One daily Positive - Week 52 Christmas

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas, whatever you chose to do on the day. It's a normal working week here in Dubai, Peter had Christmas day off and took advantage of the rest of the world being off work to catch up with emails and projects.

I seem to have eaten quite a bit of wheat this week as I ended up with a really bad headache, been craving sugar also. I slept for 8 hours on Thursday and Friday night without medication, normally I can manage 4-6 hours with medication. I really need to get this sorted out.

It's been a little chilly this week also and jumpers and socks have been required when walking the dog.

356 Sunday No sleep again, now keeping a sleep diary for the Doctors in March for my next blood test. Had a tidy round as in putting things away and dusted the shelf in the kitchen, the sand just gets everywhere. I caught up with 2 weeks worth of washing. Went to Dubai Mall to collect Peter's new glasses, drank coffee and blogged, got home and was breathless, fatigued and had chest pain so went to bed. It was an anxiety attack.

357 Monday Off to the Souk Madinat for coffee and then to get me nails done for Christmas, home at midday, went to bed, watched Love Actually. Builders came in the afternoon to sort out the crumbling plaster work and dug away most of the concrete also. Peter was late home so we had dinner and I introduced him to Goggle Box.

358 Tuesday Builders came back to fill in the holes, plastering and painting to be completed. They're not the tidiest of people, seem to assume we all have maids to clean up after us. I was awake at 4am as usual so cleaned the kitchen and mopped the floor. The ironing got done and after I'd cleaned up after the builders I went down to spend the afternoon at the beach and after work Peter joined me for dinner. We visited Santa Island at Bluewaters. It's a man made Island. Click here for Before and After Photos of the Island being built.

359 Wednesday Opened presents, had a light breakfast, popped out for coffee, sat in the garden and caught up with facebook messages and a phone call from our dear friends in Germany and chilled out before a Christmas brunch with friends. Walked Bob to see the firework display at the Marina, we can view it all within a few hundred meters of our house. Bob hates being inside when fireworks go off, he needs to be outside and he sat nicely with me for the 10 min display 3 miles away.

360 Thursday Off out to Dubai Festival City for breakfast and pick up some food and citronella candles for outside. Afternoon and evening spent watching TV.

361 Friday I had the start of a headache, but we popped out to our local mall. I took myself off to bed for the afternoon and evening, Peter watched the football, cooked dinner and tidied up. The cat has been in a right mood all week.

362 Saturday The day was spent in bed and enjoying a hot bath using my Christmas bubble baths. Headache still present, but I went out with Peter for an hour, then spent the rest of the day in the garden and was dragged out on a walk by Bob. My anxiety levels were high today as I was ill, it manifested itself with breathlessness and confussion.

363 Sunday I woke up feeling a lot better so popped out to the Mall of the Emirates for a coffee. Christmas decorations are all put away now in the malls and the Dubai Shopping Festival is in full swing. I spent the afternoon in the garden and I booked Peter's UK flight for February, car hire for me, another flight for me in March and paid the council tax for the house, claimed back the council tax from the flat, the water bill and property management fees for the flat. The notifications on Peters phone for the credit card have driven him mad in work.

364 Monday Popped out to pay my friends maid on her behalf, started the process of selling my car and collected the dogs vet book. In the evening Peter and I went to the Marina to view some apartments ready for the next stage of our relocation. Migraine now in full swing.

365 Tuesday Hardly slept, Migraine kept me awake most of the night. Phoned Dr's and requested an paracetamol drip and fluids, also received a tramadol injection in my bum. Was home a few hours later, pain free, but very dozy. Managed to give Bob a bath as he stunk, but that was it for the day. went out on the Palm for New Year to a colleagues of Peters to see the fireworks.We were going to the beach but I don't think i'd have managed the night.

On the blog this week:

Our Christmas in the UK, South Africa and Dubai

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

A stress free family Christmas, past and present.

We've gone from a family of 7 to a family of 2 with the teen joining us for the holidays. We've also moved from the UK to South Africa and to Dubai over the past 5 years.
When the 5 kids were still at home, Christmas was a strange affair. My face book memories show the last Christmas day we had together was 2006 and then child 2 of 5 opted to go to his mum's on Christmas Eve at the last minute.

Most Christmases we let the kids choose where they wanted to go for the day, it just wasn't worth fighting over, the youngest 3 would choose to go to their dad's as they lived with us, the eldest 2, even as young children, would be waiting till the last minute to find out if their mum was having them or whether they'd be staying with us, it was unsettling, but we planned around it and either going to friends, parents or just staying at home on our own.

Christmas 2007

Christmas 2005

With friends

Christmas 2004, it snowed on Christmas day

 One of the houses on a neighbouring street in malvern, UK.

We put the decorations up, bought the gifts and put them under the tree and created our own Christmas usually on New Year's Eve, followed by half the street joining us for a party and a sleep over.

After moving abroad we had 2 Christmases where we were homeless. 2010 was spent with friends in London, prior to us moving to South Africa. Child 1 was let down by their mother at the very last moment so spent the day with her carers. Child 2 was living in Germany. Child 3 was working but we joined him in Reading for the night and boxing day and children 4 and 5 spent it with their dad.

In 2011 children 4 & 5 visited the UK prior to Christmas. We had Christmas day in the garden and swimming in the pool.

2012 The kids were in the UK with their Dad. We spent the day with our friends and their extended family.

2013 Granny joined us all.

2014 We were living in a hotel and hubby and I went to a cafe for coffee and a salad and the boys went to Subway round the corner, we then spent the rest of Christmas Day on the beach.

Christmas this year is just hubby and I and the teen, child 5 of 5. Child 1 is with her carers, child 2 with his girlfriend, child 3 is working and joining us for for the new year. Child 4 is with his dad.

We decided to eat out this year and went to the Sheraton for a Christmas Brunch, the teen surfaced at 8am after a phone call from the UK from Granny, who I assume got confused with the time difference or was just awake at 4am and phoned while she remembered. We opened gifts, had bacon and egg for breakfast and just lazed around before getting getting a taxi and going out. On arrival the teen was surprised to hear that this was a leisurely affair and not a eat and run and we planed on being their the full 3 hours. He ate quickly drank his weight in coke and logged into the hotel wifi and put his head phones in, hubby and I took our time, drank wine, sampled all the food and we got home at 5pm. Watched some TV and did the rounds of Skype and Facebook calls with family and friends.

For boxing day we had a full christmas dinner, cooked by the teen and I. We didn't start it until 4.30pm, at 4pm I was sat in Costa having a latte. We discovered the carrots had gone off and the potatoes were frozen, but it didn't deter us.

Bob enjoying the leftovers

Christmas has been and normally is stress free in our house, we start shopping early and don't have a set time to eat, just when it is ready. It would be lovely to have a proper family christmas, one on the day with all our family but even the family in the UK you far and wide and with work and the cost of flights during the holidays it probably won't be possible until we move back to the UK.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and holiday time, we'll be spending New Year with child 3 & 5 watching the fireworks at the Burj Khalifa and the Burj Al Arab from the beach.