A Week For My Family........

 
Christmas eve eve and all the gifts are wrapped.

I made a start on the food prep. Vegetable soup will be our starter. 

Then veg peeling, wouldn't be Christmas without sprouts. 

By the end of Christmas eve Hubby and I had prepped the turkey and all the veg was pealed, chopped, parboiled and plums were thawed and de-stoned for a crumble, until there's a kitchen and fridge smothered in foil covered dishes. 

Finally we laid the table (we'll add glasses and condiments in the morning).

Christmas Day and before anything else Hubby puts on "The LP" the only vinyl we still play and keep the record deck for. Traditional Christmas music which I bought for our first married Christmas and it has been played every year since. (I probably say this every year too hahaha).

Yaay all my family here with us together, dinner for 10 (and two dogs) my best gift of all. 

Only food disappointments was the turkey was a little over cooked (only half of us are meat eaters) and the plum crumble had bubbled up into a bit of a swamp but those that had some declared it yummy. Gift receiving caused a giggle as amongst other things Daughter&M gave us a mug each with our initials on then we unwrapped the same from Son&Fiancé. 

There was a settled down together part of the evening when we all watched Dr Who. There was the usual chocolates sharing. E and I left the room briefly so I could help her with a knitting query. Daughter brought a selection of cheeses and crackers which a few of us made a token nibble at as we were still too full from dinner, then she packed them all away again. All too soon we waved them goodbye. 

Boxing day and Hubby and I cleared up, did lots more food prep, fridge juggling and furniture rearranging. We are ready again.

27th is traditionally my whole family gathering day, as it was my dad's birthday. Unfortunately this year the 27th is a working day and some couldn't get the time off, however in the end 26 of my children, grandchildren, siblings, nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews, in-laws and partners all filled my house, some having to drive for more than two hours to get here and they even had further traffic problems so it took longer. 

When we realised the main event was going to be delayed because of their travel problems, Daughter and Son took the opportunity to walk the dog. 

They all arrived and as always a lovely full house and full buffet table. 

Acrobatics

And a darts tournament. 

And lots and lots of chat. 

By the time they'd all gone home and Hubby and I had done the clearing up of important stuff we were both very ready for bed. 

Thursday was a lot more sorting leftovers, clearing two more dishwasher loads and putting all the furniture back, then final housework. By Friday I was thinking about our New Year's Eve meal for us and two neighbours and Hubby and I took a trip to Iceland for our Chinese takeaway evening. NYE is not a night to order for a delivery, as we did that once and waited till nearly 10pm to eat, so this year again we will take it from the freezer and pop it all in the oven. 

As this is my last post of 2023, I'd like to wish you all...

A Week For My Friends........

Not the best start to this week as the toothache got worse and my dentist is closed at the weekend. I left a message on their answerphone hoping they can fit me in Monday. Meanwhile it's paracetamol and gum numbing gel. 

Dentist called me at 8.30am Monday and gave me an appointment for 2:45pm. Xray and antibiotics and another appointment for Friday to have the tooth out, so hopefully I'll enjoy my Christmas dinner. Meanwhile I'd lost 2lb over the weekend.... every cloud eh? 

Tuesday was a double dinner day! I was invited to a girls lunch at friendHB's new house together with her two sisters as I'm always treated like another sister. I took a gift and H bought us all gifts, mine was decorated with this cute wooden penguin which is now on my tree. 

She made a yummy buffet and thankfully there were soft things that wouldn't hurt my tooth. Also a buffet was good as I only wanted a small amount without offending her hospitality as two of us were out with another friend in the evening. 

I didn't take photos of either gathering but the evening meal was Italian, in a restaurant none of us had been to before and it was really nice. A good catchup with friendHM and our opportunity to present swap.

Our usual Wednesday group had left it too late to book anywhere special for a Christmas meal so we decided to go to a favourite Turkish restaurant. I ordered the minced lamb skewers which were yummy (and easy to chew) but so much that I only managed to eat about half so asked for a box to bring home the rest. 

Thursday during the day I finished all the wrapping and making the last of the fabric gift bags. In the evening we still have burgers before the virtual quiz (yes we are still doing Jay's quiz each week, just Hubby and me now though) so we had the lamb in buns instead of burgers and so pleased we brought them home. 

