Week 52 One Daily Positive and Project 365. Happy New Year

Work starts next week on the Kitchen, so house in disarray, however with just the two of us and 3 spare bedrooms we'll just have to remember where we put things if we need them while the work is carried out.

Apart from buying the kitchen and new appliances as they are integral, we've designed it ourselves and will be doing a lot of the work. We have a builder coming in to help with removal and tiling and Peter will be assisting with the fitting. The builder will organise an electrician and plumber to move the appliances, add new ceiling and under cupboard lights and finally move the light switch to the other side of the kitchen door. We've selected a light grey as it was end of line and is painted as well as a quartz worktop and the new floor tiles are sitting in the conservatory. 

359 Peter and I were awake at 7.30am. Small child and DIL came down at 9.30am and son was woken at 10am. We had breakfast then started on the gifts, which lasted most of the day. We ate around 2.30pm and grazed for the rest of the day. Neighbours popped round with gifts and we walked the dog. Son, DIL and grandchild left around 9pm as DIL has work in the morning. The most played with gift of the day was a cardboard box. We collapsed into bed around 11pm, absolutely shattered.

360 A day of nothing, other than taking the decorations down, tidying up and watching TV as well as a dog walk. Work starts on our kitchen next week so we needed to get everything packed away, so we can box up the kitchen items to store in the lounge while the work is being done. I started on a jigsaw sent by son no 4 and his family.

361 A leisurely morning then off to B&Q to buy floor tiles for the kitchen. Wrote my thank you notes, walked the dog, tidied gifts away and watched TV. 

362 Met a friend for an outdoor socially distanced visit near Blenheim Palace for a walk and a coffee. Stopping at Tewkesbury on the way home and evening spent sorting through family photos.

363 Peter went to the flat to finish more work on the bathroom. I spent most of the day in my pjs, walked the dog and went to the shops. I packed up some ornaments and rearranged the dining room to store most of the kitchen in while the work gets done, I started my first shift at the covid booster vaccination centre in Worcester, however when I got there 20 mins before I was due to start the centre had closed early. An 18 mile wasted round trip.

I'm going to be really glad when this kitchen is replaced.

364 A leisurely bath, dog walk, sorted photos on the laptop and a 2-10pm shift at the booster centre. Centre closed at 7.30pm and is closed tomorrow. I made a complaint about my rota and got a shitty email telling me I'd messed up the two centres, dates and times. Swiftly forwarded the email with my dates, times and locations to prove I was in the right and heard nothing back. No idea if I'm working in the New Year or not now.

365 Dog walk, blood test, outdoor coffee stop and a food shop. Watched Sydney celebrate New Year and felt sad knowing my son is over there and the only thing that is stopping us going over is travel restrictions due to covid. Both booster centres closed, afternoon spent watching movies and eating crap. We watched Dubai celebrate the New Year, really strange to see it on the TV and not just walk out in front of the villa to view it all. We might stay up for the New Year, we might not.

This completes my 7th year with a photo a day. 

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Week 51 One Daily Positive and Project 365 Merry Christmas Eve

Apart from our son, his wife and their child. The only other people who come into our house are the neighbours. Coffee shop visits are enjoyed outside and there is lots of doorstep visits. If we go to see anyone else, we maintain social distancing and don't hug. We also LFT regularly.

Last year I spent Christmas on my own in a hotel on the beach in Dubai after Saudi closed it's borders 6 days earlier, preventing anyone going in or getting out. It feels most strange to be doing a food shop after 7 years of Christmas lunch in a hotel in Dubai. It all sounds glamorous until you realise there is a big difference between going to Dubai for a holiday and actually living there. I am missing Dubai at this time of year, mainly for the warm weather and all the Christmas displays, lights and fireworks. But this year we get to spend it with one of our Grandchildren which is even better.

352 Up early for a coffee then I walked Bob home while Peter did the food shop. I spent the afternoon making a play kitchen, finishing wrapping the last of the presents, made some waterproof cushions to add to the 2yo's play fort next door. All the washing was done and I went round the neighbours in the evening.

353 A late start and a walk into town with Bob for coffee and to buy the last of Peter's Christmas presents which are food related. It won't spoil the surprise as he doesn't read my blog. I finished the play kitchen, made some bunting for the neighbours fort, watched Die Hard (the only Christmas Movie) blogged and watched TV.

The inflatables are relegated to the conservatory, ready to pull Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve.

354 Down to Bristol to visit SIL and MIL and drop off Christmas gifts. Our Great Nephew who is 9 months old was there. We stopped off at Child 1's care home to drop off her presents. We took her for a short walk around the block. In the evening I painted pebbles with Christmas designs and attempted to make a decoration for next doors baby. 

