Well here we are again…………the most wonderful time of the year………….. I absolutely love Christmas. I love lots of other times of year too, but I really, really like Christmas!
I’ve been a bit absent from here. Not because I don’t have lots to tell you about, but more because I’ve been too busy to write about it because I’ve sort of been meeting myself coming backwards and this is sort of a lesson on how not to approach Christmas if you don’t want to crash and burn out just before. It’s also my hibernating time, I tend to stick close to home for a couple of months just before Christmas, pottering about, so my adventures are little Yorkshire adventures near home, rather than big foreign adventures. Am I ready for Christmas?……………….No, but I will be by Wednesday!😆But today I’m like Steve!………
How’s life been? Well there’s so many adjectives to describe the last two months……………varied, fun, hectic, stressful, joyful, sad………the full spectrum. So here’s a little run down and whistle stop tour of what this half term and Christmas looks like for me, and then you’ll know why I’ve been quiet, and also a little confession. 🤭
Work…………
First things first……………..work. I work in a school so I work in ‘half term’ periods of time. Work takes up most of my time as I lurch from one half term to the next. But goodness me…………………..the half term before Christmas and the one at the end of the academic year are just something else!! Oh my days I’m exhausted, this half term is just the period of over excitement, glitter, parties, nativities, pantomime visits, out of tune singing, visits from Santa, selection boxes, tiredness tantrums (including a few of my own!😂) but goodness, we have made it to the end! Something to make you giggle though. To encourage oracy this term we have displayed three facts about each staff member. One of them is false. The whole idea is to encourage conversation and questioning, and the children have to work out which one is false by speaking and questioning the adults. So then………..from this blog……….. how well do you know me? Which is my false fact? 😂
The Cake…………………
Christmas preparations start in our house at the beginning of November with the annual baking of the Christmas Cake. A British Christmas Cake is a really dense, moist fruitcake, covered in marzipan and decorated quite elaborately. You can buy them but I like to make my own and think of a different decoration design each year. The downside is they take a full day to make! They have so many ingredients in them. All different dried and candied fruits, eggs, butter, alcohol, sugar, flour, spices, molasses. Then one you’ve prepared and covered your entire work surface with prepared ingredients you’ve then got to combine it all together in the right order. Then it’s baked for at least 4-5 hours, covering the top with parchment paper and the sides with newspaper to make sure it does not burn.
This all has to be complete at least 5 weeks before Christmas because then you ‘feed’ the cake at least once a week with brandy. The finished cake is then really dark and moist and is ready for decorating around a week before Christmas. Depending on how elaborate your design is this can take another day or more. I didn’t have much time this year so this year it is quite a simple Christmas present with fondant icing. I say quite simple, but oh my goodness, I’ve had a near melt down doing the bow for the top………….this is bow number three! 😂 The first two went in the bin after a few tears and a tantrum. I’m a bit of a perfectionist and I’m still not happy with this bow, it looks a bit untidy, but there comes a point when you have to just let things go! I can’t wait to cut into it, but that isn’t done until Christmas day. I like mine with crumbly white Wensleydale cheese, which is very much a ‘Yorkshire’ accompaniment and way of eating Christmas cake.
The Mince Pie………………….
No Christmas is complete without the mince pie! And my mince pies have a bit of a reputation as I put a little secret ingredient in the pastry. Everywhere I go I get……………”Oh, and bring some of your mince pies”. I’m almost up to triple figures of mince pie manufacture this year. It’s a non stop vocation. There is nothing quite like a cup of Yorkshire Tea and a mince pie after a day at work! That’s if I get home before they’ve all been eaten.
Wreath making……………….
I love being creative and any opportunity there is to go to a floristry workshop I’m there because I just love flowers and all things nature or garden related. So early December I went on another wreath making workshop and was really pleased with the finished result……………………..but Hannah who runs the workshops is so very, very talented. There’s always such a lovely group of ladies there too to have a good chatter to…………………….and always CAKE!😍 No workshop would be complete without cake! It does not quite look like this now following a storm the day after I put it out but hey ho……I had fun making it.
