Couldn't think of any kind of witty, snappy title to my blog tonight.

One of my husband's aunts was killed in a car accident last night, aged 75. He's flying over to Ireland for the funeral tomorrow.

Even though I've only met the lady once or twice, i find that I am more touched than I expected by the news. It just brings it home how random death can be. My husband's father's family are notoriously healthy. There are nine of them - all children survived in the family and they are now aged 65 to 80, and all in good health. Remarkable. And now suddenly one is gone. Not to disease, but some random, tragic accident. I just can't get my head round it.

I'm also finding it a bit odd, how fast they've laid on the funeral. It's been fast tracked because of Christmas. I'm not even sure what I think the right length of time between death and funeral should be, but it seems to me that 48 hours is hardly long enough to gather the clans and get used to the fact that you are going to say a final goodbye to your loved one.

My husband is going tomorrow. He's lucky with a stay at home wife and a sympathetic employer he can just drop everything and fly off to Ireland at a moment's notice. His sister, deep in dentistry studies, is not able to get away.

Don't really know what if any point I am trying to make here. My brain is shocked, confused and very little in the way of coherent thought is coming out. I think I need to get some sleep...

We really kick started Christmas today.

Started off by going to Mass. Sang a few of my favourite carols and swapped cards with people. Watched Chicken Little on our new Christmas telly when we got home - we haven't had a working DVD player for nearly a year so my daughter was overjoyed.

Had a full roast chicken dinner with plenty of veg - we're not having turkey for Christmas this year so I guess that's the nearest we'll get to it.

Put the tree and room decorations up this afternoon. For the first time this year, my daughter was actually helpful and I enjoyed having her around while I decorated. She put some balls on the tree plus some of the home made decorations she had brought from nursery. One of my Christmas chores has become good fun family time - hurrah!

Bacon and sausage samdwiches for tea (you'll note that entries on the healthworx blog have stopped over the Christmas season). I nearly set fire to the kitchen as I was too busy listening to my daughter sing carols to her Grandma on the phone and forgot the sausages, but we ate the burnt remains anyway.

Then I know I'm supposed to be a Catholic now, but I was brought up in the Church of England, and Christmas just isn't Christmas for me without the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols. So I took my daughter over to the local CofE church tonight for theirs, which was absolutely lovely. The choir were excellent, I had a good rollicking sing of all my favourites, and my daughter enjoyed joining in with some and also holding her candle as the whole service was candlelit. She made very good friends with an old lady in the row behind us, who nearly cried when my daughter sang along perfectly to Silent Night. Then into the hall for mulled wine (squash for Anne-Sophie!) and a mince pie.

Now I'm really starting to feel festive. Roll on big dinners, too much booze, Queens speech, scrapping with the relatives and all things Christmas!

Well for all I don't like about my mother in law, I can't fault her generosity this Christmas. She came to visit our new house, listened when we said we needed a new (smaller) TV and has given us the money to buy one, as a Christmas/housewarming present.

We were going to wait until the January sales, but I'm afraid two days without the electronic babysitter (aka CBeebies) has me climbing the walls already, and I decided we couldn't survive till the end of Christmas. So off to the shops today, just to see what they had.

The shop was manic, woefully understaffed with new staff who didn't have a clue what they were doing. Even the managers were completely clueless. The place was heaving with customers, who were getting more and more frustrated with increasingly long waits. Small children (mine included alas) were tearing about, wrecking displays and causing havoc. Somewhere there was a karaoke machine being demonstrated, and the noise of kids singing Christmas carols at full blast could be heard throughout the store.

Still we braved it, and managed to hold our children more or less steady for just over an hour, while a very patient and calm salesman sorted out what we wanted, whilst fending off other customers left, right and centre. In the end we came out with two TVs (one for the living room, one for the spare room which will eventually be the gym)and a DVD player. Came home, dropped the tellys and went out to eat to celebrate.

Have just been watching edited highlights of my favourite DVDs for the first time in over a year. Yahoo!

So big, big thanks to Nana Anne for her generosity. I now declare that the Christmas season is well and truly open!

Somehow I thought this Christmas was going to be easy. From the moment I accepted the invitation to lunch at my sister's house on Christmas day and realised that I didn't have to worry at all about preparing food for the day, I've been coasting, somehow assuming that it would all get done.

Now sudddenly I've realised just how close everything is, and some things are just not going to get done in time at all.

I've put up my new nativity set in the window and the neighbours have all been commenting on how nice and tasteful it looks, which is lovely. But I was saving putting up the tree until we sold the large TV on ebay. The TV went today, and I was kind of assuming that I'd put up the tree sometime while my daughter was at nursery and my son was asleep. But she breaks up from nursery tomorrow and I haven't wrapped the kids' presents yet, so that will have to take priority.

