Merry Christmas everyone! I know I'm a little bit late with my seasons greetings but things have been pretty hectic here as I'm sure they have been in homes up and down the country. In my defence though the first two weeks of December were taken up with Hubby's 40th birthday preparations. Months of planning a birthday surprise came to fruition when we went away for the weekend to Derbyshire in a beautiful barn conversion and were met there by the kids and his immediate family (there were 9 adults and 6 kids in total!) Getting that many people in one place just before Christmas was bloody hard work but we all had a fantastic weekend. But then- BOOM! We came home and Christmas hit me like a steam train.
I thought I was pretty organised but not even my lists and Hubbys excel spreadsheet could prepare me for the run up to Christmas. (Yes- he really does have an excel spreadsheet listing all the presents so we know what everyones got when it's wrapped and to make sure the kids have the same number of pressies) The last minute shopping, wrapping, card writing, visiting people and all the school stuff pretty much did me in. All this craziness just for one day. It's madness really when you think about it. And you don't even get to relax on the day itself. By the time you've done your Santa duties on Christmas Eve you end up going to bed late and are then woken up early in the morning to take part in the mammoth unwrapping session. You've spent hours in the days and weeks previous wrapping everything up and making it look pretty and then within minutes the kids have ripped it all to shreds and it looks like there's been a tornado pass through the living room.
Christmas had been a bit strange for us this year as we are still living with my parents. The survey on the house we want to buy threw up some problems with the roof that we weren't able to resolve prior to everyone shutting down for the Christmas holidays so that meant no completion. And no completion = no new house = still living with parents. It was strange not being able to carry out the traditions that we have built up as a family as all of our decorations are in a 40ft storage container and even silly things like the fact that we always have a real tree and my parents always have a plastic one meant it wasn't quite what we were used to. To be fair it was probably just as weird for my parents to have us 4 there but it was lovely to see Big Girl baking mince pies with my Mum or Big Fella playing with my Dad. But I can't wait for next year. Our first Christmas in Nottingham in our own home.
Despite not living in Hertfordshire any more one tradition we still did was do Christmas Eve bowling with Bestie and her family. We were going to meet halfway but given the fact that she had just had a baby 2 weeks before I thought it best if we did the travelling instead of her. We didn't tell the kids, instead they thought that we were going bowling in Nottingham, Bestie and her gang would go bowling down south and we would FaceTime each other to make it feel like we together like normal. I thought that they would guess as I loaded the car with pillows and my blanket (so I could snuggle down for a nap during the car journey) But they didn't. I thought that when we went in the opposite direction to Nottingham city centre where the bowling place is that they would guess. But they didn't. I was certain that when we got on the A1 south that they would work it out. But they didn't. It took 90 minutes before they realised we weren't heading to the bowling alley in Nottingham and that we were on the motorway. And then the penny dropped. I've got an amazing video of them screaming and shouting in the back of the car when they realised we were going bowling with Besties family and that they would get to see their friends and spend time with them on Christmas Eve just like we always do. We had a great time bowling, a long lunch at Prezzo and I also got cuddles with Besties 2 week old baby number 4.
We still went to Church on Christmas morning. We always go to mass as a family as I think that it's important that we stop and remember what the day is really for. It's an hours peace in what is a mad and hectic day. We were having lunch at my parents and then going round to Hubby's parents in the afternoon where all his family were going to be too. This year my eating has improved and Christmas dinner was more than last years rice and custard. Only just though- roast potatoes, carrots and gravy but I have been able to enjoy tucking into the Quality Street or having the odd handful of nuts which is something I couldn't have done last year. I even had Christmas pudding and squirty cream but my God! did I pay for that. I was in agony and I don't know why I do it to myself but I do. With every mouthful that I eat I know I shouldn't be eating it and I regret it almost instantly as the pain begins in my belly, spreading through my bowels like fire culminating with me spending hours on the loo. You'd think I would learn from it but I don't. I'm not sure if it's because I have not been able to eat proper food for so long that I just think 'Fuck it. I'm eating it regardless of how it makes me feel' or what. But it's something that I need to address in the new year. I'm hoping that my new Nutribullet will help with my diet too. At the moment I can only eat the odd vegetable and hardly any fruit so I'm going to see whether blitzing them will make any difference. I'm hoping it will as I miss eating proper wholesome food. Everything I am able to eat with no problems is just crap-White bread, cheese, pizza, potatoes and of course rice- and there's no colour to it. Fingers crossed.
Christmas day itself just seemed to whizz by in a blur and I was so tired I had to have an afternoon nap to recharge my batteries. Because we were playing games with the kids or racing on Big Fella's new scalextric we didn't get chance to sit down and watch any TV so I've still got the Christmas Strictly and Downton Abbey to watch. We didn't leave The in-laws until really late so I think we got to bed around midnight. As usual I was up in the night for my toilet trips and my belly was going ten to the dozen so I spent more time in there than normal. Falling asleep in the loo is a regular occurrence for me and I often wake up to find that 30, 60 or 90 minutes have passed! I was really, really tired though and I slept until midday on Boxing Day.
Boxing Day afternoon was spent at one of Hubby's Aunty's where after a buffet we did boys versus girls at Rapido (think Pictionary but with play dough instead of a pen and paper) which proved to be absolutely hilarious and then we played the QI game and Scotland Yard, one of the games that Big Fella got that's strangely addictive. Lots of laughs and good times with family- just how Boxing Day should be.
All in all its been a pretty good Christmas. I was really chuffed with the presents I got- Hubby excelled himself with UGG boots, a brilliant busy mums diary, some books and the pyrography kit that I had been wanting.
I've made scrabble gifts for most of my friends so now they can expect wooden spoons, coasters and other items with burnt personalisations on 😉 But seriously though it was lovely to spend time with everyone where there was no stress, no housework to be done and the sole aim of the day was to have fun. I got a lovely photo of me, Big Girl, Mum and my Great-Grandma- 4 generations in one photo. I hope you all had a great Christmas too. Now roll on 2016
NB xx
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