Wishes of a mother for christmas…

For all my darling friends, family and readers…

For Christmas I hope that you get all or at least some of the following…

1. 30 minutes to sit down – without a feeling of complete panic that you need to be doing something, without someone saying – can you… where is…  Just 30 minutes of completely sitting down in one spot, uninterrupted and peaceful.
2. A present just for you…. that you haven’t bought yourself, wrapped yourself, asked in detail for.  Just a small little present that is a surprise and that shows someone has taken a tiny bit of time to think about you.
3. For everyone to see the nice clean, decorated house you have slaved over…before it gets trashed with piles of wrapping paper and miscellaneous plates and cups.
4. For the children to actually be pleased with what Santa brought them, instead of just discarding them straight into a pile, that you will take up to their bedrooms later.
5. For the left overs in the fridge to be actually eaten instead of thrown away in a week’s time – making you cringe at the waste and the cost.
6. And most importantly – a peaceful, happy and healthy year to follow for you and all that you love.

Happy Christmas lovely ones and let’s all have a glorious New Year.

I used to dance….

I used to go to dance class when I was young.  I went 3 to 4 times a week from the age of 4, until I was about 13.  I did Ballet, Tap, Jazz and Modern.  And I was very, very bad at it.

And no, I am not over-exaggerating. I was the tall, gangly, awkward girl in the back row, who always got the award for “Tries Hardest” or “Most Improved” (which frankly was a lie, but I think my teacher was trying to be encouraging.)

I was so uncoordinated, and I knew that I would never be like the pretty, perfectly proportion girls in my glass.  For one thing my feet were the size of plates of meat.

But…I really liked it and although sometimes I cringe thinking of myself flailing around, I do have fond memories.

My mum put me in dance class because I was extremely shy and slightly pigeon toed.  Well I’m only a little bit shy now (new people make me babble :)) and I am still slightly pigeon toed.  It was also excellent child care, as I could walk straight from school to the community centre (stopping off for a bag of roasted pumpkin seeds from the health food shop – gosh the things you remember heh!). and then Mum would pick us up on the way home from her work.

So, when my daughter had a choice of Brownies/Guides or Ballet class – I pushed her into Ballet class.  I hope that she will have fond memories like me and I am pleased to say she has her father’s genes and is quite good (phew!).

AND……..

I have started dancing again.  On Monday nights I join a bunch of lovely ladies and we do half an hour of Tap and half an hour of Ballet.  It’s glorious.  It’s hilarious. It’s good for me and it is so much fun.

It doesn’t matter that I am really bad at it.  It doesn’t matter that I am tall, gangly and awkward – because nobody cares, and I won’t need “Most Improved” certificates to keep going.  I love it and it makes me smile and that’s all that counts.