Friday Hubby did the last of the grocery shopping very early. If it was left to me I'd definitely book a delivery slot and let someone else do the fighting round the shelves, but Hubby seems to love supermarkets. The rest of the day was free apart from my midday appointment, which was lucky as I got an urgent call from friendTF, she has had problems recently and needed my help. 10am Hubby went to get her and bring her back here, she stayed till 5:30pm and there was various people in and out for her too. In the middle of that I did manage to survive my dental appointment and came home with one less tooth than I went with. 

Eventful week and hopefully the weekend will just be relaxing food prep. All that's left is for me to wish you everything you wish for yourself as we all have different priorities. I'll have all my immediate family around me Christmas day and lots of my extended family here on the 27th and that's always my priority.  Enjoy 💝

 

Tiss The Season......

 
Finally a visit from Son and fiancé on Sunday having confirmed we are all germ free. 

No coffee morning this week as us neighbours had our Christmas lunch. 

Belstead Brook Hotel is very local to us, food is lovely and they gave us our own room. Most of us went traditional Turkey mains and Christmas pudding.

My old work team also decided on a festive lunch this year. I always organise this and the team were very well behaved. Our favourite pub The Maybush Inn looked after us well as always. The festive menu was good and all cooked and served perfectly. 

The mood was set when AC arrived and had us all throwing velcro balls at her 😂

We had a whole day of dog sitting as Daughter was given last minute complimentary tickets for The Globe theatre. When it's cold and wet outside the dog is even less bother as she prefers to curl up beside me and sleep most of the time. 

Really bad timing as I've a bit of toothache. I've a back tooth that split years ago but never hurt so been left alone, I'm guessing that now needs to come out. But it's the few weeks of constant social gatherings involving food. Not bad enough to phone for an emergency dental appointment so I'm hoping eating on the other side with the occasional paracetamol I can get through to the new year. 

I'm a Strictly Come Dancing fan and it's the final tonight, very exciting. 

Enjoy your weekend.

.

All of a Sparkle......

 
My lovely friendVS bought me this online advent calender (she did last year too and they are beautiful and fun). I'm really looking forward to finding all the surprises each day, cute videos and games to play. 

Sadly Son and fiancé didn't visit while Hubby still had a cold. Sad not to see them but also sad that I was the one on the landing, not Son, having to collect/catch the Christmas decorations boxes and bags as Hubby lowered them down from the loft. 

E was mentioned in the Guardian in their review of last week. Another proud Grandma moment.  

Sunday R and O came for their annual job of Christmas decorating my house. R and E started doing mine when they were three years old and every year since. E now lives too far but O joined in when he was really small too. I love how they insist on still doing it. 

Had lunch at Daughter's on one of the rare days she wasn't working (very busy time of year for an historical musician, leading processions and entertaining at events and markets etc). Great for us to have a proper catch up. 

I'm still doing a lot of online shopping, Hubby and I did wander round a couple of shops on our way back from handing in our menu choices at the pub I've booked for my old work team's Christmas lunch. We couldn't get inspired to buy anything so back to the Internet. While online, however, I did see a great offer and treated us to an air fryer. I've avoided getting one for various reasons, but this was half price and white! Thought we'd give it a try. Doesn't look too bulky thankfully. 

First few things we've used it for have been fine, even my first attempt at mincemeat pastries although I should have made them smaller. 

Still have some gifts to buy. 

Next I need to do the wrapping.

Christmas Dinner for 10 maybe 11 people to plan and buy for. 

About 25 people coming on the 27th to plan and buy buffet x2 and drinks for. 

Lists lists lists

No panic still have 15 prep days hahaha.

.

The North Wind Doth Blow.........

 
....... and we shall have snow

And what will poor Robin do then poor thing? 

Hubby has a rotten head cold now, well it is that time of year, and thankfully not too awful but all the coughing and sneezing is annoying him, and it also meant Son postponed a visit from this weekend (the first Saturday I'm writing this) to next weekend (that's the Saturday I publish this, confusing isn't it). 

All my cards are now written. They were all over the dining room table so coffee morning Monday was a great incentive to get them done rather than move them all elsewhere. Now the task of gift shopping, I'm sure you've heard me say lots of times how I hate shopping (even online shopping) and gift shopping is the worst. I love all the people I buy for so can't just gift them any old thing, however the older family and friends have everything they need already and the younger ones get money but need something to unwrap on the day, so not expensive but not tat either! 

