Christmas etc. in Hello.

I’ve had an incredibly busy couple of weeks. Work has been hectic and no one has really had any time to show me the more complex applications of the till (giving credit notes, taking gift vouchers, paying for items out of the customer’s club, that kind of thing), but those things don’t crop up enough that I have had time to watch someone else do it. I’ve basically been shown how to make a transaction and been left to get along!
I’m not complaining, the job is easy enough. I don’t need to worry about opening and closing the shop, cashing up, collating the figures or grovelling to the area manager. I walk the 2 minutes to the shop, take my coat off, do my job and go home when my shift is finished. I get paid just over minimum wage, which normally gets rounded up to the nearest pound, I even got a £15 bonus for the Christmas week, even though I’d only been there just over a week! The staff are nice and most days I see someone I know come in.
Of course I’m still keeping my eyes peeled for my dream ranger type job, but for the moment, I’m happy where I am. It’s exactly what I wanted, regular hours and to be home for the kids when John’s at work.
Christmas seems to have flown by in a blur, I feel like I haven’t had time to catch breath! Shellie was up for a few days before Christmas. The kids were chuffed with their presents of giant bags of sweets and the girls loved the ear warmers that Shellie had crocheted. Lots of drinking, eating and merriment, apart from dad who had a stinking cold and wanted to sleep a lot.
Christmas day was busy busy. The girls had got big birthday/Christmas combined presents (Bel a laptop and Eleanor a bike) so they only got stocking fillers from us. Lots of sweets, wind up toys, crayons etc. My dad got Rob the new X Box in the sales and said he would pay off £50 off it for his Christmas present, we said we’d pay off £100. John’s parents bought us the usual fare, yummy food, cash and a trip to the theatre/cinema to see something of our choice. From mam and dad I got a lovely warm hat and a contribution towards driving lessons. Rob, bless him, spent a chunk of his wages buying me a charm for a bracelet I don’t own! I did initially tell him to send it back for a refund, it was too much to spend on me (I’m not into expensive jewellery, I only ever buy cheap stuff!) but he insisted I kept it. When I’ve looked up Nomination bracelets, they are actually quite nice and not a fortune either, so I’m bidding on one on eBay right now that already has an E charm on it. I will wear it for work, because we sell Pandora and that kind of thing, not sure about Nomination though.
As usual, John cooked an epic roast goose, then we went to my nana and granda’s house along with the rest of my huge family. It’s one of the rare times a lot of us see each other, so it was nice, if not a bit jam packed and hot!
Boxing Day we spent mostly vegging, eating crap and napping. In the evening John’s brother and sister, Daniel and Katie, along with Katie’s husband, Shaun, and her daughter, Anna, came round with homemade biscuits and fudge, a bottle of port for me and a bottle of whiskey from the newly opened local distillery for John. The 27th was John’s 40th, but he decided he wanted to celebrate it in the new year, once Christmas was over. Didn’t stop him staying up till 7am arguing politics with Daniel!
I like our little family Christmases.
Today I went and bought John a Smart DVD and Blu Ray player in the sales. We’re yet to have a proper play with it, but Eleanor has already used it to watch Frozen on! (We had been using the Wii before now.)
So now I’m winding down again. I’m at work tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday, then I’ve got two days off. Once the kids are back at school and I know what my regular work hours are going to be, then I can sit down and write out a new budget and find myself a driving instructor. I’ve also bought myself a drum carder, so I can start having a go at spinning wool on a large scale and knitting more stuff to sell at craft fairs once I get mobile. 2015 is also going to be the year we tighten our belts and start saving for a deposit to buy our own property. This has been made easier by Rob getting his job and using his wages to buy his own clothes, even though I’ve told him I don’t mind doing it while I’m still getting child benefit. I think I’ll start putting that into a savings account for him instead.

Last updated December 28, 2014