I feel very lucky this Christmas.

dont know you m8, but i hope you have a top christmas, and that that dont happen,on the steptoe and son front.

Great stuff.

:)

Thanks guys. :)
All the best to you both.

And Alaivan is likely to bolt up and make your antepost voucher look good :D

Good stuff. Enjoy your family, never know what's round the corner.

Nice one. I'm sort of at the opposite end of the scale - having my first christmas away from my kids. I'm lucky enough to be seeing them for a few hours on Friday. My son rang me earlier to say he didn't have any money for a present, so could he just give me a hug, which was a bit of a heartbreaker! (and no, he's not 34 before some comedian pipes up!)

HRH.
That's great. A hug from your son is better than any present.

Too right TTF. My words exactly.

HRH.
We broke up when mine was 2. But I've never wavered. Always coughed up cash, been to sports games, paid for school trips abroad, never missed parents evenings, taken him on hols and day trips, the lot.
And he really appreciates that now, so my advice to all dads is to stick at it. I was lucky enough for his mum to be reasonable, and I know not all are.
I'm sure you'll have a great time Friday. :)

Have you met his new boyfriend yet ..

Have a great Crimbo T2F and Young T2F

Cheers. Merry Christmas to you, I am sure you are looking forward to raising a glass (legally!) with your son over a christmas dinner.

All the best T2F have a great xmas



Hope you have time to do your placepot Boxing Day :D

nice thread

have a nice xmas

killing me reading this, my son in afghanisthan until april the worry and him not been here is quite unbearable

Panglima.
I've picked them already and posted them on the PP Comp thread.
He'll get up at 11am like most students, so I'll be ok. :)

PDC.
All the best to you and your son.
The lads over there are doing a great job.

i just wish you all a great xmas though, good will to you all enjoy it it is a great time for bringing familys together

cheers ten cant tell you how much i am missing him

Heartwarming stuff, Ten2. Enjoy Xmas with your lad. :)

pdc - all the best. You heard much since he was posted?

hrh he is in sangin 3 rifles, he knew 1 of the lads who was killed in the suicide bombing last week, he is in the same base . last we heard of him was last saturday he told us there would be no contact for 2 weeks at least he was going to a different base and out on them foot patrols my head is doing somersaults another lad died there yesterday from the same regiment, its really difficult to cope with

pdc

Bloody hell. Can't imagine for a minute what you must be going through. I bet you are climbing the walls and your christmas will only be when he's home safe and sound - I hope that is soon.

Good fred and i wish you well pdc.

All you need to know about teenage kids is that their friends are the most important people in the world too them, just try to fit in around that. gl.

PDC try to remember your son has had the best training going and deep down he wants to be out there doing his patriotic duty and testing himself.

You have to remember that your son is now a man who will be looked after by old sweats who have been there and know the score.

Best wishes and in 5 months time when he is buying you your drink down the boozer,get him to stick a fiver on Hearts on the fixed odds ;)

april is my xmas time hrh , and in answer to your question yes i am climbing the walls , his mother and grandmother are having it worse though thanks for your thoughts mate hope you and your family have the best xmas ever

Whos cooking Ten2? ;)

pdc, all the best for christmas.

hearts once again thanks for the kind words , you put my mind to rest a few weeks back when he left these shores for which i am forever grateful , but putting a fiver on hearts could be a bigger minefield than the streets of afghanistan so i think i will keep him well clear of this bum steer you are sending him on, sseriously though thanks to everyone on here with kind words which are some comfort in testing times i will keep you all posted on progress fom time to time . we are all strangers who dont know each other but it is good to know that people care

cheers joe have a good un yourself mate

but putting a fiver on hearts could be a bigger minefield than the streets of afghanistan

:^0 :^0

to fecking true,feck the taliban :p

good 1 hearts

hey guys I hope everything works out ok for you all and that you have a great Christmas

pdc

All the best and roll on April.

Burt - good to see you back :)

it could be worse hearts you could have been brought up supporting sheff wed like me and all my family do, now that is 1 burden no man should ever have to shoulder

^ strangley enough they used to be a good team to watch when I was relly into football,chris waddle (my favourite) and what was the name of your ex-centre half who got put up front and could'nt stop scoring ? :)

they were good to watch imo.

paul warhurst, we were brilliant to watch then sadly no longer the case

thats the lad,memories :)

We should all raise a glass to pdc, and his son.
And everyone who won't see their kids.
And everyone else. :)

ten2 correct m8,we all sometimes take things for granted,cheers to all who are absent :)

thats all we have to live on down hillsborough these days. who wants to be a man utd or a chelsea anyway winning all the time , you can see what it does to them they think its their divine right to not lose ,rather sad imho

here here ten ,to all the lads over there i will now go into the fridge and crack a bottle to all lads in the forces wherever you may be and i hope they will all come home safely

and lasses lets not forget the lassies too

yep lots of females doing their bit.

top little post mate.. whether were all cynical bitter swines or not on here :)

christmas is a time for families..

im away from my good wife til march but after that it will all be good..

hope you all have a top few days and those that are punting i hope you have already purchased all your presents :)

big-game why are you and your wife apart ?