355 Down to the flat in Monmouth to do some more work on the tiling. I left Peter there and took my mum food shopping as the next delivery slot I could get was January 5th. It's about a 90 minute drive from us, but not far from where our grandchild lives and 20 minutes from Monmouth. I did our Christmas food shop at the same time, everything was short dated, either the supermarkets haven't ordered enough stock or are just pushing the short dates. A lot of bread was out of date and most fresh stuff, including meat, was only good till Christmas Day, this means I'll have to food shop again before the New Year. The staff weren't interested.

Finished my pebbles.

356 Peter went back to the flat, dropping me at the retail park to get my nails done and to have a coffee and I walked home. Neighbour and friend came round for tea and Christmas cake. Afternoon spent tidying up the garden, shed and washing the dog bed after the cat decided to use it as her toilet. In the evening we assembled next doors wooden play kitchen for the 2yo, that his mum and dad bought,

Pah! Hubby informed me he'd been reading my blog this week, typical, he never shows much interest in it unless I read something I'm writing to him because it involves one of our kids and I want to make sure I haven't written anything that may cause upset to anyone.

357 Peter went back to the flat whilst I got on with the cleaning and organising Christmas Day. I went out for lunch with the neighbour and her children to visit Santa, we took Bob with us.

We had to wait an hour to see Santa in a wet, muddy field, almost 2 yo lost the will to live and we all returned home muddy.

358 Prepped tomorrows lunch for the fridge, carried the kitchen round to the neighbours to hide it in their conservatory overnight. I stayed for a couple of hours to entertain the kids while they wrapped gifts and got ready for Christmas, then home to await Child 2, his wife and grandchild for the night.

The inflatables were allowed in the lounge much to Peter's annoyance.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas however you choose to celebrate.

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How we celebrate Christmas

We don't do Christmas. Well we do decorations, cards and presents and like to eat well, but we've not done Christmas in the traditional way for a very long time.

We met 21 years ago. We are a blended family, with kids spending Christmas with their extended families. We would have a party with family and friends over the New Year, the kids would still get their gifts, all together and we'd do a roast of sorts, pull crackers and tell silly jokes. We'd eat beans on toast on Christmas day, stay with friends or visit my Gran for the day. Then we moved abroad, with only 2 kids still at home. 

In 2010 we gate crashed a friends on Christmas Eve and slept on their sofa and went to the pub for a few drinks. Then stayed in a hotel one of our kids worked at, had Steak and chips for dinner and ate breakfast with Bristol City FC on Boxing Day.

The kids spent their Christmas when we lived in South Africa with their UK family, we spent it with different friends over the next 4 years, then we moved to Dubai and spent our first Christmas in a hotel and for the next 6 years we booked a Christmas Brunch and one or two of the kids joined us each year.

For Christmas 2020, we spent Christmas on our own. Peter was in Saudi and I was in a hotel on the beach in Dubai. With that in mind you'll understand the blog post I've linked up with last week.

We do however have some Christmas things/activities we do regardless of where we've been living.

Visit Santa - even if it is with the dog.

Explore the neighbourhood to look at the decorations. Not as glam as Dubai, but our friends house and just as much fun to see.

Dress the cat up.

Visit a winter glow. This one is in Malvern.

Persuade Peter to wear an item of festive clothing.

Christmas bedding.

Dress the dog up.

Borrow a neighbours child for crafting activities.

Our last UK Christmas was 2009. I can't remember what we did, but I found a picture of the tree piled with presents.

I've bought a new tree this year and decorated it with all the ornaments we've collected since we've been abroad. A combination of flags, camels, cactus, palm trees and beaded ornaments and a wide selection of safari animals.

The fireplace.

Decorations from South Africa and Dubai.

Decorations bought from our travels.

A rather wonky new Christmas tree.

Presents received and presents to give out.

Anyone else make such a mess? It's not like the movies is it with just one box held by your partner while the family put baubles on the tree and sing carols.

New Traditions.

Cake decorating, Christmas outfits and Christmas day with the next generation.

10th-12th December 2021 - Getting ready for Christmas

Welcome back to #pocolo with Stephanie from Lifeat139a and I. We've two more link ups this year and then we're taking a break until January 7th. Don't worry, we'll tweet out a link as we do each week to remind you, so you don't miss out.

I'm back in England this week. The decorations have gone up, gifts to Germany, America and Canada posted out, hopefully in time for Christmas and UK gifts are being distributed next week.

I'd planned a lot of pre Christmas activities with our grandchild but had to curtail a few ideas, they're still not really old enough to understand Christmas, but they knew I was visiting the new family baby, that's as much as they understand right now. 

I've linked up this week with a post about why I won't be travelling for the foreseeable future and my story of travelling during covid. I'm hoping for something a bit more Christmassy for next week. 

How's your planning and preparation going?

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