Trimming Up………………….
I always smile when I hear “Trimming Up” because it’s very much a Yorkshire phrase but I didn’t realise this until I moved down South and told everyone at work one day on leaving for home one night at the start of December that I was going to spend the evening “Trimming up”. I had to explain that it’s the process of putting all your lights and decorations and the tree up for Christmas.
Trimming up is quite a big event in Yorkshire………………….and it always gets done in our house with Polar Express playing on the TV in the background and it signals the time when you can officially open the Quality Street tin……………. (which of course is another mighty fine Yorkshire export!) Like little shiny jewels in a tin. Although I have to say I’m a little disappointed to see that this year the shiny foil wrappers have gone and been replaced with dull paper. I’m all into saving the planet but I’m sure there are more damaging environmental pollutants than ruining that sound, feel and rustle of my Quality Street shiny foil wrapper at Christmas. However, it does not stop me eating them………..I always buy my milkman a box for delivering my milk from the farm, in all weather, before I get up at 6:30am. However, as always, I ate his Quality Streets and had to buy them again. 🤣🤣 So I have to be careful not to buy his chocolates too far in advance or it can end up being quite an expensive present depending on how many times I have to replace them.
Parties……………………………
So many parties! Two work nights out………………..the first one one with the little business and admin team……….a rather dignified affair at a very nice restaurant.
Although, I wasn’t feeling too sparkly! Looking a bit pale and feeling a bit peaky (I’ll explain below) but not wanting to miss a night out I went out wearing my 24 hour blood pressure monitor which the doctor had insisted I wear immediately, stuffed all the wires coming out of the bottom of my sparkly sleeve into a handbag, and dropped the monitor back off at the doctors 24 hours later with a letter detailing the timeline of my partying the night before to explain any adverse readings! 🤣🤣 I’m any doctor’s worst nightmare.
And then the more raucous ‘bonkers bingo’ with the full staff crew on the last day of term.
We like to let our hair down at this one but on waking up with a bit of a fuzzy head on Saturday morning I have decided that dancing on a chair, in heels while delivering my best rendition of ‘Sweet Caroline’ and waving a glowstick perhaps wasn’t my greatest moment! 😂 This photo makes me giggle for so many reasons though. There’s the look on the chef’s face as he stares out of the kitchen wondering what on earth is going on at Table 10, then there is my lovely friend trying to graciously mount her chair without everyone seeing her underwear! 🤣
Then a night out with my lovely friend from language class where we always set ourselves the challenge of spending the night talking only in Italian………………and miraculously we get better and better the more we have to drink and by the end of the night we are fluent…………….or at least we think we are.🤣
Finally a lovely night out with my two friends from my school days………………….those friends that can read your mind, know what you are thinking before you say it, will always be there and will always have your back. Friends like that are precious and I have quite a few. And then a lovely night out with my two banking besties who I worked with in the city when we were all chasing our high flying banking careers……………………….before we realised there were far more important things in life like living life in a slightly slower lane, babies and eating cake.
Singing…………………………..
I do loads of it! In the shower, on the way to work, while I’m cooking …………………… you can sing anywhere! My days of singing in the Philharmonic Chorus are quite a number of years ago and I just don’t have the time to commit to singing at that level. However, at Christmas I always get a few requests to come out of singing retirement and I just can’t say no. So I’ve done two concerts this Christmas………………….one at advent and one this weekend………………..and I’ve enjoyed them so much. It takes me a while to get my tongue around the Latin again but a few evenings on the piano at home rehearsing and It’s like I never stopped. I swear though, that no matter how many years have passed ………………………. I still struggle with my candle at the advent concert and it’s still an absolute miracle that I’ve never ignited my hair and gone up in flames. Try it………………..holding a full folder of music on one hand, a lit candle in the other, walking down an uneven aisle, keeping time and pitch, all while singing in Latin. 🤣🤣🤣 There are just too many variables for me there with my menopausal brain.
Taking the Duchess of Worsbrough to see the Duchess of Devonshire………………………..
