It's pretty much woe is us here - between a migraine/sickness (Claire) and lumbago (me) we are a sorry sight!
But what a lovely Christmas we had. Very quiet, just the two of us... and the cat, the goldfish and of course our little Christmas visitor, William the hamster.
He's very cute - but one of us is less than impressed:
Poor boy! He's alright really, getting lots of cuddles and Dreamies, but I think he's not too sure what's going on, and will be very relieved when William's young owners come home from their travels.
On Christmas Day Claire came up to the bedroom with the bags my wonderful brother and his wife put together for our stockings. We had decided to stretch things out a bit and to open these separately, before breakfast, and planned to open the rest of our presents later. It was lovely, and so unexpected, so thank you NJ and J :)
First things first, we opened up the champagne, courtesy of one of my bosses, and added OJ for the most delicious Bucks Fizz
Then I made French Toast with icing sugar for Claire and maple syrup for me, to make up for the fact that we didn't buy a Pandoro this year...
After breakfast of course it was time to open our presents, and I must say my daughter is the most thoughtful and wonderful person in the whole wide world! One of her gifts to me was a magazine subscription. I love that I'll get to open a present every month for the whole year.
I was also excited to receive some yarn and a crochet hook from my Secret Santa (one of my scrapbooking buddies). I'm trying, but I'm a loooong way from this! I shall be joining the beginners' class at the Community Centre and hope to make my first crochet blanket in 2014.
In the afternoon, we had planned on going for a Christmas post-prandial walk, but in the end I just felt so tired after all the hustle and bustle of the run-up. I am getting better at pacing myself and recognising when I just have to rest and listen to my body. Although I always love our huge family gatherings, I don't cope as well with the noise etc now, and it was quite pleasant to just sit quietly, reading or watching a little bit of Christmas TV. Claire and I both got books so we were happy to switch off and read in companionable silence!
There's so much I didn't do this year, that I had planned, and where once this would have frustrated me, it's no big deal. We'll get a Pandoro another time and I'll buy marzipan and stuff the dates in the New Year instead, for example.
Oh I nearly forgot, I can't remember if I mentioned Do Something Different before, but I signed up to it in December and have been getting daily prompts. Anyway, I got the No Diet Diet by the same authors from the library and today is day one, which was "switch off the tv". So that's what I've done. I'm not watching it at all today, and I've got plenty of other things to do instead. Although the prompts that have been coming in have often been to do things I already do naturally, it is great to have a little jab in the ribs occasionally to do something you're putting off.
So, off I go. I need to check in on Claire and then I've got that craft corner to clear up in the bedroom... Ciao!
Such a peaceful day you had. happy New year to you and your loved ones.I found the do something different page so inspiring.Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Angie | 01/01/2014 at 09:34 AM