Family Time......

 
We started this week with Doggy Day Care for Daughter's dog as M had surprised her and O with theatre tickets in London. 

Sadly we also heard that Son's dog has lost her recent health battle. She had been so well loved and will be deeply missed. 

Christmas Eve and we had a little band of veg-prep Elves: Daughter, E&C, Hubby and me. I was enjoying catching up with E and forgot to take a photo.

Hubby and I set the table before we went to bed.  

Christmas morning always starts with playing the LP of traditional Christmas songs, I bought it for our first Christmas together 51 years ago. We keep the record deck especially for that. 

Daughter, E&C, R and O arrived with the dog of course. Sadly M was too unwell to join us and Son and fiancé were feeling very sad and also decided not to come.

O, as usual, did the prezzie distributions. Yes he really is getting taller and taller. 

Daughter had said she was doing all the cooking and brought with the vegan Wellington she had made for all those not eating turkey. 

There seemed plenty of time for some game playing, which took a lot longer than expected

So in the end I also did some of the cooking and we all sat down to two yummy courses and all too full to have dessert. 

But not to be defeated dessert was dished up and eaten while watching Dr Who (which was a load of rubbish, TV not dessert).

They didn't leave it too late before gathering all their stuff together and heading home, with a plated up dinner for M.

Boxing day Son and fiancé came for a quieter afternoon just the four of us. Mince pies and chocolate biscuits with mugs of tea, prezzie swapping and lots of chat was lovely. They decided not to stay for dinner so I wrapped up the vegan pigs in blankets and the sweet potato Wellington we had saved for them so they had dinner to eat at home. 

Friday didn't start so well as I needed to go for a blood test and sometimes I'm a tricky customer this was one of the tricky days. Two phlebotomists needed five attempts, but they got there in the end. 

So a lazy afternoon with the heating up and lots of TV. 

We've a busy Sunday ahead I need to get the house ready for, so I'll leave you now and get on with it..... but not before wishing you all the very best for 2025.

Festive Feasting with Friends........

 
Starting the week with a smile. I was bought an orchid last August and only recently all its blooms fell off, now suddenly it's blooming again. 

I'm always confused by this cactus that can't decide if it's an Easter cactus or a Christmas cactus. A lovely healthy plant but it only ever has one or two flowers at any old time of the year but none now. 

Thankfully I'm feeling a lot more comfortable this week, not totally fine but OK to take on the very festive week in our calender. 

Monday was our noisy coffee morning of course. 

Tuesday we should have been out at a late lunch meeting two couples in Chelmsford. Sadly friendL phoned in sick so her and husbandK couldn't come. Then friendsL&M decided we should postpone till January, so I cancelled our pub booking. 

Hubby and I took the rare opportunity to go round Tesco together. I just  about survived physically and we were pleased to have done so much with only the fresh stuff with short dates to get next week. Not sure Hubby would survive me shopping with him too often hahaha. 

Wednesday the usual gang booked the festive menu at the pub and it was all really good. 

Thursday the old work team gathered. Even after more than 15 years it's still my job to arrange things. We now prefer to have a lunch event rather than evening but it's still a full three course pig out. Mmmmmm 

Oops, you can now see I wore the same jumper both days, hahaha. 

With just a few days before the main event I'll wish you and all your families the happiest and healthiest festive season. 

And this year both religions can party together. 

In this family we always do!!! ❤ 

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Feeling Poorly.........

 
We swapped coffee morning this Monday for a local hotel Christmas lunch. Unfortunately I had been unwell over the weekend, with food making me feel yucky so I thought it best to miss this festive two course lunch. I insisted Hubby still went and he took this photo and reported it was all good. 

An added bonus was neighboursA&D paid for Hubby's as a thank you for the various jobs he has helped them with. 

 I was still feeling ill with lots of side effects ganging up on me, so phoned the helpline and later spoke to the Specialist Oncology Nurse, she is getting anti sickness pills prescribed and also recommended travel sickness bands which I'd ordered from amazon. She also told me to stop taking the meds for a whole week and we will review the dosage after that. 

These bands seem to help, which is fortunate as the hospital pharmacy doesn't appear to have received a prescription for me! 

We did manage to join my usual Wednesday evening friends and I even ate a little which was an improvement. 

I'm always so proud of Daughter and how she takes on all sorts of extras. This week E and her boyfriendC have moved back from Dorchester to Norwich and Daughter hired the big van and did the move with them. Taking O with for company and help they had the five hour drive down there Tuesday evening, loaded up about 11pm then slept over and drove back Wednesday morning. E&C have a fully loaded car and will meet them back in Norwich on Thursday, meanwhile here with Hubby, Daughter and O they unload half the van to store here, apart from their three seater sofa which was manhandled at Daughter's house but wouldn't maneuver into the bedroom space they had cleared for it so rearranged other rooms to fit it elsewhere. Phew! I had the easy job of keeping the dog out of their way.

Now I really need to muster up the energy to do the last of the gift shopping and wrap and sort menus so Hubby can shop. I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

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Twinkle Twinkle Little Star........

 
As with every previous year R and O traditionally have to start their Christmas by building and decorating our tree. They both get so busy with work and other commitments that this year it actually had to happen before November was totally finished. 

We all thought the lights looked better on R than the tree, tricky to keep her plugged in though! 

Finally finished and looking very festive. 

Hubby and I were left to clear up and then do the little tree in the dining room. 

And put up the extra lights. 

Hubby also attached the icicles to the guttering outside, so a good festive sparkle inside and out. 

I'd seen a recipe for air fryer bagels made with just Greek yoghurt and self raising flour. I couldn't get it to form a good dough and so it was sort of sticky dollops that landed on the baking tray that I threw into the oven (I've a very small air fryer that would have taken far longer cooked two at a time).

They didn't look pretty and I couldn't see any resemblance to bagels but they tasted OK. I won't bother making them again. 

Two days running we've managed a really short shopping dash locally and I've ordered a few bits online so I feel I don't need to panic just yet. All my cards are written, posted with royal mail or with our local scouts, and only a few left to hand deliver. 

So pleased I've always kept lists. Off to check mine again now and see what needs doing today. 

Enjoy your week.

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