floor apartment, that you have had to park a mile away from as all the car spaces for your apartment have already been nabbed by the occupants of the holiday apartments two blocks away from you.

3.  Read the holiday guide and then throw it in the bin as it contains nothing of any relevance and has just been left in the room to make you feel stupid because none of it makes sense to anyone who hasn't actually visited before.
4. Put the oven on.  This provides a two fold service in the fact it takes around 9 hours to heat up and so it might be ready for use the next evening and it also provides some exciting entertainment for the kids while they watch you squabble with your mother on whether the thing is actually turned on or not.

5. Remember if you want to put the kettle on that you have to unplug the toaster, the microwave and the tv first.

6. If you are not queuing in the pavilion by 4.30pm for that evenings entertainment, then don't even bother trying.  Yes the shows may not really start going until 7.30pm but its like the towel and the sunbed situation around an Ibiza pool, its all about the stamina and determination to get the "best" seat.

7. Try to avoid eating at any cost, while you may think you can save money by going self catering the Spar shop in the pavilion is around 4 times the price of a normal Spar with a loaf of bread topping the list of OMG how much they charging for this?

8.  Remember candy floss sticks to everything including bottoms, pushchairs, hair and other people.

9. Make sure you pack a good strong pair of hiking boots, all your fancy 4 inch heels will be good for is wedging the front door open when you are unloading all the shopping you have had to spend the last hour and half getting from the supermarket out of the complex because your bank balance won't stand another trip to the Spar.

10. And breathe, the kids are having a fabulous time, they will remember this holiday forever and its all working out ok so just enjoy !!!!

Bedlam at Build-a-Bear......

Who'd have thought that so many little people would be wanting to build a bear just 2 days after Christmas. Yes I know mine were some of them so I shouldn't be so surprised but I was still shocked at the amount of people all crammed in to that little store.  It had already taken us an hour to get there, 45 minutes to find somewhere to park the car (I think I would have wrestled anyone if they had tried to nick the space we found off us) and so by the time we'd disembarked the car and actually got in to the centre the kids were busting to go get themselves a bear each.

Even in its heaving state that shop is a wonderland of yumminess.  Ninja was really good he picked an inexpensive bear that he couldn't be persuaded out of for love nor money and so we offered to let him spend the rest of his voucher money on accessories.  Humf was another story all together, initially it was a pink bear and that was that but I think Daddy made some gentle suggestions for a  perhaps not so girlie bear and that got things totally confused.  Humf ended up crying in his in ability to decide, we had to pry several unstuffed teddies from tightly gripped fingers and the more choice we gave him the more upset he got.  In the end a cat got a smile out of his tear stained face so that was the one we went for.

In all the indecision and trauma I fell in love with a bear myself and decided I was going to build  my very own bear to take home as well. 13 year old thought I was mad and hubbie was just dumbfounded but, the bear reminded me so much of childhood teddies I just couldn't resist him.

Having then spent another 45 minutes waiting in the queue to get our bears stuffed (and yes I did have to do the routine and make a wish before they would hand over my bear) we were finally able to hit the accessories.  OMG those bears have better dress sense and far more stylish clothing then I will ever have.  I loved it all and as I watched people going to the till with 3 little outfits, shoes, hats, glasses and whatever else their new pet bear could want I was sooo jealous.  Ninja got unstuck with finding the perfect outfit for his bear which had now been named "Lightning" He went from a full Woody costume, to an Obi Wan Kanobi costume to a leather bikers jacket and blue denim jeans, Biker jacket and jeans won the day (a classic look that never goes out of style).  My bear got a pair of camouflage boxer shorts, so he's a bear in just his underwear. Humfs cat didn't need any accessories because cats are cool no matter what they look like.

So bears bought and paid for we made our way to our next port of call.  The "Game" shop another nightmare of a place, far to small for its demand and stuffed full of too many people.  I just couldn't face it so sent hubbie and Ninja in for a re-con and tried to find a toilet for humf and I to attend.  I never made it to the loo, I got so profoundly lost trying to find one I decided it wasn't worth it and followed the trail of breadcrumbs I'd left behind me to get back to the game shop only to discovered if only I'd turn right instead of left there was actually one right in front of us.  As it happens when I got back I had the other little one wiggling so now with two in toe we headed once more into the uncharted territory of the shopping city to find a place to relieve ourselves.

You know how you can sometimes be blissfully unaware of what is going on around you, well this wasn't one of those moments. No sooner had we stepped out of the shop than a security guard comes running out behind us bellowing "excuse me sir, have you got a receipt for that item"....Oh crap !!! I grip the kids hands as we watch in utter horror and fascination as the security guard who'd run out from behind us, rugby tackled this man to the ground and straddled him like something out of a really bad cop movies.  I was frozen to the spot and speechless, right until a little voice piped up "Mummy I think that man has been naughty, don't you?" You can imagine the conversation to the toilet being quiet a difficult one from that point forward with lots of "whys?" and "yeah, but's"

So the moral to this tale is this "always avoid doing the January sales, it just isn't worth it"