Festive and Forty !

So, two weeks till Christmas and I've had a really busy week, what with Christmas shopping, school plays, the school disco, no not mine ( for which I was required to buy a black 70's catsuit for my 9 yr old !) and general 'Mum and wife' stuff. But hey it's all good so far and in the grand scheme of things I'm all ready for Christmas.....well nearly !

But you know what, in 4 days time there's an event which is even more important than the birth of Christ...well anyway it's more important to me, if not the Catholic church. This year, on this Saturday at precisely 12.17am on December 17th 2011 I shall turn the grand old age of 40 ! Now, that's a whopping great decade older than 30 and at the rate time flies by these days, it's only 10 short years from me becoming 50 ! Oh god, how has this happened? How did my babies grow to be 16 and 9 without me even noticing and what's more how will I feel? Am I going to embrace my 40's or instead fear them? Well knowing myself fairly well now (this comes with age) I reckon I'll probably do both, but with a very conscious effort to err on the side of embracement !

Having a Birthday a week before Christmas has always been a little tough. It's just close enough to the 'big day' to be slightly overlooked but then again its not actually Christmas Eve or Christmas Day where everyone makes a special fuss of you out of pity! So try as I might, I always feel a little selfish for wanting a fuss but the sad fact is that my Birthday often slips by without much pomp and ceremony......


So anyway, this year, being a 'special one' I was kind of hoping for a massive celebration, a surprise party, maybe a pink limo waiting to whisk me off to ....well anywhere really??  but sadly Mr PB isn't really into arranging anything on that large a scale, so instead we've settled on us and 4 close friends having a meal, then onto the Comedy Store in Manchester. After which we'll stagger aboard the 10.10pm train home and be snuggled up in bed and asleep by 11pm !

So after much deliberation and searching, we finally found a restaurant that could fit us in for an early dinner, what with it being the last Saturday before Christmas and the fact that we expect royal treatment at such short notice! So we book, only to find unsurprisingly, that the menu is, yep you've guessed it, a 'Christmas one'! No doubt the table will be decorated in a Christmas theme complete with crackers, streamers and paper hats but choice is certainly 'off the menu'! One thing is for sure, I shall insist on Birthday cake....well it's an excuse to eat even more cake at Christmas ! The staff will be made up of students freshly back from their studies and working their temp jobs over Christmas. The service will probably be either too slow and dire or too fast as they rush us in order to  prepare for a party of 20 drunken work colleagues out on their annual Christmas bash! Do I really mind, hell no, I'll be with my loved ones and we'll be celebrating MY BIRTHDAY  and you know what, I'll feel loved and happy. Besides seriously, who on God's earth can compete with the birth of this Jesus guy....no not little 40 yr old PoshBird me ! Hey and if I don't have an amazing time then there's always alcohol to help me through...but careful, just not too much cause at my age I can't handle the hangovers anymore !

So the night booked, today I'm thinking about what I'm gonna wear on Saturday and trying to decide what will 'suit' my 40yr old body ? So I'm only small ( 5ft or age 13yr on the M&S height chart) and size wise I'm ok-ish although if I were 2 inches taller my height to weight ratio would be just perfect. Consequently I find myself standing naked looking at myself in the full length mirror and pondering how did my body get to look like this? Having Christmas on my mind, I start to think how my boobs ( and remember I've breast fed 2 kids ) are looking somewhat like deflated balloons at the end of an office party, and where once my thighs were so toned I could crack walnuts between them, I can only see slightly flabby legs with knees which themselves 'crack' if I bend down too quickly ! My arms are doing their utmost to cultivate 'bingo wings' but on a positive I don't really have any wrinkles...well not yet! Oh crap, maybe I ought to put in my contacts and have another look ....but then again, I quite like this soft focus image of myself. You know with my lenses in I look a little tired, but hey as a busy Mum I suppose I am and entitled to be. So why oh why when my kids are at the age of sleeping through the night, and I need every nano second of beauty sleep, can I not make it through 8 hrs without having to wake up for a wee? I'm 40 yrs old and yet I'm still sleep deprived !

As the afternoon passes, my mind drifts to the new Wii game I bought Little Miss H for Christmas, Just Dance 3 and I figure I can tone up my legs and arms playing that over the festive holidays. That said, in the interests of me.... I'd better make sure I've added Tena Lady to the Christmas shopping list, seeing as my 40yr old pelvic floor is a little short on muscles these days...suppose that brings a whole new dimension to playing on the Wii ..hey?!

Now I don't want to sound like a real whinge about becoming 40 or even having a Christmas Birthday. Most of you know that I adore Christmas and in fact very occasionally a friend will tell me that I'm a little 'cracker' at which my face lights up with a twinkle and there's a brightness in my eyes akin to that of my many Christmas fairy lights. But I've got to face it, I'm going to hit 40 and well, my hair is curly and as I've gotten older it's become more so ( probably due to the wiriness of the greys ) but being 40 I'm confident and comfortable in my own skin. I no longer feel the pressure to have freshly washed and perfect hair every morning and I can get away only washing it 4 times a week; or plonking a hat upon my head !

Winter is my favourite time of year and in fact the last two years it's snowed on my Birthday, thus creating the most magical fairytale scene outside my window on MY special day ! My day is mine, and generally family and friends are in good spirits on my Birthday so it's a fun and happy time, with lots of yummy food and drinks. In fact, these days, I'm mostly less stressed and I've also learnt that things don't have to be perfect all the time, life and people and kids just aren't and neither should they be.

So anyway I'm really looking forward to my 40th Birthday and I don't even mind if my presents come wrapped in Christmas paper, or I get a joint gift for Birthday and Christmas. Honestly I'll be happy with whatever I receive. In fact my Birthday will be a celebration of starting my 5th decade, and still being healthy and sane. Hey and you know what, my family love me and I'm pretty much liked by those that know me, so I really don't wish for anything more.........