I hate lists , I always have and my wife has always been very good at them. She used to urge me to make lists of things I had to do but I claimed that they were all in my head and it was quite simple to remember them .Unfortunately this was only too often not the case and I had to admit that this and that had slipped my mind .So imagine my trepidation when my wife informed me today that we were going to go through our Christmas card list . This usually entails finding last year's list and crossing out the departed/divorced(you don't want to take sides)and those who forgot to send you one and maybe the odd couple who you wished you hadn't sent one to last year as well.Unfortunately my wife's failing memory makes this task fraught with hazards . Lots of names just didn't seem familiar to her so cousins ,friends and neighbours were struck off willy nilly ,regardless of my protestations.I faced a barrage of questions as to who this was and who that was and even after an explanation she seemed none the wiser . When she decided to move onto the presents list and we had to go through the children of old friends and the children of their children and I don't know who was more confused her or me .I fear a whole tranche of people will never hear from us again and that may very well include our relations.I have to admit that after a couple of hours my patience was hanging by a thread . The saddest thing though was that my wife's lists used to be written in wonderfully bold italic script and now they are in a tiny slanting illegible scrawl with which I suspect many of you are familiar . Soon we will be embarking on some Christmas shopping - but that will be a story for another day .
Today was lists: I hate lists , I always... - PSP Association
Today was lists
Where has this year gone? It doesn't seem long ago I was writing last year's cards. Every year I try to cut down as I send a stupid amount but last year it got ridiculous. My dear dad died last October a month before his 97th birthday. Rather than notify people in his old address book, I decided to look at his Christmas card list as he had ticked everyone he had received a card from so knew they were in contact with him. In my letter, for many I put, " I don't know how you knew my dad but you sent him a card last Christmas so thought you'd like to know.........". Many replied that they had notified him when their parent had died and he had kept in touch with them although they had never met him. I couldn't believe it when a month later I started receiving Christmas cards from those I had notified. When I die, will my children find my Christmas card list and notify these people or the children of these people who I never knew and my dad never knew. No! I think it will stop here.
It's strange how the writing becomes so tiny isn't it? My husband was a design engineer, drawing plans and using very neat, very small capital letters. You needed a magnifying glass to read what he wrote once PSP started.
I wish you luck with your Christmas preparations. Last week I told my husband we are going to put Christ back into Christmas, forget about cards, presents, turkeys etc, go to our Church Christmas morning, have a wheelchair walk in the afternoon and chill out in the evening with a glass of wine but then I remembered I'd ordered cards from the PSP association and I quite like wrapping presents and love dressing the tree. So we will go to Church and do the other stuff.
Do let us know how you get on with the Christmas shopping.
Nanna B
Living in Turkey has simplified our Christmas no end. We now send around 25 cards and they tend to be Turkish tile or textile images as traditional 'British' cards are expensive. Most years we have guests for the Day but this year by mutual agreement we are not bothering. The tree will not be decorated and, whilst I may bring fresh greenery in, it will be confined to a few vases and not stuck behind pictures or strewn on tops of bookcases. The jury is still out on what we will do on the Day which is invariably a blue sky sunny one. Every year we've been here so far we have gone down to our village beach in the afternoon and had a smoked salmon and prosecco picnic and that may well happen again as it is such a lovely thing to do. For the rest of it we shall see.......
a great idea to go to the beach and have your smoked salmon and prosecco picnic
lol jilll
I love your description of where your greenery will be and where it will not be. Why do I stick pieces of holly and conifer behind pictures, it usually falls off before Christmas is over. I am going to follow your example and use vases this year. I hope you get to the beach, it sounds idyllic. X
My mother and grandmother were rigid about taking down decorations on 12th Night save for holly which was left in place (behind pictures and mirrors) till Shrove Tuesday. Then it was supposed to be burnt as part of fire which cooked pancakes. Try explaining that to a Turkish village woman who never went to school and now cleans for us! She'll be dusting holly in vases this year.
