10 December 2011

Look to the future now, It's only just begun

I've spent too much of today on the phone to work and not nearly enough helping out with the boys.

They found some wrapping paper when we were out - it was a photo of bookshelves. So they carefully cut them out and made us some literary paper chains. Very highbrow.


They also got the basic start of a wreath. Mycroft is for tasteful decoration involving ribbon and possibly buying some small baubles. Sherlock is all about tinsel, glitter, spiders, ninjas, stars...the list goes on. And there's trouble brewing over what goes on top of the tree.

I'm not quite sure when we'll get the rest of the decorations and the tree. I don't mind waiting until next weekend, really.

The office is already filling with bad taste decorations. dangling about everywhere, baubles and tinsel in the cheese plants, gaudy santas on the doors. Completely incongruous sparkly banners around the case boards, surround photos of dead bodies.

'Tis the season to be jolly...

57 comments:

dw said...

Are the two of you alright? You sound exhausted and Doc's been silent all day.

It hasn't really felt like Christmas time yet and I haven't figured out why.

Greg Lestrade said...

Yeah, I'm okay - well, a bit tired. John's just been running around after the boys all day, still pretending he's fine.

Doesn't really feel like it to me, either. But the evidence is mounting to suggest it is.

REReader said...

Go into a store and you'll be convinced, always assuming you aren't trampled underfoot. :)

About the top of the tree--maybe Mrs. Holmes has something that could/should go there in storage somewhere? It can't hurt to ask.

Greg Lestrade said...

Doesn't make me feel festive though, RR, just vaguely annoyed.

We can ask. Or the boys can make somehing. I just don't have the energy to referee the arguments.

REReader said...

Oh, you want festive! You're on your own. :)

If I were to guess, I'd say it was a combination of a boatload of one-thing-after-another, not enough sleep, and everyone needing a real day off from everything. If at all possible, you should all do something very silly tomorrow--right out of the city if you can manage it, and are all feeling up to it.

And the reason I suggested asking Mrs H about a tree topper is if she has something from the family, it might cut out the arguing. As well as being special.

Anon Without A Name said...

We don't have a star or an angel or whatever for our tree (we're too secular for that...); I usually just make sure that there's one light right at the top. But that might seem a bit minimalist and boring for the boys.

John H. D. Watson said...

I think I shall force them to make something together. It'll be good for them. They can do it tomorrow while I sit around and drink hot lemon.

REReader said...

You can remind Sherlock of how well the pond came out when they used everyone's best ideas together.

(And maybe Mycroft can decorate his own room tastefully. So he'll have a refuge from glitter.)

Greg Lestrade said...

Nameless - Mycroft would like minimalist. Sherlock wants...well, it changes minute to minute, getting more and more elaborate. The entire Milky Way on a stick or something, by now, I expect.

RR - I don't think we're really decorating much apart from the sitting room. But the boys could do their own rooms.

Danger - want a hot toddy?

John H. D. Watson said...

Yes please. And bed shortly afterward.

Anon Without A Name said...

Yeah, I'm not sure that "less is more" is a concept that appeals to the six-year-old mind. Even a genius six-year-old.

All of this reminds me that I really ought to check whether our lights are working at all. (I find myself getting very middle-aged and grumpy about the lack of easily findable replacement bulbs for our lights that are only - only! - twenty years old). It would make a nice change to know before we buy a tree and start decorating it.

John - are you feeling any better?

REReader said...

Hope you get some solid sleep in tonight, guys--and feel much more the thing tomorrow.

And if you'd like something enormously silly but indoors for tomorrow, may I recommend "The Compleat Works of Wllm Shakespeare (Abridged)" by The Reduced Shakespeare Company? I imagine you can download it if you haven't got it on hand, and there is nothing educational or stuffy about it at all. Knowledge of Shakespeare optional.

Night night!

John H. D. Watson said...

Nameless - not as such. I think not doing much tomorrow will probably help.

Desert Wanderer said...

Sleep well, guys. Have a good day tomorrow.

Greg Lestrade said...

Cheers DW, RR.

I feel bad - like we're shortchanging the boys by not chucking ourselves into the Christmas fray. And being a bit useless for Mycroft now he's home again.

Anon Without A Name said...