I've done a lot of sitting and surfing online, shopping and ordering. Meanwhile, because Hubby has a cold and only doing a little garden leaf gathering to fill the brown bin that goes out this week, he's mostly watched the snooker, I'm amazed it doesn't send him to sleep! 

Been getting colder each day this week and Friday we woke to snow! 

Makes me so grateful to be retired and no early morning car windscreen scraping and driving on icy roads. 

Bit of a problem when the Orwell Bridge was closed because one of the overnight maintenence vehicles broke down and blocked the bridge all day. In Ipswich if the bridge closes the whole town's roads seem to go into gridlock. We had the dog all day and O needed picking up from the station late afternoon, so that was Hubby's job, then take O and the dog home to their house, however poor O was left waiting in the cold cos Hubby got stuck in a traffic jam with a phone that refused to work, making the six minute journey into 45 minutes and O going through me to make contact and relay back what's happening! 

Hubby's cold is still bad and he's done two covid tests five days apart and both negative, but as Son's immune system is so bad they've postponed again for another week. 

OK enough blogging, back to the online shopping as I'm barely half way. 

Stay warm everyone.

.

A Quick Read........

 
I know I say this every year, I love our tree in her autumn gold. 

Had to keep checking on our children as Son and fiancé gradually recovered from covid and Daughter started a really bad cold, she went to work on Monday afternoon but chose to wear a face mask so she didn't spread germs. Then M and R  both tested positive with covid !!!

My handyman Hubby had the carpet up in the bathroom and with lots of sawing and banging he replaced the floor boards that had recently felt a bit too bouncy to be safe. 

I've started the marathon card writing, takes me a while as I get distracted/ bored/ achy from sitting. I won't post any yet but I will post early enough to only need second class stamps because 75p is already expensive (£1.75 for 1st is ridiculous when I'm sending so many) and I'll try to deliver by hand as many as I can. Our local Scouts are providing their card delivery service again at just 35p each and of course the Scouts, leaders and parents do it voluntarily so what we pray is all fundraising which makes me happy. 

Seems like a short review of this week but it's mostly been our usual routine stuff and I'd hate to bore you. So stay warm and I'll see you next week.

.

Happisburgh Pics........

 

In case you didn't read last week's, I'm on holiday with Hubby, Daughter, O and their dog. We all arrived last Friday afternoon. 

Saturday morning, after a very comfortable night, I was up before 7am however Daughter was already out walking the dog. She came back with this early morning photo of the lighthouse, we can see this from the house we are staying in. 

After breakfast three of us decided to go out, but O declined and stayed in bed. This is Mundesley beach. 

Back for lunch and O was up then. After their five hour drive from Dorchester E and her boyfriendC arrived about 1:30pm.

Our evening meal was at The Lighthouse Inn followed by another three hours of trivial pursuit hahaha, team Daughter and I eventually won! 

 

Sunday had a bit of this 

And this

Then all out to Horsey wind pump. I stayed outside with the dog while they all climbed to the viewing platform at the top of the mill, too many stairs for me anyway and they reported the top bit was just a ladder. 

We went for a lovely but muddy walk before heading back. After dinner, the yummy vegan Shepherd's pie Daughter had made and brought with, O, E and boyfriendC made full use of the games room playing pool and table tennis, staying in there long after we went to bed. 

On Monday Daughter had to drive back to Ipswich for work, she set off about 10am. The weather was really wild wet and windy so we had a very leisurely morning, in fact it was 1pm when I went up to wake O so we could all go out somewhere while it was looking a bit calmer. We just walked locally towards the beach, avoiding the cliff edges as there has been so much coastal erosion here. 

I tried to pick up the lighthouse as a souvenir, but failed. 

We waited for Daughter to get back, about 6:30ish and had a dinner of the previously bought meat pies and vegan pasties with curly fries and carrots. 

Then there was some of this. 

Daughter played a game with E and O at the dining room table. C was on his laptop. Hubby watched a Terminator film and I read my book. 

Tuesday early morning Daughter and Hubby walked the dog. Then when everyone was up we all went to Cromer. 

