Early Christmas

Okay, so I admit that I never look forward to spending time with my family, but when I get there I usually have a good time.
Today, I planned to get the train from Fenchurch Street at about 10:00, but after taking too much time over reading my emails and getting ready, and then getting off the bus too late I didn't get there until 11:05 just missing a train. I eventually got to Lynn's at around midday.
It was goot to see her and the kids:
Arron is exstatic that he is now taller than me, even though he is only 16, and I'm affraid to say he is looking more and more like my brother at his age every time I see him (he is tall, skinny, spotty and has a prominent nose, he is even sporting a 70's hair style too!).
Joe is as eager for attention as always, though I do think he has lost some weight, which he unfortunately needed to.
Connor is less shy now and very energetic and very well coordinated, able to do 1 1/2 back flips continuously on their garden trampolene.
And Molly is still really girly and sweet with it, most of the time.
After getting paid more than I expected this week I was glad that I was able to give each of them £10 for their Christmas presents, but still felt guilty that I couldn't give more, as I usually spend at least £30 on each of them.
Adrian, my brother-in-law also collected his parents to spend the day with us and my other sister Maxine turned up for tea with her boyfriend Lee and his son, also called Arron.
Last of all to turn up was Mikala, my niece, with her other half G and my great-niece Courtney. It was good to see them all too. I've only seen Courtney once before, shortly after she was born, when she was just a wrinkly thing. Now she is beginning to look like a person and is beautiful. She is, unfortunately, suffering from a cough and a temperature and so wasn't pleased of the company. When Lynn was showing Mikala how to administer Courtney's inhaler correctly we all got a shock we could have done without. For the first puff Courtney was either shocked or remembered that she didn't like the inhaler fumes and so she held her breath. She went bright red and sort of slumped in my sisters arms as she passed out almost. The whole room went quiet (for the first time all day), Mikala burst into tears thinking that Courtney was a gonner, and even Maxine (who is a nurse, but with far less experience with kids than Lynn) was in shock almost. Lynn, who has worked on the Special Care Baby Unit for years knew what she was doing and Courtney revived and after three more puffs of the inhaler (where she didn't pass out again) her breathing was much better, and she even began to smile after about an hour. It was a scare that we could all have done without though.
Lynn told me that she is now unemployed as the NHS would not give her the time off she wanted over Christmas, despite giving them notice since August, so she handed her notice in. How ridiculous is that, she has been nursing now for about 20 years and they are willing to throw her experience away over a trivial matter. Hopefully she will be able to get work when she gets back from her trip, if she still can't pursuade Adrian to move to Australia that is!!
As usual, I was dreading the presents that my sisters insist on buying me. I feel really ungrateful slagging the presents off but they are quite often useless items, for me at least. This year I got a robot alarm clock / money box from Maxine, which I cannot shut up without taking the batteries out! I'm 35 for f***s sake!!!! A money box???? And a robot one at that!!!!! Not even a famous robot!!!!
And from Lynn I got a bottle of Southern Comfort (which is a good gift, even though I don't normally drink at ahome), but she also bought me a "teapot-for-one", which is a tiny teapot which sits in it's own cup. Now, apart from it being a reminder that I am on my own, I find this frustratingly amusing as it is the third time that one of my sisters' has bought this item for me in the last few years. I remember the first one was a novelty (though I never used it or any of the counterparts), but I got one the following year from the other sister. Now I have a third one! I gave the other two away to charity shops. This time I think I may sell it on eBay (what a shame that I won't be able to get it to someone by Christmas for them to give as a present! Yes, I know I am an ungrateful git, but I hope you can see my point!
I left at about 22:30 and got home about an hour later after struggling with the tubes.