Yes, cheers all.

The 'They knew what they were getting in to before they signed up' brigade would do well to read this thread from a parents perspective.

big game player dont know your circumstances with missus if shes in forces or not but hope you to have a great xmas. ps still some pressies to buy tomorrow not because i am levels from gambling but i just wouldnt be a man if i didnt have presents to but on xmas eve , sure you know the dance mate

she is an aussie and has gone back h ome to sort everything out and i had to apply for the residency visa which i got in three days :)

and i have to sort work out as i can do my job remotely and they are letting me go over there and do it..

and thanks ppl.. nice words

:)

hehe cheers :)

they are entitled to their opinions imho hrh, but iam telling it to you from a parents perspective as you say,he is 20 yrs old and i cant tell him what to do, but that doesnt mean i dont worry about him i, i cant put reigns on him and tie him to his bedroom radiator, wish i had though now lol , anyway if the tallys dont get him i can assure you he is gonna get 1 almighty rollocking when he gets back for putting us all through this as they say KIDS WHO WOULD HAVE EM,well i for 1 couldnt live without mine , whatever they put me through.

A truly heart warming thread.

I wish you all the very happiest of Christmases.

top thread and lets keep that way

thinking of all the boys and girls on duty aswell

they are doing a great job


merry christmas

T2F, you started a great thread mate, I hope, and am sure that you will, have a great day.

PDC, I think this is gut-wrenching for us reading it, God only knows what it must be like for you and you're family at the moment. If collective prayers and crossed fingers count for anything, he'll be OK.

tommy ,welshie hoss thanks for the kind words , best wishes for you all this christmas hope you and your familys have the best xmas ever

Not long now.
All the best everyone.

I'm surrounded by family every christmas but still feel lonely :(

Big family gathering yet I only get on well with 1 of my relatives, how depressing.

Too many people around does end up with that feeling.

I guess it's better than being alone, I should be grateful.

Not sure about that.

You can have a room full of fools but you are interested in maybe one or 2 of them. Then you think you would being enjoying yourself more by chatting on betfair ;)

I am spending tomorrow at work for seven hours (from 4am-11am), then I'll be on my own for the rest of the day.

And do you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way!

My mum lives 200 miles away and she'll be spending the day with my sister and her fella, both of whom are twunts. I have hardly said a word to either of them (and I missed their wedding in the meantime) since Christmas Day 2004, when he told me to "Fúck off and take your **íng dogs with you."

My life is immeasurably better since I stopped pretending I liked them, and I can't think of anything worse than having to spend Christmas Day with them.

I know some people feel very lonely at this time of year, and I have sympathy for them, but I enjoy my own company and I am looking forward to tomorrow.

Yea maybe. I just end up thinking "am I really related to all these people?"

They couldn't be more different, I have nothing in common other than the (Northern) Irish alcoholism :^0

you can come around my mums tomorrow m&p ;)

I like my own company. Boxing day ritual is that i have to visit my grandparents which isnt all that bad but it ruins a good day.

I'm off work on Boxing Day, so I'll be drinking and going to a local non-league game (if the weather doesn't put paid to it).

A mate invited me round to his house for dinner tomorrow with him and his parents, but he only mentioned it when he was píssed and I'd rather spend the day here with the dogs. I've got ten bottles of wine, enough food to feed an army and a full Sky+ box, so I'll keep myself occupied.

As I said, lots of people are lonely at this time of year. My mum was with someone at hospital last week and they overheard a nurse telling a patient that his physio wasn't working and so he needed to have an operation.

"Will I be in here over Christmas?"

"Oh no. The operation will be in the New Year."

"Oh that's a shame. I wouldn't have minded being here for Christmas."

"Oh that's a shame. I wouldn't have minded being here for Christmas."

:)

I used to have a distant relative who lived in a home and used to love going into hospital at Xmas, seriously, as long a s it wasn't too serious!

M & P.
Hope you have a great day.