The Nitty Gritty

And now, 12 days before Christmas, we really get to the nitty gritty. The cut throat time. Ears burning from ringing Argos and Tesco Direct. No Nintendos. Husband did this last year. Left the Nintendo Wii until the last minute, luckily Amazon got one in stock at the last minute. And now He's also just sat on his arse until i asked him when the Nintendos were arriving. They're not apparently. The stupid daft sod. They were the kids' main christmas present - what are they going to have now?

When He was a child, Husband told me, He got one present and a selection box. Well, thats a surprise, I told him, with a tight-arsed family like yours! How he laughed.

The trouble is, I didn't. I got everything as a kid at Christmas. Sindy dolls, crying dolls, scooters - the lot! We must have been the poorest family on our council estate but at Christmas we went mad! But I think thats a really working class thing. Not restrained like Husband's penny-pinching, comfortable middle class family. But they were good toys then. None of that technical shit like Nintendos or anything. I've still got most of my Sindy stuff today.

I remember that terrible Tellytubby war when Daughter was a toddler. People would apparently stand around in Argos until the Tellytubby arrival was announced. And then it was one per customer. But I wasn't savvy enough about all that then. Luckily my mate stepped in and brought her the squeaky ones. We still have them today too. They saved that Christmas of 1997,

And I sneered at the parents waiting in the Beany Baby queues. And as for those bloody scooters the other year........

But now here i am suffering heartbreak over some little machine i don't like very much. But the trouble is , my kids do.....