Well, that is Christmas over for another year.  Okay today is Boxing Day but in this house it's just another day really.   Everyone is just chilling and happy.

We got up and shoved the turkey in the oven at about 8.30, then waited for it to be cooked.  We had a super dinner with all our favourite things - we each have things that are special to us but not the others - so it was good.  As ususally happens these days, my eyes were bigger than my belly and I left quite a lot.   It was about 9.30 last night before I felt like eating again, and I only had two chocolate liqueur cherries all day.  No other nibblies at all. 

One of my gifts was an alarm clock with big (read huge) numbers.  It's great.  I wake up in the night and have no idea what time it is.  There are two digital alarms in the room, one by side of the bed, but I can't read it without my glasses.  This new clock has a backlight so I can just pick it up in front of my face, press the light button, and see the time.  Yay.  It does what it says on the tin and makes life nicer for me.  I know my eyes will get fixed, but for now just knowing the time when I wake is great.  No more squinting my eyes to see if one or the other will focus on a clock!    Another gift was from Marks and Spencer, a light for the Kindle.  With that I can see the whole page without putting the lamp on.  Bingo.  The other one I had was only good for about half a page and was more bother than help.  All in all I'm one  lucky lady.   We chose not to exchange big expensive gifts this year for two reasons.  One was shortage of money to spend. The other was that no one wanted anything in particular.  We get what we want when we want/need it all year, so there isn't much to get each other anymore.  I had asked for an alarm clock rather than buy myself one so they'd have something to get me that I'd want. 

Andy drove us to Hitchin on Sunday so we could deliver some gifts to a wonderful friend.  She always has to wait until New Year when we visit her to open her pressies.  This year we not only got her some nice gifts that we knew she'd like, but were able to deliver them ahead of the big day.  That was great for all of us and it was good to see her and our other friend who lives next door to her.   It's wonderful for Andy and Chel to have the normal days off now after so many years of working when others are off.  I'm enjoying it and taking full advantage of it.

I still need to write an essay, and hope to do it in the next few days, if not later today but it isn't a problem.  Yet.

I hope to get on here and write again before the year is over, but if I don't then please accept my sincere wishes for a happy, healthy, contented

 

This week has just flown by so quickly.  I still haven't started wrapping gifts, cleaned house or done my studying.  But I did read an interesting book.  I did go shopping and did some errands too.  So that's good.  I've talked to friends and family on here, been taken for a lovely dinner where I ate till I was stuffed.  It's a good life at the minute.

Since I wrote that this morning I've wrapped all the gifts we've bought so far, done most of the housework that can be done, and can just sit back and relax now.  It's such a great feeling to be ahead of the game instead of rushing to do the wrapping at the last minute. 

All that's left really is to write my essay.  I won't start it right now as it's not due for a while.  I just want to chill now.

Just in case I don't get back to you before Christmas, have a good one.  If you don't celebrate that, then enjoy whatever you d

was amazing.  Chel and I fully enjoyed every minute of it.  We couldn't sit still  and both still had smiles on our faces the next morning.  I'm so grateful for the opportunity to have seen it.  We had a lovely in London, doing nothing in a hurry, just chilling and having fun.  Alan met us to go around Winter Wonderland.  It was dark and very beautiful. The weather was perfect, we wandered around comfortably with our coats open.  The only time it rained was when we were indoors.  Can't get much better than that in December.  One highlight of that outing was the big bag of chestnuts.  Yummy. I * have* to have them if we are in London near Christmas.  Chel took brilliant care of me all weekend.  Angie gave me my birthday gift of cash before we went so I could shop if I wanted to. 

Where has the ruddy time gone so fast?  I can't believe it's mid December already.  It was just July last week.   The 12.12 on 12.12.12 has passed here and nothing has happened except the boiler repairman chose that time to tell me how much I had to pay him. (£100).  Got up to a leaky boiler this morning but it's fixed now.  Oh well.

I'm quite well, up to date with my study and finally finished a library book that seemed to take forever to read. It was by Liza Marklund who was one of the authors I read as part of the Transworld Challenge last year.  It was good but very involved, not a quick read.  I hate to give up on a book though so will generally persevere.  It has to really bore the pants off me or be completely not my thing before I quit.  And I'm glad I finished it because I'd guessed right at the outcome. I only renewed it twice.....

The Christmas tree looks good, not great but okay.  It's not the best I've ever done but hey, it's at least up.  The cards are written and the ones to be posted have gone.  A lot of the shopping is done.  Now I can start to relax again.

It's cold out, the trees are covered in frost and very lovely to look at.  I can't really go for a walk as the hairdresser is coming soon.  That's my excuse and I'm keeping it.  Really, I find it hard to breathe outside when it's cold.  But I do love to be out there, as do my doggies.  

I'm okay in myself.  I've realised that I'm not lazy.  Unmotivated frequently, distracted easily, tired a lot, but happy generally.  I do the things I really need to do and ignore the rest for the most part and it seems to be working okay.  By that I mean that no one has complained out loud to me yet!  And I also realise that the more time I spend outdoors the better I feel.  Paradox anyone?  Can't breathe when I'm out be feel better for being out.....oh well.  I can cover my lower face with a scarf and carry on.

Can't think of anything else interesting to say so I'll shut up and go do some vacuuming.  The place will be better when it's done and there will be less dust for me to breathe in. 

Thanks for reading this.  All the fun stuff that I pass on is through my Facebook page for my friends and family.  I do love a good giggle and get a real joy out of brightening someone else's day.