Welcome to my 11th year of One daily Positive and Project 365. It's also my 16th year of blogging.
We had an amazing Christmas in Las Vegas and a bizarre New Year flying over New York on our way home. We are both jet lagged and not going to sleep till midnight and waking up at 10.30am.
I'm not a big believer in saying good riddance to one year and welcoming in a new one, it's just a new calendar for the wall or turn a page in my diary for a new month.
I really enjoyed my selfie a day of Peter and I throughout 2024, even if most days it was just a last minute photo of the two of us on the sofa just before bed and most days Peter moaned about having his photo taken.
2024 was a good year for us with travel and time with family.
The last 3 months of 2024 were also the hardest period as a family we've had to face when our eldest child died suddenly. Now when we say, Stephanie died last year, it feels too far away since we last saw her. The pain for the first few days, and weeks was so hard, but now that initial pain has subsided, I don't want a new normal to emerge, but I know life must go on and in 2025 we are welcoming two new grandchildren into the family and we have lots of travel lined up including time with our son in Australia and friends in South Africa. Stephanie is and will continue to be in our thoughts daily. her birthday is coming up soon. It's not just dates, it's every day, every weekend, everywhere we go, that we are reminded of her. She was with us everyday in our thoughts when she was alive, it doesn't just stop now she has died, in fact it increases.
Day 1
Home after 2 flights. 3 hours from Las Vegas to Atlanta, then 7 hours to Heathrow and a 3 hour drive plus all the hanging around at airports and a loss of 8 hours. We celebrated New Year in the skies near New York. Unpacked, cat fussed over, lots of tea drunk, washing on, phone calls made and pjs on. Evening being spent in front of the TV watching Gavin and Stacey.
Day 2
Spent the day putting the Christmas decorations away, then I found these painted rocks outside, they and anything else I find will now stay out till next year. I’m also going to have to make space in the airing cupboard for the Christmas jumpers, socks and bedding. I also made time for coffee with a friend and we watched Groundhog Day.
Day 3
Another 11 hours sleep waking up at 10.30am, jet lag. Lie in till mid day then house cleaned and tidied and put back to normal. We also popped into town for coffee and I took some gluten free cake with me. Evening spent with me tidying up some paperwork and sorting out presents to post and Peter cooking dinner and watching the darts.
Day 4
No sign of the jet lag improving. In pjs all day. Peter went into Worcester. I tidied the loft and we now have a skip and charity shop run to do. Parcels ready for posting to NI and USA. Snowing quite heavily when I went to bed. My son sent me this Galah from Australia just because.
Day 5
Unsure of road conditions so I cancelled my annual walk with my friend from St Albans, we were meeting half way ish at Kenilworth. Instead Peter and I walked to get coffee then spent rest of the day him watching footie and me reading and writing. Bath and off to bed early.
Unsure of road conditions so I cancelled my annual walk with my friend from St Albans, we were meeting half way ish at Kenilworth. Instead Peter and I walked to get coffee then spent rest of the day him watching footie and me reading and writing. Bath and off to bed early.
On the blog this week: Things I needed in Vegas and things I didn't need
Things that have made me happy this week:
Snow, video calls with grandson, cuddles with the cat (or a pinched seat when I fetched my tea) the attic finally cleared so I can start going through my father's stamp collection properly.
