Once when I was with friends in central Madrid, one of them (middle-aged male) was leaning against one of the barriers which marked the entrance to a Metro station. It was summer, so he was wearing shorts. A young man approached him and tried to snatch his wallet, which could be seen sticking out of the front pocket.

Ten of of 10 to the young man for audacity and cheek, but I've no idea how he thought he could succeed!

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''He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Jim Elliot

Spare a thought for the dilemna of one of my colleagues. Her son is celebrating his 7th birthday today. Unbeknownst to her, he knew where she had stashed his presents (under the spare room bed). By 6am this morning he had opened all of his birthday presents - but also all of his Christmas presents which had been wrapped and placed in the same place. On the plus side, he announced she was the best mum ever for buying him so many great presents. On the minus side, he still believes in Father Christmas so she is struggling to work out how she can explain that some of the presents were for Christmas (why whould FC deliver them so early before Christmas Eve???) or with the dliemna as to whether she now needs to buy him some additional presents for Christmas...

I reckon he deserves to be undeceived re Father Christmas after that .

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"And I'm sure there was blood in the gutter from somebody's head, or else it was the sunset in a puddle."

Oh no! Don't undeceive him - I still remember the huge disappointment I felt when my 'best' friend told me that Father Christmas was really my Daddy. Can she persuade him that Father Christmas will only bring a few more small things in his stocking since he was so fortunate to get such a lot of lovely things for his birthday, and there are lots of other children who haven't just had that?

Mind you I wasn't much better when I was a little younger than your colleague's son. I got out of bed very early on Christmas morning and unwrapped all the presents under the tree, regardless of whose name was on the parcel (possibly I couldn't read), leaving my mother with the nightmare of how to thank the right people for the presents. With hindsight, I'm not sure why she didn't just explain what I'd done instead of risking offending people by thanking them for the wrong gift. Suffice to say that for many years after that, the door of the Living Room was locked on Christmas Eve and only unlocked after breakfast the following day when we were allowed in under supervision!

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A schoolgirl answered the question 'In what countries are elephants found?'
'Elephants are very large and intelligent animals, and are seldom lost.'

I cried when I was undeceived! I was about thirteen and to be honest I was only really telling myself that he was real even though everyone at school had woken up by then!

I feel so grown-up! I've sent off my UCAS application and had two offers already!

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The teenage brain can be summed up in the three Fs: Fun, Friends and Food.

Everyone's mad but thee and me, and thee's a little mad...

My Blog: A Way with Words - A Note on Developing Style, under yet another alias.

Ooh, nice one Josie!

I find it hard to feel sentimental about belief in Father Christmas, possibly because my mum took me to see one when I was about three and I was so terrified that I screamed and screamed and in the end she had to explain to me that it was just a man in a costume and there was No Such Person. And then, you know, swear me to the deadliest secrecy so that I wouldn't undeceive all my friends .

ETA: It didn't spoil my childhood joy in christmas in the least! We still left out mince pies and brandy for Father Christmas and a carrot for the reindeer...

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"And I'm sure there was blood in the gutter from somebody's head, or else it was the sunset in a puddle."

Congratulations, Josie - what a great way to round off the year!

Congratulations Josie.

I can remember my mum being very cross with me when I was about 6, because I told my sister (then that Father Christmas didn't exist and she got really upset.

However, by then we had two younger brothers, so mum insisted that we carry on pretending for their sakes, which we did for several years.

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''He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Jim Elliot

There probably isn't time now, but just in case - a number of little and inexpensive presents (especially if they can be themed in some way, like in his favourite colour, or beginning with his initial) can be quite exciting to unwrap, especially if enclosed in a container of some kind labelled '(name's) Christmas Box', even if it's just a gift bag or a cardboard box. I do feel her pain - SLOC's birthday is just a fortnight after Christmas, and he isn't that easy to buy presents for. I spend most of the time from mid-November in a state of mild panic about it anyway... what I'd do if I had to start again half way through doesn't bear thinking of!

Happy New Year everyone, hope you all have a good start to 2018

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'An adventure was one thing. But an adventure without something to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all'
Enid Blyton, The Valley of Adventure

Happy New Year!

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Rockin'.

A little late, but nevertheless, Happy New Year Everyone.

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''He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Jim Elliot

Happy New Year - has anyone made a resolution or, like me, can't be bothered?

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The teenage brain can be summed up in the three Fs: Fun, Friends and Food.

Everyone's mad but thee and me, and thee's a little mad...

My Blog: A Way with Words - A Note on Developing Style, under yet another alias.

Nope. I'm determined to remove as many expectations of myself as I possibly can, including not having any expectations.

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"And I'm sure there was blood in the gutter from somebody's head, or else it was the sunset in a puddle."

Our local radio DJ said his resolution is the same as last year and had been successful; it was NOT to make any resolutions!

I have two, or really one when it comes down to it:

Be healthier in both mind (because I am a stress head) so look into going some meditation or mindfulness and be healthier in body (i.e stop eating so much junk food, cook at least once a week, watch my portion sizes etc).

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Every life is both ordinary and extraordinary – it is the respective proportions of those two categories that make that life appear interesting or humdrum.
William Boyd//Any Human Heart

I have one - try and make this year better than last year. It is definitely achievable.

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Rockin'.

Happy New Year everyone and congratulations to Someone The Younger.

I don't usually bother too much with resolutions but trying to be kinder and more positive.

Happy new year!

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Wishes the land of Merlin and magic was real

This morning, after analysing my own thought processes, I realised that something somebody did recently made me feel like a three year old. Now I feel rather pissed off. Yay.

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Rockin'.