Christmas. Woo. Hoo.

There are 40-ish days left until Christmas and already plans for the day have changed numerous times. But then, that's nothing new. My wife's sister's birthday changed from going to a restaurant, to Exeter, to Bristol, to Clark's Village in Dorset, back to a restaurant and then to my mother-in-laws. There are at least 12 hours before B-Day so it may change again.

Christmas in my wife's family is a 'special' time, for a given meaning of 'special' IE we do what my mother-in-law wants, which is generally along the lines of COME TO ME MY CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT MWA-HA-HAAA--HAHAAAA. Ahem. We, that is me and my brother-in-law have to suffer under the weight of countless relatives while being bored out of our brains.

You might ask where my own relatives figure in all this. They don't, them being all the way up north. I'd consider spending this festive time with them but, you know, they're common. And my stepmum uses a vat of salt in all her cooking.

So there's 'Ben' and I generally trying to amuse ourselves by stealing one of the cousins PSP or other activities that are entirely frowned upon. And pretty much everyone except mother is bored to tears. This year, the daughters have rebelled. Hurrah. We are to go to my sister-in-laws. This is both a positive and a negative. For Ben it's a bonus. He can now drink alcohol and get merry. For me it's the same as usual. I long for a lonely Christmas: me, the wife and the TV?Internet. This would involve everyone dying obviously but I like to think I'm not that callous. I'll let the dog survive.