PRESENTTENSE
Hours spent shopping, wrapping gifts and racing to various kids activities can turn this month into the nightmare before Christmas NICOLA’S STORY
NICOLA Dalby spends the equivalent of at least a day on preparations for Christmas.
The 42-year-old works full-time as a manager and lives in Ayrshire with partner Graeme, 44, a motor trader and their sons, Gage, 11, Sonny, eight and Ray, five.
She said: “It’s just so busy in the run-up to Christmas.
“There is the school Christmas fair, nativity shows and church concert. There are also all the permission slips, forms and payments to organise for the pantos, fairs, Christmas lunches and nativities. We do some sort of Christmas Santa activity and there are Christmas parties through work.”
Nicola said evenings are taken up going through the children’s Christmas lists and shopping online.
She added: “Grannies don’t know what to get the kids so you do their shopping for the kids as well.
“Then there’s shopping for Christmas dinner and I’ll probably spend a couple of hours doing the tree. Then you have end of the year activities such as swimming galas. I would say it all takes at least the equivalent of a day to do everything.
“I don’t do the wrapping until Christmas Eve, which takes around three hours.
“That’s probably when the Christmas boozing comes in too as I’ll have a drink when I’m wrapping the presents in a oner.
“I love Christmas – it’s great when you’ve got little kids, although sometimes it takes a bit of the sparkle off when you think of the chores.”