The holidays are nearly over!

I have been up since 3 something am. The intrepid travellers were dropped at the airport before 5am, and should be almost there as I speak. In Switzerland. My favourite place in the world. I am here, in the foggy gloom, freezing. I should be crunching through the snow on an Alp. Freezing is not so bad when you are standing on an Alp. At least you have beautiful scenery to look at, and ........

Hmmm. I will shut up now.

In a fit of total madness, I decided to go and do some essential food shopping on the way home. At 5.45am. In the dark. Before dawn. Well, the fact that I needed petrol rather urgently made it a sensible thing to do, if I did not want to be seen pushing my car along the motorway. Our supermarket is one of those 24hr places, but so help me, they do not run to checkout ladies at that time of day. You have to do the self service checkout. I nearly abandoned the basket at the till when the stupid computer voice kept repeatedly issuing ridiculous instructions loudly like "place the item on the belt" when it had already zapped past and travelled down the belt very happily, thankyouverymuch. The supervisor did a lot of very loud sighing. And then trying to find the right things to push and scan, and where on earth were my glasses anyway, and all the rest..... I am getting old, people. I want a real live person to scan my stuff. You know. So all I have to do is pack the bags and wave my card around in a helpful fashion. I do not want to do the whole thing. I have never had any unfulfilled longing for a cash register from childhood. Bring back humans, I say!

I cannot believe the school holidays are almost over, and that I will be returning to work on Monday. Our decorations are still up, and will be taken down on Sunday, the 12th day of Christmas. And I must say, it is lovely to drive around and still see the lights on all over the village. Especially as the days are short and darkness falls at the ridiculous time of 3pm. Anything which dispels the dark is good!

The biscuit tins are almost empty now, and none of us want to see another one for the forseeable future. As long as they are around, we will eat them. This is not good. The biscuits are, of course, but the hips are another story. And there are unopened boxes of chocolates lurking about too. I am doomed. Will power? Forget. However, I do have a party to go to next weekend, so I will have to consider drastic action, if I do not want to appear in expandable clothing, looking like the Goodyear blimp. But, oh, what a wonderful time this has been.

Diana goes back to NZ next week, and it will be really difficult to say goodbye, as it always is. She lights up the room when she is about. I know I am her Mum, but everyone else says the same thing. She does. So this Christmas was a little unplanned. Well, I had things sort of planned, and then the lists went out the window when she arrived, and we have just had the best time as a family. Who could possibly ask for anything more? And now she is about to be yodelling her way around the small alpine village where my sister lives.

Did I ever mention that my son and daughter-in-law chose to get married there in 2003? We (family and friends) all decamped for the wedding, and it was spectacular. Diana led the merry band of young people up and down mountains, singing "climb every mountain" etc, trotti biking, rafting, cow carving and generally having daily adventures, and no-one will ever forget that holiday. I must do a post about that. Remind me.

Anyway. I am a little weary, so I am about to go and have a snooze. Or maybe some coffee. And a biscuit. Or maybe I will investigate the chocolate box.