Bah humbug!

I can trace my Christmas sense-of-humour failure to Thursday.  I took the kids to Santa's Grotto at Ruxley Manor. 

Objectively, the grotto gets a 9.5 out of 10 from me.  Miss A, who was, as usual, impeccably behaved, had a fantastic time.  The "Father Christmas Experience" lasted about an hour and involved singing songs, throwing snowballs at naughty rats (trust me, it made sense at the time), making reindeer food, decorating ornaments, and finally, getting a present from the man in red himself.  I have deducted a 1/2 point from my rating due to the fact that both Miss A and Santa look quite startled in the official photo.

Fortunately, it was not the type of Santa where you lay out your holiday wish list, as Miss A had expressed her intention to ask for a sandwich for Christmas (yes, it was before lunch...).  Santa has already arranged a non-food based gift based on earlier conversations.

My experience, though, was not 9.5/10 for reasons that are entirely my fault.  You see, Istyboo is going through what we might term a "challenging" phase.  If his vocabulary were a bit better, I think he would spend his waking hours shouting "Destroy! Destroy!" interspersed with charming, cheeky smiles. So I spent the hour chasing him around the various sections of the grotto pleading with him to participate in the activities and stop with the smashing.  As a final farewell, when I was finally getting him out of the grotto, he managed to grab the camera lens and twist it out of focus.  That's my boy...

So, feeling mentally bruised and battered, I reacted badly to some minor frustrations on the gift receiving front and threatened tearfully to call off Christmas (I may also be reacting to the stress of trying to get a move organised in six weeks OVER THE HOLIDAYS).  Honestly, what is the best way to deal with gift givers who consistently get stuff you neither need nor want, who have ignored both direct requests and the fact that you have hobbies, who give you things that you will either immediately return or pass on to the charity shop, without acting like a complete asshole?

I recognise that this is a problem akin to "my diamond shoes are too tight" but I get frustrated because it makes me feel like the givers are just fulfilling a perceived obligation as quickly as possible rather than expressing any emotional closeness.

So, advice and happy Christmas thoughts are appreciated.  I've now un-cancelled Christmas, wrapped all the presents now and put on my Christmas Eve Yankee Candle (purchased at Ruxley Manor!) to soothe myself. Bring on the carol services!