That's interesting. I've never heard of that tradition before. I'm a 12th night person for all the decorations except for the one I always find long after the others have been put in the loft or thrown away.
X
Clearly the putting the holly on the fire related to cooking ranges - which we did still have in our terraced house in Lancashire when I was born (1948) but I don't actually remember that. As for the leftover decorations - Christmas 2012 my daughter came out with friends including a tall man who hung decorations from our beams. One of the latter (required me to get ladders in to remove, so no chance of that) stayed in place till room was painted in August this year! Same decorating unearthed fossilised holly stuck behind book case.
Thanks for giving me my laugh of the day. Have to have at least one x
hi georgepa
a good thing to do but not with your wife in her current state!
i know what you mean about the handwirtign - mike used to be quite neat and smallish but is now completely unintelligible and i have to type everything, if somewhat dyslexically!
lol jill
You are probably right Jill but then my wife often feels that she is being sidelined so I try to do as many "normal ' things as possible even if it doesn't go to plan .
hi georgepa
i am off to the hairdressers this morning 4 my weekly blow dry as it w as 1 of the first things which i could not do for myself - comb or brush my hair so no bad hair days 4 me1
i shall b organising an online party for end nov / beg dec. are you reADY FOR IT??
LOL JILL
Hand writing! Such a give away hubby,s isvpoor and I write so quick I can't read either next day!
Oh good on you Georgepa,Looks dreadful out there this morning so that maybe our task for the day .Des was taught sign-writing as a boy soldier and even shopping lists looked like a hand writing exam effort,Like your wife he now writes small and sloping when he can be bothered to write at all. sure people who know you will understand an omission and if they don't know you that well they shouldn't expect a card.
I have recently given up lists. In Costa Rica I have never seen anyone at the market come in and run around consulting a list...this used to puzzle me..but now I know that only the Gringos here make lists. The very idea seems to be novel and strange. The problem with my lists was that they would endlessly keep growing. I had the illusion that when I finished my list I could rest. So I tried to run as fast as I could through the lists and of course they never ended so I could never rest. Solution: no more lists.
Jill
Your post reminded me of a thought I had when having a pub lunch with friends. Their wife's were listing the various jobs the husband's were to attend to over the coming few days, and the thought was that there are few upsides to being a widower but losing ones list maker had to be one. That thought was immediately replaced with the overwhelming desire to have my list maker back.
I was also aware how unjust the first thought was. When I became 'chief cook and bottle washer' I found that there was insufficient light over the cooker to see what was going on. I said I couldn't understand why she hadn't mentioned the need for a light, to which she replied "I did, you didn't listen". On reflection that probably wasn't an isolate occasion!!
Celebrate lists and their makers, life is much less fun without them.
Think you all need my list wine for me icecream for Brian antything else is if I remember it Janexx
Sounds right up my street ! ( the wine bit )
Keep that sense of humor going........please! Jimbo
\hi georgep well here is someone who else hates lists mater my wife keeps on to me to make one or two or three I keep saying I don't need them then she reminds me of what I have forgotten which I hate even more I know my memory is not that good now but i guess\ I just hate to be told\\\'' maybe not hate that's a strong word but I dislike it very much c;mon you carers and pspsers what do you reckon about that peter jones queensland Australia psp sufferer
hi peter / pyuyella
a good htign is not to make a list at all - i have one an A4 sheet for when i go away anywhere and everything on the list has to go with me...buy where is it now ? i am unsure /....
good idea to save the lists on the compute then they r always there (until the computer say no!)
lol jill
:=)
hijill well that is a good idea to put it on your computer and leave it there of course then I have to find computer to look at it could not remember if I had answered you or not mate
all jokes aside how are you going along ok I hope peter jones alias puyella psp sufferer
Great lets just abandon lists - when I make them ten to one I won't remember where I put it !
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