I love those old black & white Christmas films...


... especially in early November. Amelie's spent the past fortnight coming out with random festive songs at inappropriate moments, as she practices for her nursery's Christmas concert. I'm taking the chance to film them now, as any attempt to do so at the concert is likely to end up forming part of Operation Yewtree. Fortunately I'm getting plenty of opportunities. Amelie seems to think that if she sings about Christmas twenty-four hours a day, people might give her some presents.

And oddly, she's in with a good chance. Six weeks ago, when my parents popped round for some free cake, they brought with them two big bags of birthday gifts for Amelie. It's generosity like that which is dwindling my inheritance. At the time, we were reluctant to let her have them all in one go, partly because she already had quite a few presents, but mainly because we thought we could keep them for ourselves and then sell them all on eBay.

Well ok, we didn't. We did, however, hold back one bag of gifts for the day after her birthday, to extend the celebrations even further.

Unfortunately we forgot to give them to her. I discovered them at the back of the wardrobe on Saturday, along with two boxes of cheese straws that Lisa had bought for the party. My initial reaction was that we should save them all for Christmas (including the cheese straws) and save ourselves a fortune, but having discussed it, Lisa and I were overwhelmed with guilt, and decided to let Amelie have a present every time she's good.

So she's had one since Saturday. It's a nice one though: a box-set of eleven 'Charlie & Lola' DVDs, featuring all eighty episodes. My parents need to rein in their spending or they'll have nothing left to lend me when I can't pay my bills. Naturally, Amelie's over the moon, but it's created an unexpected problem. I took this photo before leaving for work this morning...

If you're wondering why Toby's looking grumpy, it's because I'd just turned off Charlie & Lola. It was the only way to get his attention. The boy's more obsessed than his sister. He's either facing the TV and smiling, or looking at me with a scowl on his face.