The Christmas day out with just my Mum and I. Yes I got told off a few times but I love her to the moon and back and we had such a lovely day at the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire’s home, Chatsworth, looking around the house at the Christmas decorations.
Chatsworth, a Grade I listed property from the 17th century, is just gorgeous at any time of year, but at Christmas it is just amazing.
We managed a little walk around the garden to look at the Emperor Fountain but we didn’t go too far into the gorgeous gardens because it was very cold and at 85 years old she’s a little bit fragile now.
Our little Christmas lunch was at Charlie’s Bistro in Baslow and it was delicious. I get a little bit fed up of turkey by the end of Christmas so I had corn fed Chicken Supreme with a pea and pancetta sauce…………..it was fabulous and I will definitely return to Charlie’s, I highly recommend it.
Running…………………………
There’s never enough time for playing out, but whenever there’s a spare minute on a weekend I like to be outside whatever the weather. It can be running, walking or just general meandering. Nature is the best medicine of all.
I’ve still managed to fit a bit of running in too. But after this year’s club championship I’m lowering my miles and just enjoying it. Quite often now I don’t even wear my watch because looking at stats can become a bit of an obsession and that’s not what it’s about for me. It’s all about keeping an element of fitness, getting out in the fresh air, socialising and just generally enjoying life. Take yesterday for instance……………….the annual club pre-Christmas run………….what a laugh and absolute blast. Somebody had the mighty fine idea to run from our rural little farming town in the middle of nowhere to the nearest city, Sheffield …………….. stopping for alcoholic beverages.
It doesn’t sound too bad……………….were it not for the fact that the nearest city was 13 miles away, not 11.69, and I was dressed as the Angel Gabriel!!🤣🤣Complete with wings, tutu and halo.
Gosh, my wings and halo were more of a hinderance than a help………………13 miles is a long way to run at the best of times…………but they were an added complexity I could have done without!🤣 Anyway……………..an excellent time was had by all but I was glad to lose the wings and have a tipple or two we got there!!
My Grown Adults…………….
They are back!!!!!😍😍😍 I have both my chicks back in the nest for a week! And that makes me so happy! They are my greatest achievement and no matter how much fun they make of me and how much they laugh at me and my escapades, they can wrap me round their little finger…………….they get away with all sorts. But having children can also be quite hard and mentally draining for anyone. There’s always normally something to worry about, when’s one is sorted, something happens to the other……and vice versa and as much as you try to cut those apron strings…………….they always find their way back to Mum when the going gets tough and advice (and money😆) is sought. I do a lot of worrying for them and whilst the big one lives away now the younger one is back at home and finding life oh so hard at the moment. So I’ve also spent a lot of time being therapist, shoulder to lean on, career advisor, cheerer upper and general encouragement to get through the day.
But I’m not completely oblivious or blind to the fact that the added incentive to come back home at Christmas is not Christmas itself, neither is it the desire to see Mum…………….it is 100% the Christmas refrigerator!
I did the Christmas food shop, filled the fridge, labelled everything that was ‘ingredients’ that they can’t eat (yes, I have to do that or half my ingredients for Christmas Day will go missing!😂). Then went out to run an errand for 30 minutes. I came back and they were exactly where I thought they would be……………..in the kitchen, fridge wide open, attacking the contents like a pair of locusts! Anyone with two strapping men like these two will tell you………………..you just can’t fill them!
So as you can see I’ve had quite a lot on, but Yorkshire bits and bobs rather than big adventures, so not really enough to report which is why I’ve been a bit quiet. And whilst I’ve thoroughly enjoyed myself, next year I’m going to have a bit of a rethink because I feel a bit jaded and I think I’ve peaked too soon!😂😂 I am living proof that you cannot work full time with 330 children, be the fastest 53 year old, super Mum, baker, singer, party animal, Angel Gabriel and still be standing by the time you get to Christmas. And why do I say this!? Well I’ve had a good old telling off from the doctor. I thought I felt a bit tired and tearful but just kept ploughing on. That is of course until I went for my annual review the other week to be told my blood pressure is so very very high and I’ve got really quite severe anaemia. So I’m going to have a very restful Christmas (once I’ve cooked and sorted Christmas lunch for everyone) ………………………..and this is where my confession comes in.
