What Christmas means for working mothers

I'm finally getting into the Christmas spirit. The tree is up. My little girl has broken up from nursery (sounds terrifyingly grown up!). The stress is starting and the bank account is fucked to put it bluntly. And I've yet to sort a pub for our 'stress and cooking free' Christmas dinner. Once again it's money and pressure that has prompted me to post this. Although I'm excited about time off and my family being together, I'm terrified at the prospect of not earning for a few days - it always seems to leave a huge dent in the monthly pay cheque. I yearn for the days when you took 5 days paid holiday and got 2 weeks out of the office - care and stress free. One of my companies is being very generous in doing a special festive Christmas payment run so that we get paid before the 25th. I'm hugely grateful to them for it. It's a shame the other firms I work for didn't want to jump on the joyous bandwagon, but I can understand why. I feel the pressure to earn and keep earning is constantly on my back. If I don't, I always fall short the next month - I get stung for bank charges and find myself in the same situation only worse and more peeved the next month. January is a notoriously long and hard and desperate month... I'm just hoping that I've done, and I'm doing enough to ensure that we'll get through Christmas and have a decent cheque in 2009. Sorry to sound so negative but it's reality... I can see why some people dread Christmas. It is in some ways such a happy and giving time; and in others a worry and a necessary evil. I should look at the true meaning of Christmas and be thankful, and I am, I really am. But in modern times it's hard to see it as something other than a money guzzling nightmare.

Treasurer's Treasure! HO HO HO!

Well last night was Bingo night (even though I thought it was tonight - my brain has frozen with most of the UK lately..) and I have to say that I'm converted. I thought it was going to be full of the blue rinse brigade - plus the pikeys from 'the flats' in the village (I'm not a snob but if you saw them you'd understand); and silly youths getting drunk of a bit of festive mulled wine and taking the piss - but it wasn't. Although the pikeys did turn up. I saw a whole other side to the charming village I live in. Some of them reminded me of the weirdos from The Hills Have Eyes - I might have even had nightmares last night. Joking aside it was great. Full of festive cheer, generosity, high spirits and fun. We made a killing for the school and I won a bottle of champagne and some chocolates which will do very well in someone's stocking. Hooray!

I somehow managed to get my head around the money taking aspect and managed to prise a tenner out of most Bingo goers. No mean feat for me despite being the Pre School Treasurer! I also learnt quite a lot of Bingo lingo as we coined it. Eyes down - line - house - specials - on it's own, number one... I had a great time. I'd highly recommend it for a bit of fun, great way of making some cash for a worthy cause, and general living it up. It all goes on in the country.