Obviously not the weather for lunching outside with the dog, so we looked for somewhere suitable while E went into every charity shop but sadly couldn't find anything she wanted to buy,  then we found this place that thankfully serves humans too. 

All had our fill even our dog had sausages from the dog menu. Then a walk along the prom and eventually back to the car park. 

About 4pm E and boyfriendC left as planned for Norwich to spend two days with friends and family there before they have to head back to Dorchester and work. O decided he wasn't finding enough to do here and it would be worse without E so they gave him a lift to Norwich Station and he got the train home, so now there's just three of us here and the dog.

It turned into a reading evening and Daughter had an early night. 

Wednesday Hubby managed to book Daughter's car into a local tyre place as she'd discovered a screw lodged in one of the back ones (they had wondered a few days ago why it had been very slowly going down). So a lovely walk along Happisburgh beach then a very short drive to the tyre place. 

while it was being done we found The Swan Inn at Stalham to have a meal (great fish and chips) then back to collect the car with two new back tyres.

No need for a dinner in the evening so used up some of the fridge stuff. Hubby and Daughter watched the football and I read. 

Thursday woke to a greyer day, I say woke but I'd not slept well at all and Daughter reported not sleeping much either, dunno why.  Hubby and Daughter decided to go for their long dog walk early as the forecast said later was horrid. 

A very empty beach because almost as soon as they got there the rain came quite heavily. Daughter took this photo of the very soggy pair that returned, they were soaked through to their underwear. 

Daughter had planned to leave this afternoon anyway and as the weather wasn't going to encourage Hubby and I to do any more sightseeing I also packed our things and we had lunch here to use the frozen pizzas and then headed home. Only half a day early and we would have needed to be out by 10am anyway so nothing lost really. 

The drive home was mostly in very heavy rain which helped confirm it was the right time to leave. We were also home for our usual Thursday evening YouTube quiz. Had a lovely long phone call from Son, they were both so upset that they missed this holiday, but neither of them were over their covid symptoms, horrid eh? 

Friday of course was all the unpacking, putting stuff away and three machine loads of washing (probably need another two loads to catch up but that can wait so I can make space to get it all dry indoors). 

Till next week then, stay warm.

.

Pronounced Haysbruh.........

 
We are going on holiday at the end of this week, so the beginning of the week is deciding what we need to take. It's self catering and on the Norfolk coast, so not a warm location in November and could be very wet. I started off gathering roll necks and jumpers, blankets and hot water bottles! 

Monday morning was dentist with Daughter and O. We always go together when it's just the six monthly checkup. She dropped me back home in time for half of the coffee morning so I still got to see everyone. 

Quite a while ago Tesco reduced the value of their points reward so just before the deadline we cashed some in for Pizza Express vouchers. This wet Wednesday, as we weren't eating out in the evening, we treated ourselves to a free lunch. 

Turns out the price of all we ordered and the amount of vouchers we actually had it was a half price lunch. Thoroughly yummy though. 

Sadly Wednesday afternoon Son reported he has covid again. So we are not looking after their dog on Thursday and they'll not be sleeping over,  they've cancelled the concert they should have gone to and they'll not be coming on holiday with us Friday as planned. Then Thursday fiancé tested positive too so really hoping they get negative tests very soon and can join us partway through the week. 

This is where we are staying

The week was bought by Daughter and Son for my big birthday last August and it's big enough for Hubby and I, our children and partners, grandchildren and a partner and even the two dogs. November was the only week everyone could do, and even then we knew they couldn't all do the whole week.

That was the plan and what actually happened was Friday Hubby and I loaded the car (seems like we covered most eventualities) and with only a couple of hold ups en route we arrived about 3:30pm. We had a full nosey round the house, which looks very well equipped and found some cookies left as a welcome gift, we chose our bedroom and settled with a cuppa. 

Daughter and O arrived about 5pm. The dog was pleased to see me. 

We decided on fish and chips for dinner which Hubby and Daughter went out for, then O found trivial pursuit in a drawer so we played that.... for two hours hahaha. 

I was awake a lot of the night, which is normal for me in a strange bed, but the bed was really comfy and the house very warm, a bit too warm in fact. So this morning after hearing Daughter and the dog up I got up which was about 6:45am. Daughter had already gone out for a walk with the dog. 

Time for breakfast so I'll post this now and hopefully have lots to report in next week's.

.