Thats all that over with for another year. And I’m banned from buying the presents or having anything to do with buying the presents from this year forward.

I admit to struggling to get the wife something, so when she said just get me bath stuff I thought it would be easier…

And when the kids chipped in to get her something and it turned out to be a vacuum cleaner she couldn’t hide her disappointment.

I just hope you all had a good day. And that you got what they thought you wanted, and not what they thought you deserved.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers doesn’t need to tell the support he’s got Celticitis, when he popped out yesterday, the symptoms were obvious.

The Belfast Telegraph were with him…

Celtic’s Brendan Rodgers in Christmas Day visit to NI Hospice bearing £26k gift from Hoops

Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers gave up some of his family Christmas Day celebrations to lend a helping hand to the charity that is closest to his heart.

The Northern Ireland Hospice ambassador spent yesterday morning visiting the patients, their families and staff in the Belfast centre.

During his visit the Carnlough man also announced a surprise Christmas present of £26,000 from himself and the first team squad at Parkhead.

Since becoming an ambassador earlier this year, the 43-year-old has made several visits to the adult and children’s hospices, as well as running in the Belfast City Marathon for the charity back in May.

The Hoops manager lost his mother and father to cancer in the space of a year.

His father Malachy died in 2011 at the age of 59, and was cared for by the NI Hospice in his final days.

NI Hospice president and news broadcaster Paul Clark joined Brendan on his visit to yesterday.

As has been the tradition for many years, Paul and his family spent time at the hospice on Christmas Day, visiting patients and staff, alongside a team of volunteers who make special cocktails, sing carols and help to create a festive and joyous spirit at what is an extremely difficult time for many of the patients.

Speaking during his visit yesterday, Brendan said that seeing patients, families and staff at the hospice had “once again been a humbling experience” for him.

“On today of all days, the visit serves as a poignant reminder to me, and hopefully everyone out there, of the importance of spending quality time with family and loved ones,” he said.

It’s not what you say, its what you do that maketh a man . If you want to add a few bob to the hospice fund, you can do it here..

ni-hospice-donation

Celtic were in Hamilton at lunchtime on Saturday, and despite having Calum McGregor sent off for two bookable offences, the first when referee Willie Collum spotted one of his laces undone, which was followed up shortly after when Collum saw him trying to fasten them, the hoops managed a 3-0 lead in what can best be described as difficult  conditions.

The weather was bad as well, with Storm Barbara wreaking havoc all over the west of Scotland, which made intricate passing and entertaining football a little more difficult than usual.

The groundstaff at Hamiltons New Douglas Park did their best, with an innovation on spectator comfort that may yet catch on and even rival the safe standing section at Celtic Park.

Celtics goals were all examples of excellence. See, i was only kidding about MacGregor getting booked over his laces. He was sent off for the sublime forward ball which sent Leigh Griffiths clear to score the opener, and by showing what he was capable of, Collum intervened to give Hamilton a chance.

Stuart Armstrongs top corner sizzler in the second half and Moussa Dembele’s cool finish-he had come on for Griffiths, who had a tight calf ,- please, I’ll do the jokes-, to give Hamilton a chance.

Collums performance in the middle wasn’t as bad as it could have been, and he has to be congatulated for spotting the assistance given to Scott Brown when he nearly fell over, as weaker referees might have been fooled into awarding a penalty.

With another three points in the bag, supporters are now hoping Celtic can ride out the current slump for the remaining two games before the league takes a break for a few weeks, with Ross County next up on Wednesday night.

Sky TV , as ever, received criticism for its coverage of the game, despite cutting the sound off during the second half and sparing the audience the voice of Andy Walker and whoever it was that was commentating.

In fact, one website seemed a little more outspoken than others…

Hoops fans can now relax, as according to the Scotsman, yet another milestone has been reached..

Celtic’s win over Hamilton means they are safe from relegation

Well, thats one less thing to worry about. Of course, the article is a little less than serious, and does make a valid point, to an extent.

Celtic’s 3-0 win over Hamilton at New Douglas Park in the Ladbrokes Premiership means they are now safe from relegation.

Their run of 22 domestic matches unbeaten has seen the club reach the 52-point mark. That coupled with their 36-point lead over bottom clubs Inverness and Hamilton means that even if Brendan Rodgers’ side were to lose all 20 of their remaining matches, they would still avoid dropping into the bottom six before the split.

According to hasithappened.net, which collates data from Europe’s top five leagues, as well as the top divisions in Portugal, The Netherlands and Scotland and the English lower leagues, Celtic are the first club from among that sample to secure their status in their respective league.

“After today’s win against Hamilton, the anomalies of the SPFL split mean that there is no possible sequence of results that would allow Celtic to fall into the bottom half of the table before the league splits, then in their remaining games fall into the bottom 2,” said Keith McNamee, who runs the website. “In fact the lowest place Celtic can now finish in an absolute worst case scenario is 7th.”

I’ve read that paragraph several times and I still haven’t got a clue what he’s talking about.

CQN carries a story about colin Kazim richards, who left Celtic when he realised it was a football team, and a visit the big fellow had to a pet shop, when he was looking to buy a dog.

 “I went to buy a dog and the shop owner said: ‘Kazim, I have something for you’.

“So, I went in the back of the shop and he had lions, tigers and chimpanzees in there.

“He wanted £22,000 for a lion! Obviously, I was never going to buy one, but I thought I should jokingly say: ‘Yeah, I’ll have a lion’.

“For a moment, the guy wasn’t sure if I was serious. It was crazy!”

Lions will always be associated with Celtic, for one obvious reason, and as are songs, such as this one..

But put the lions and songs together, and you get this shite…