"MIL is coming, Magic's getting stressed..."

...Sung, obviously, to the tune of "Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat..."

And yes, we finally got details of my MIL's trip to see us. This information has been hard to get, and fraught with stress all of its own (plus accusations of nastiness and false declarations and oh, the usual stuff involving my MIL), but at least we now know: she's arriving at 9 pm on the 25th (which suits me perfectly, I have to admit - we get Christmas Eve with friends, that night in our own bed (we sleep on the sofa when my MIL is here), present-opening just the four of us, a nice festive lunch on our own, a pancake tea party with friends in the afternoon and then, once the girls are in bed, and only then, will MIL arrive). Better still - not only has she actually bought her return ticket, she's even told us the time and date of her departure (not a common thing, believe me): she's leaving at 4 pm on the 29th, which means basically only 3 and a half days. I'm quite pleased, to be honest. Here's just to hoping that she doesn't arrive feeling as snarky as she's been on the phone these last few times and that we manage to keep our tempers under control till after C's birthday on the 27th...

And at least we now know - the whole "what are we doing for Christmas" thing has been up in the air since, oh, about October when my MIL first suggested we go up to Paris for her 70th birthday (end of November), to which I gave an emphatic "NO" (8 hours in a train for less than 24 hours there, at a cost of about 400 € just wasn't feasible). Then she started banging on about us going for Christmas, and I said "NO" to that too - too expensive (worse than in November), too tiring for the girls, we wouldn't be able to take their presents with us (bicycles - hardly the kind of thing you can sneak into your luggage) and her flat is TOO SMALL, it would be like Sartre's Huis Clos (only worse, possibly), and I didn't want to risk spoiling C's birthday. At least if we're here, there are possible escape hatches...

I know, I know, you must think I'm being unreasonably nasty about my MIL. But that just goes to show that you haven't met her (or, more likely, haven't had to LIVE IN CLOSE PROXIMITY with her). For which you should, in the spirit of this month's NaBloPoMo, give ETERNAL THANKS.

That said, I am starting to feel quite Christmassy; I've done most of my Christmas preparations (still 6 cards to make, write and send, still a small present to buy for C, plus her birthday present, plus D's presents, plus the food shopping to do, though that's usually D's job...), and I can't wait to start the wrapping up - I LOVE wrapping presents!

Plus, I have a cake to bake for tomorrow afternoon, and I love baking, too...

Maybe it'll even be pleasant with my MIL here after all... Miracles have been known to happen occasionally...