I get antsy around this time of year, in that bit just between Xmas and New Year. I can't wait for the tired old year to be gone and to start afresh, even though I know the turning of the new year is just a symbolic thing.

OMG, so much has happened since I last updated. I can't really be bothered to go into detail right now, but my Christmas was good. Nice and relaxing. C and I went to my folks' on Xmas Eve, which turned out to be not-so-stressful. My mum only made one awkward comment (a record!), but other than that we got on fine.

Christmas Day was great! C and I got up late and made scrambled eggs & smoked salmon for breakfast. Then we opened presents: I got loads of nice things, including a coffee maker from my parents which has been going almost non-stop since I got it (I'm a total joe fiend). My sister bought me tons of wine & beer glasses. C bought me a CD and two books.

After breakfast, we went to the pub for a couple of pints and then took a walk in Battersea Park. After that, we went back to my place and cooked turkey & all the usuals. It actually turned out OK (surprisingly!!).

The big news here, however, is... well, a delicate subject. But I've bitched about it enough times for you lot to forgive me. I'm starting the new year without any money worries. On Xmas eve I got an envelope from the company I work for containing my December pay slip and a letter. In the letter was the details of my bonus. All �3250 of it.

After I'd managed to get the coffee out of my lungs and blinked the tears of disbelief away, I phoned my bank's telephone banking line and heard the automatic teller say that I was in credit for the first time since I-can't-remember-when.

So. After the tax man took his chunk, I received an extra �2400 in my pay packet (roughly). �800 to pay off my overdraft. �1000 is going into a savings account that I'm going to open this afternoon - I plan to save it for either a fabulous holiday, or fixing up my delapidated old council-issue bathroom. I'm currently favouring the latter, since I'm not particularly a holiday person, and I really really want a decent shower. But I'm going to leave that money for a while and see how I feel in a couple of months.

And the other �600 is spend!spend!spend! money. Woohoo!!! I have already blown a certain amount on a new bra set from Bravissimo; cocktails at my favourite bar, dinner at my favourite restaurant and a night boogieing to cheesy 80s hits at the Mean Fiddler. I have my eye on a PS2, a vacuum cleaner and new shoes with the rest. But I'm trying not to go too mad since I know it won't last as long as �600 sounds like it should. I'm such a tight-fisted old cow.

I sound so shallow, enthusing over money. But, as C reassured me, it's what I work for, since my job is hardly the kind that "makes a difference" (how I wish it did). And �3250 is a fuck of a lot of money. And I have worked my ass off this year (as well as managing to slack a decent amount *ahem*).

So, sorry for sounding like a greedy bitch. But starting the new year debt-free and with money to spare is something I'm still gobsmacked by. One of my major worries and sources of night-time sleeplessness is just *gone*.

OK, enough about my bank balance.

Apart from all that, C and I haven't done much over Christmas. Lots of staying in bed. A decent amount of shagging. Even more staying in bed. Being up and in the daylight today is actually a bit disconcerting... The only reason I'm up today is because - once C is dressed - we're going up to Clapham Junction so I can talk to the bank about savings accounts, C can send his XW her Xmas present and I can look at cat 'activity centres' for Jerry (she hasn't has a present yet, aaw!).

I can't wait for the new year. Well, I know I have a mountain of work waiting for me on the 6th, but apart from that...

C and I are going to KT's house in Stratford on NYE. We will get drunk and sleep on her bedroom floor, probably while she shags her boyfriend in the bed. It won't be the first time I've pretended to sleep while KT shags someone in my presence (no wonder she calls me her "sex friend"!).

On new year's day, the plan is for C and I to go see 'LOTR:Fellowship of the Ring' at a cinema in Leicester Square. I haven't seen it on video yet, but seeing it at the cinema is much more tempting. Assuming we're actually awake at 8pm on January 1st.

OK, I have to go now. C is half-dressed. And shaved!! Not just his face! Hehehehe ;-)

I shall hopefully return soon with a round-up of 2002. Mostly dealing with my new year's resolutions from last year and how I did with them (quite well, actually). And the ones for this year.

Oh, and I'm fat again. Back to the drawing board on that one. Amazingly, I don't really care :-O

I hope everyone else had a decent Xmas and is planning on getting paralytic for New Year...A

Ciao!