I’m here, I’ll be fine, but I will tell you that I have a little mantra for what to do when you are a little unwell or feeling a bit under the weather:
- 1. Eat cake.
- 2. A little retail therapy.
- 3. Nature (should be at the top of the list………………..just get out there and do anything).
- 4. Book a flight. 🤭
Now my little confession is I’ve done all 4……………….in the space of 3 hours!😂
First I thought I’d go and have a little look for a new dress. Now this is fine but I live in an all male household……………my men are not very good at giving you an opinion on women’s dresses. So this is where my Mum comes in……………….When I go shopping and I can’t decide I send her a picture from the changing room and she says yes or no. Only sometimes she can be so very brutally honest and say too much, like only a Mum is capable of. So I sent the following picture………………………
……………………………..and she said “the dress is lovely but you look dreadful!”🤣🤣 Now, knowing I’m a bit poorly you’d think she’d hold off a little, but not my Mum…………if you want honest ……………….. you get honest. Yes, I look a little thin, tired and pale……..I’m anaemic and ready for a rest but I did think ‘dreadful’ was going a bit too far.
So I bought the dress and called at the coffee shop next door for cake. Then I went to the botanical gardens for a little walk around and then I came home and booked a flight to Spain for 26th December and I feel so much better already!😂 Yes, I know I said I wasn’t going abroad until February……….but this one is a last minute booking on doctors orders…………………….well, he didn’t actually say “book a holiday” but that’s how I interpreted slow down, rest, stop worrying about everyone else and try and shut out all the noise for a while. If I stay at home it will be cold, it will be wet and I’ll find a multitude of ‘jobs’ to do…………..or everyone else will find a multitude of jobs for me to do. I need to go to a happy place, with a pile of books, straight after Christmas and not move. I’m only going for 4 days but with an airport only half an hour away I can get to Spain quicker than I can to most places in the UK. The pile of books to read at the side of my bed is growing so I’m going to put a pile of them in a carry on case with my new dress, my fluffy robe, my lotions and potions ………………. and my iron tablets 😆…………………….and I am going to a nice hotel and I am not going to move except maybe for a bit of yoga or a stroll to the town square for coffee and to watch the world go by.
It will be heaven. I am going to eat tortilla, cake and ice cream (not all at the same time) and a whole host of other lovely food. I’m not taking my running kit………..I’m going off grid for an unravel, relax and reset! But before that, the table is set and I’m in full Christmas day food preparation mode.
It’s important to live life to the full, one thing I can guarantee is that time will pass, it won’t return, you can never get it back so make the most of it. But my advice this Christmas would be not to take it to quite the extreme that I do as eventually it will catch up with you! 😂 I don’t think I’ve got the balance quite right but I’m working on it. So whilst I sign off to enjoy Christmas with my family and then jet off for my unravel, relax and reset all that’s left is to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and send lots of love and hugs. All I hope is that everyone gets to spend some time with those they love, have a relax, and I’ll see you on the other side in 2025 when I will tell you all about my twixmas trip (although I don’t think there will be that much to tell if I’m not moving😆). But I’m sure I’ll find something to tell you about.
There will be no New Years resolutions from me. I may decide to start acting my age, but then again I might not! 😆 I’m not suddenly going to join a gym (I don’t do them…………………New Years Resolutions or the gym😂).
But 2025 is going to be a little slower with more time for me, and more time to relax. I will still be seeing the world and having adventures when I come out of winter hibernation, but at a slower pace. In between my weekend UK and Yorkshire adventures, I have loose arrangements made for a nice little solo city break abroad in February, some walking in another Canary Island in April, a Greek island in May, my annual 5 week long Spanish summer in the north of Spain which hopefully will include a lot of relaxing, some retirement apartment hunting and some walking (maybe with one of my boys), and then a trip to Andalucía in the south of Spain to warm up in October. Plenty to tell you about in 2025. So live, love, laugh …………………. be brave, take some risks, follow your dreams and desires, and make the most of every day, not just 1st January!