I'm sure Mycroft would rather have you both fit and well for most of his time home, than pushing yourselves too hard now and feeling worse later. And it certainly sounds as if Sherlock is doing enough Christmas fraying for all of you, for now :-)

Have a good night guys.

REReader said...

I hesitate to state the obvious--but you are THERE, that's the main thing. You've got quite a bit of time for you all to do some fun stuff together.

And you are also there for him to talk with, when and if he wants, and that's huge.

Greg Lestrade said...

Yeah.

Thanks.

REReader said...

((hugs))

Now get some sleep.

Greg Lestrade said...

I will join Danger in bed as soon as I've finished the last of the tidying. I hate it when the boys get up to find the place still in a mess.

just a few bits of crockery to go away, then I'll be done.

Desert Wanderer said...

Better than you trying to fake it, Lestrade. And it's an important lesson for the two of them to learn--that they're not a burden to the two of you, and that they matter to you no matter how you're feeling about anything else. There's not much worse than feeling like someone only pretends to love you out of obligation.

Greg Lestrade said...

True. They are definitely not a burden. They're both wonderful to be around.

And we're absolutely not here out of obligation.

I think we just both put a lot of pressure on ourselves.

REReader said...

I'd tell you to stop (pressuring yourselves) if I thought it would make the slightest difference.

Since it won't, I won't waste my breath.

(You really shouldn't let yourselves be bullied that way. :))

SLEEP!

Rider said...

I suspect neither of you have had a family Christmas with family quite like this. But remember neither have Sherlock or Mycroft.

So you are all making it up as you go along.

REReader said...

I hope you're all sleeping in and don't see it for ages, but good morning! I hope everyone is feeling a lot better and more relaxed today... :)

REReader said...

I could have sworn I wished you all a good morning a few hours ago, when I was going to bed, but it seems to have vanished onto the ether. So... Good morning, and I hope everyone is feeling better/happier/more relaxed today!

Greg Lestrade said...

sorry RR, they'd gone into the spam filter.

...I very much hesitate to add that I saw the first one when it came in via email, almost came here to reply, but then thought you'd tell me off for being up, so I didn't. Otherwise I'd have noticed then!

I think we're going to head out for a walk, once John has every warm bit of clothing we can find applied to his body (he's still refusing to be ill enough to stay on the sofa. Mind you, getting out for a bit, gentle walk for us, mad scramble for the boys and dogs, might do him good.)

Desert Wanderer said...

Now I have a mental image of the Doc like the little boy in "A Christmas Story" who has so many clothes on to go out he can't put his arms down.

Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW4IZ0Flh3M

Hope the walk is lovely. I'm sure the boys and dogs will enjoy it.

Greg Lestrade said...

Oh, and I thought he just liked having his arm around me...your explanation is actually more likely. He didn't say anything though. Well...I suppose it would've been hard with three scarves wrapped around his face, and a balaclava.

He's on the sofa with a blanket and a dog now. Asleep next to some now-cold lemon and honey.

Desert Wanderer said...

Still "not ill," then. But is he less "not ill" than before? How was the walk? I bet Mycroft and Sherlock are enjoying being together again. Have you guys gotten a tree yet?

Greg Lestrade said...

I think he's putting up a valiant fight...he just needs rest, I think. He doesn't seem to have got any worse than a sore throat yet. No hacking coughs or stuffed up sinuses. So maybe he can fight it off without getting worse.

The walk was nice. Sherlock managed to get muddier than the dogs, which was quite impressive.

The boys are still in the 'honeymoon' stage where Sherlock actually listens to Mycroft, and they're still doing things together, which is good.

I fear tomorrow though. Sherlock keeps planning things. I keep interjecting with 'you can do that after school/at the weekend' and the looks I'm getting back are darker by the minute.

REReader said...

Ha! You're quite right, Lestrade, I'd definitely have scolded--eventually. Not that It would have had much moral force, as I should have been asleep both times, and did go to sleep after, both times. :)

Sounds like the walk was a good idea all around.

And I'm strongly suspect that you're quite right about tomorrow. (I'm sure it feels dreadfully unfair to him, and I can't think that a comparison of hours in school will make it seem fairer.)

When is Sherlock giving you his private, correctly played concert?

REReader said...

Did I get caught in the spam filter again?

Greg Lestrade said...

You did. I don't know what;s going on with it.

I think we're getting Sherlock's concert tonight. He's under very strict instructions about not waking John up at he moment.

