Something To Tell Nigel

Yesterday, Darrell and I decided that we needed to finally sit Nigel down and tell him our Christmas secret ………

……to wit, where we will be spending it this year……. as it will be something of a first. However, we knew that in the telling would be undoubted robust joy and emotion, which would probably then be followed by not a little festive angst of a Father Christmas nature, so it all had to be handled very carefully!

So I took the reindeer firmly by the antlers, and told Nigel that this Christmas we would be spending Christmas in Evesham with Baby Iris, The Lovely Laura, Tom the Scientist, and the Equally Lovely Denise and Ever Patient Ken ……

As predicted, it was emotional, very emotional ……. to be part of sharing Baby Iris’s first Christmas as relatives ….. to help her hang her stocking up and then open her presents  …… it was too wonderful for words.

But then, as Darrell and I predicted, you could see Nigel’s brain beginning to ponder on a very, very mahoooooosive scale, such questions as - what would Santa do if he couldn’t find us at Castle Greysquirrel?….. Where would we hang our stockings?

Would we have to send Santa directions and should we really ought write our letters to him NOW to give him an ample sufficiency of time to rearrange his route etc.????? What about his supper and Rudolph’s carrot???? And, had Tom the Scientist ever cooked a real turkey before and did he know just how many sprouts we can potentially eat?

For Nigel, this was BIG!!!  This was very, very big!!

We reassured him that everything was in hand. Nothing would be left to chance!!  This was going to be a fabulous Christmas adventure where new, de rigueur family traditions would be started.  And, he wasn’t to worry, but, if it would make him feel any easier we would write to Santa a little earlier than we usually do (but after the X Factor Finals are over, if that was OK) and of course, he could draw as many detailed maps and SAT NAV co-ordinations  as he thought Santa might need to help find us on Christmas Night.

He then took himself off to his room and bed  …… he had much to do and think about ………!!!