J has always been hard to buy for, as he doesn't have a hobby or interests, so it was the good old faithful iPad to the rescue. They usually last a year or so, before they become damaged or just not working efficiently.
The last 5 or 6 years, I have always managed to buy each boy (not the Labradors this time!) a metre stick of Jaffa Cakes, as a stocking filler, but this year, I only saw them around the middle to end of November, and as there seems to be no place left in the house to hide anything, especially food related, from the dogs, or from J and his Jaffa Cake sniffing ability, I thought I'd hang on until the middle of December. Big mistake. Absolutely everywhere around here had sold out. Empty display boxes and no sign of them being restocked. I asked around. One lovely person in Sainsbury's even went off to investigate where the nearest Sainsbury's store had some, and the closest was over 100 miles away.
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I have even blogged about something I called 'Jaffa Cake Mountain' nearly 7 years ago ( you can find that post here - Jaffa Cake Mountain. It is around two thirds down on that post).
Ironically, just before New Year's Day, a shop close by restocked their empty display box. The whole of that stock sold out in two days! I will be a more savvy shopper for next Christmas. If I have to buy them in September and hide them up the chimney, I will.
J also had a lovely school Christmas concert. His class performed a 'pantomime' to the story of the Nativity. J played the Shepard. Each child in the class (9 in total) played a character, and had a few lines or words to say, when prompted.
Each year I always predict J will do or say something funny, and off script, and Christmas 2016 was no different. He stood up when prompted, to say his first line, and his teacher was crouched facing the class, who were sat in a semi circle, on chairs. An assistant walked between the children, carrying the microphone and notes, and when she approached J, she lent in, and pointed to his teacher and told him to say his line. But in classic J style, he didn't say the correct line. Instead of saying - "I am a Shepard", he followed the assistant's pointing towards his teacher, and instead said - "I am Miss D*****". This caused the whole audience to laugh (in a positive way, not a mocking way) and I caught it all on camera!
I only have one more Christmas concert to go at his school, and that's it. He'll be off to college. It's quite a daunting thought, not only to have a child who is 14 going on 15, but that he'll be out of the school system and into further education. As I've discussed before, he will attend the school's follow on college, as it seems the most appropriate for him.
I have not made any New Year's Resolutions, as I know exactly what I need to do, and where my faults and failings lie, and as I spent last year working hard to get my local SEN team to give my youngest son his much needed 'Statement', plus dealing with some rather trialling family issues, this year is about giving myself some recognition for all that I do. I have another personal battle that has already begun, and my aim is to not allow myself to be consumed by it, but to keep my big smile, and positive attitude towards everything I encounter along the way.