As for tomorrow...I'd rather be facing down murderers. I hope John is up to the fight.

REReader said...

The filter just doesn't like me. :(

I don't envy either of you. How much longer is his school open?

Greg Lestrade said...

I think they knock off at the end of the week. Possibly halfway through the week after.

The term dates have mysteriously disappeared off the fridge. I can only assume Sherlock thinks this will help him in his fight to convince us he doesn't have to go.

REReader said...

But surely, if you don't know his term is over, you'll just have to keep bringing him? That won't help him. *shakes head*

Greg Lestrade said...

I imagine a forgery will appear before the day is out.

REReader said...

It would be Unfortunate if it didn't match what Mrs. T tells you at the school performance, I would imagine. So I'm sure it will.

Anon Without A Name said...

I personally would think it prudent to avoid finding out how a slightly under-the-weather and thus lacking in patience John would react to such a blatant attempt to mislead him. I suspect there would be shouting-without-shouting and Grade One Looks.

Yep, that's definitely something I'd avoid, if it were up to me.

REReader said...

*nods*

One of several outcomes that would be deemed Unfortunate.

REReader said...

Of course, if it disappeared just so important dates like the show and the last day of class could be decorated, that would be a different matter altogether.

Sherlock said...

If Mycroft's at home I should be too it's not fair and Lestrade says life isn't fair and that's true but this is MORE not fair and I should just stay at home and look after John and then he'd get better.

REReader said...

It is more not fair, and pointing out that it's not for very long doesn't make it any less unfair. Even though Mycroft doesn't get alone time with John practically every day and Mycroft doesn't have a cool not-yet-frog pond at his school and Mycrift doesn't get to bake things in the evenings and on weekends. I know it still feels horridly unfair anyway.

But I think John would be upset if you were at home instead of at school because that would mean he's disrupting your schedule, and he'd stay sick longer from worrying. So maybe you could just tell Mycroft how to take care of John best instead.

X said...

Sherlock, I've been in the same situation before myself with my sister getting out of school a week before me. It doesn't seem fair, I admit, but think of it this way: is it fair that you get to spend so much more time with John and Lestrade than Mycroft does since he's away at school? Is it fair to make John tire himself out more arguing with you about going to school?

Unfortunately, things are very rarely fair. I know it won't make you happy to do so, but if you go to school without a fuss tomorrow you'll be doing something very nice for Lestrade and John. Maybe think of it that way instead of in terms of fairness and it will help.

REReader said...

(Apologies for mistyping your name that time, Mycroft.)

Anon Without A Name said...

Sherlock, Lestrade's right when he says life isn't always fair. But just think, Mycroft doesn't get to be at home when you are - every evening, every weekend. So it seems that this is balancing things out a bit? Mycroft gets to spend some time with John next week, and you get to spend time with John every day.

Perhaps you could ask Mrs T tomorrow if you can make John a Get Well Soon card? I'm sure he'd like that.

(PS - the captcha just said "wings". Perhaps it's trying to send you a messgae?)

Anon Without A Name said...

Ah, while I was writing all that (and getting distracted watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), X said it better than I did :-)

Greg Lestrade said...

You're all saying it very well.

And when I just asked Sherlock if he'd go to school without any fuss he said 'Spose', which is the most positive I've had all day...there is hope!

Desert Wanderer said...

Sherlock is a kind and thoughtful guy. I'm sure he'll do the right thing, one way or another. :)

Nony Mouse x said...

The last week of school is always the best anyways!! We never used to do any proper work, it was all waching videos and Christmas parties :D oh to be young again! My last week at uni before the holidays will be full of assessments and grumpy, over tired tutors ): x

John H. D. Watson said...

L - remember you asked how many people we were feeding for Christmas? I have just posted the answer. Brace yourself before you read it.

Greg Lestrade said...

right....

Come here. let me brace myself against you.

John H. D. Watson said...

Any time.

Greg Lestrade said...

Mmmm...might need more bracing. Or at least backup...as I attempt to persuade Sherlock it is school tomorrow, and therefore bedtime now...

John H. D. Watson said...

It's definitely bedtime now. If he doesn't want to sleep, you can put me to bed instead.

Greg Lestrade said...

right. and you me. So he can cause chaos all he wants as long as we sleep through it. Hah.

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