Almost there!

At last, the 'big day' that all these past weeks hoo ha have been about is almost upon us, we have almost made it and surprisingly unscathed!

For me this is a one off, I saw the back of my last day at work yesterday evening and I have a whole week off for the festivities, no more retail hell for me until new years eve! Yayyyyy. This is almost unheard of, a true miracle in the sad world that is retail and corporate gain, a whole week off over Christmas just doesn't happen and for me, to the best of my memory, it hasn't happened for something approaching fifteen years! :o) Can you see my broad and cheesy smile?

So what remains to be done? I have to finish the parcel wrapping process and then pack for our impending journey tomorrow. This time it's not the 400 mile haul to London but merely 300 to my sisters in the midlands, where the 'gemmak clan' will assemble for the festivities, well most of them anyways. We get to spend almost four whole days with not only my parents but also my sister, her husband and my nieces, who I haven't seen for soooo long. I can't wait!

We will miss the 'feline brigade' of course. Ditto will be deposited in her usual holiday home tomorrow morning and Tilly, who it was decided is still too young for said establishment, is off for her holidays at a neighbours, our friends W and A who love her almost as much as we do and very kindly offered her 'room at the inn' for the festive period. I hate to leave her behind, Ditto is used to it, she knows the drill but Tilly is still relatively tiny and unaware that she is not being abandoned forever. We have taken her over the last week or two, on a couple of 'practice' visits in the hope that it would familiarise her with her temporary home and teach her that her abandonment is only temporary. On both occasions she shook like a little leaf for ten minutes but then seemed to settle down and begin investigating, so hopefully she will be fine........whether W & A are quite fully aware of what they have let themselves in for from the small tornado is another matter!

And so that's it, a day of organizing and packing and perhaps a little bit more 'playtime' on here, hell I'm going to have three whole days without internet access, I have to get my fix somehow before we leave, one more sleep and then we've made it! We're outta here and heading for our Christmas pud!

But you don't escape 'gemmak's-ville' that easily..........