Christmas Day

I had a lovely Christmas day :D I woke up very early for me at 8am. However nothing happened for a couple of hours because Alf was still in bed. Dad eventually tempted him out of bed just before 10am by bribing him with duck egg on toast!After Alf and my parents had had breakfast we all opened the presents from under the tree.

I bought Alf 3 DVDs (Ice Age 1 & 2 and Big Fish), I bought Mum 2 CDs (both by Wet Wet Wet) and 2 DVDs (one containing Wet Wet Wet videos and a Peter Kay one) and I bought Dad a Bottom DVD. I bought Chris a book about the strangest pubs in Britain and I bought Sophie some bath things and a phone sock. I bought my Nan a 'For My Nan' calendar, a novel and an Alan Titchmarsh book about Christmas. And I bought presents for some friends, my AYME buddy Kate and 3 Secret Santas.

From my parents I received 2 DVDs (Be Kind Rewind and Mary Poppins) which were both cleverly disguised so I hadn't worked out that they were DVDs, 2 pairs of multicoloured stripey socks, a book about the best comedy films, some shortbread, some money (which I'm going to put towards a new coat or a pair of boots) and this lovely jewellery.

From Alf I received a 2010 ferret calendar. And from Chris and Sophie I received some blue nail varnish and this jewellery.

I received some money from Chris' nan. And my cousin Tam bought me this bracelet.

Lizzy gave me 2 DVDs (My Sister's Keeper and Miracle on 34th Street). And Claire, who had already paid for me to have my new laptop in purple, wrapped up purple for me - a purple notepad and pen and personalised poem :) And I've got a few more presents to come from friends in the post or when I see them.

And from 3 Secret Santas (one from Lucy's AYME meet up, one from the Foggy Friends Secret Santa and one from the AYME Secret Santa) I received The X Factor Annual 2010 (which I opened at the meet-up last weekend), a mini FM radio, a small heart shaped jewellery box, a small notepad, a Tigger cuddly toy, 3 pop CDs and this bracelet and necklace set.

My parents and Alf were all happy with their presents. Dad got an assortment of things including some fishing stuff and some DVDs. Mum was very happy with some knitting things such as nice yarns and needles. Alf's biggest present was a bike, but he also got some sweets and other presents including this very cool lava lamp.

After we'd all opened our presents, me and mum relaxed, Alf went back to bed and Dad cooked Christmas lunch. Christmas lunch was yummy - we did have a traditional Christmas meal, but had chicken instead of turkey. It was the first year I'd really participated in the Christmas meal and I ate 'normally' :D After lunch we relaxed a bit more and watched the Top of the Pops Christmas special.

Then we went to visit my nan in hospital. We were all quite relieved that my aunt had already been and gone :P We stayed for about an hour and a half. The 4 patients who were still on the ward for Christmas had all been moved into one bay together, so it was quite social! Nan was in good spirits and we were all laughing and joking :D It didn't bring back any memories for me of spending Christmas in hospital in the past, which I think is because it was a different hospital, different ward, different circumstances... Here are two photos I took of my parents and my nan, I've included them both because I can't decide which is best:

When we got back home, we all relaxed for a bit and I surfed the Internet. Then as a family we watched Doctor Who (which we'd recorded while we were visiting nan), which we all really enjoyed. And after that we watched the very funny Royle Family Christmas special :) We recorded Catherine Tate: Nan's Christmas Special to watch another time and had also recorded The Gruffalo earlier in the day.

I had sandwiches for a very late tea and put the day's photos (from mum's camera and my phone) onto my laptop. Then I went on the Internet and chatted to my cousin Tam on Facebook chat. I went to bed at 12.30am.

Here are some more photos from the day :)
Christmas tree (with flash on):
Christmas tree (with no flash):
One of mum's knitted Christmas tree decorations:
The chest of drawers looking Christmassy:
Dad posing with some Christmas cards strung up behind him:Sorry I'm not on any photos, I was the photographer. And Alf is quite camera shy.