And some of the presents aren't even bought yet. Too late to rely on the internet now, so that means that sometime next week I have to brave the shops with both my children. Even the thought of it is making me shiver.

Added to that and the few little projects that I set running in november are all coming together. I've had several people come round and quote me on my new kitchen and I've finally signed up for that. We had the chimney swept (for Santa Claus) and my husband has promised to get some firewood this weekend. I've found someone who will replace my boiler in the New Year and he's been round to do his survey. Plus we've had people putting insulation in our loft, raising the boards so that the thicker insulation will fit in there, and installing a loft ladder.

I've also started back at the gym - thankfully I'm feeling better at last, and attended two school nativity plays. I've taken my daughter to the doctors three times, my son once and myself twice. I'm in constant contact with my mum who is preparing her house for the return from hospital of my stepfather. Don't know how that is going to go as he seems a lot weaker than when he went in, but I keep in daily contact and support her as best I can.

All in all December has been a very busy month. I'm very much looking forward to getting Christmas out of the way and making a fresh start in January. Who knows I might even get back to regular blogging. I miss you guys.

My daughter, aged 3 1/2 has decided in the last week that Brussels sprouts are her new most favourite food, and I can cook them for her evry day if I so wish. I have cooked them for her, several times in the last week, and she has wolfed them all down.

This is peculiar and somewhat spooky. Firstly because my daughter is a confirmed vegetable hater. She has been known to eat the odd bit of cucumber or tomato, and to swallow the occasional carrot if mum is sitting there watching and pleading, but hot green stuff? Never!

I say spooky though, because when I was little brussels sprouts were my first vegetable, and the only one I would contemplate for many years, and they still rank among my favourites. I very rarely cook them nowadays though, as my husband detests them - even the smell of them cooking, a view shared by most normal adults and children, I understand.

So I never thought to serve them to my daughter. Having failed with broccoli, peas and spinach, I decided not to put her through it. Until I got some in my organic vegebox last week and decided I had to have some myself and to give the kids a taster. I expected my son to eat them - he eats absolutely anything. But when my daughter wolfed them down too and demanded more I was truly amazed.

Seems like food preferences must have some kind of genetic link. Wonder what she'll make of a good rare steak washed down with half a pint of good red wine........?

My daughter, aged 3 1/2 has decided in the last week that Brussels sprouts are her new most favourite food, and I can cook them for her evry day if I so wish. I have cooked them for her, several times in the last week, and she has wolfed them all down.

This is peculiar and somewhat spooky. Firstly because my daughter is a confirmed vegetable hater. She has been known to eat the odd bit of cucumber or tomato, and to swallow the occasional carrot if mum is sitting there watching and pleading, but hot green stuff? Never!

I say spooky though, because when I was little brussels sprouts were my first vegetable, and the only one I would contemplate for many years, and they still rank among my favourites. I very rarely cook them nowadays though, as my husband detests them - even the smell of them cooking, a view shared by most normal adults and children, I understand.

So I never thought to serve them to my daughter. Having failed with broccoli, peas and spinach, I decided not to put her through it. Until I got some in my organic vegebox last week and decided I had to have some myself and to give the kids a taster. I expected my son to eat them - he eats absolutely anything. But when my daughter wolfed them down too and demanded more I was truly amazed.

Seems like food preferences must have some kind of genetic link. Wonder what she'll make of a good rare steak washed down with half a pint of good red wine........?

Well I've finally surfaced at the end of my whirlwind week for family duties. We entertained father in law last weekend, and I went down to see mum on Sunday as reported. Wednesday we met my mum in London and went on the London Eye, Thursday we picked MIL up from the airport and took her to see SIL, and today we've seen MIL and SIL again (it's my hubby's birthday), plus had my son's 2nd birthday party this afternoon with 15 children aged 1-8, their parents my sister and some of my very best friends.

It's no wonder I've not been posting much recently. At the end of each day I'm just too exhausted. At least my bugs are finally clearing up - thank heavens for modern medicine.

The party was great and a great destresser for me - I love watching little kids running about having fun. We had a great big venue, lots of music, balloons and plenty of unhealthy food and sugary drink. Everyone had a whale of a time - including my son who ignored all his guests pointedly the whole time. While they played pass the parcel and I set up the food tables he wandered over to me and helped himself to his food. When everyone else came for food he toddled off and went to play with the toy cars. The perfect host!

We got home afterwards with a few friends who stayed until about 5.30. After they'd gone my little boy slipped off upstairs to play in his room as he often does, but I found him fast asleep on the landing at 6pm. Poor little love!

That's me done for family socialising now. All I have to do is coast downhill to Christmas, thank heavens!