December - You should be full of social events, entertaining and getting excited about Christmas - given all the restrictions this year, I wonder how different you will be from past Decembers?
(spoiler alert - it was more different than we could have imagined!)
Day 1 Coco went to the groomers, it's so lovely to see her so soft and pretty (until she goes on a dog walk tomorrow and stomps around in muddy puddles)
Day 2 A Covid vaccination has been approved and will be given to the oldest age groups NEXT WEEK! Will be a while until they work their way down to us youngsters (never thought that 63 would seem young!) but it is a start.
Day 3 Last online Zumba for a while, we are back in the hall next week 💃
Day 4 Started writing Christmas cards, labels printed, stamps and cards bought, just need to write inside them now
Day 5 Delivered our box of groceries to the local Food Bank, decorated Christmas tree, Jon and Max came over for a walk in the afternoon - a busy day!
Day 6 A lazy Sunday - just the two of us (and Coco) lots of jigsaw puzzling was done and a few Christmas cards written - homemade chicken pie for dinner.
Day 7 Started the day with a trip to the dentist which is my least favourite place to spend time - there was good news (I haven't broken a tooth) and bad news (I have to return in the new year for a filling in my wisdom tooth to be replaced)
Day 8 Our doctors surgery is running a flu vaccination clinic (just 'ordinary' flu, not the other new one!) at our local football ground - the organisation was amazing, they are calling hundreds of people each day and we were in and out in under 5 mins. Register, sit down, arm out, jab, coat back on and back to the car park!
Day 9 Went over to Saffron Walden to pick up Max and bring him back here for the day - it was so lovely to spend a whole day with him.
Day 10 Zumba in the hall - followed by a cut and colour at the hairdressers - that feels better!
Day 11 Tesco food shop in the morning - already getting busier leading up to Christmas - in the afternoon Rachel brought Leo and Rosie here for an online zoom chat with Father Christmas (they still don't have internet at their new house so it's a good job we formed our childcare bubble and they can still come here to use our wifi!)
Day 12 Paul's birthday so we went out for an al fresco lunch with Jon, Sophie and Max - Leo's class has to self isolate for 10 days as a teacher has tested positive to Covid, so they are now confined to home.
Day 13 A quiet Sunday at home and the perfect opportunity to get wrapping those presents - it's a surprisingly time consuming job
Day 14 Baking day! Went into town to the butchers to make things for the freezer. 30 sausage rolls, a mince meat pie and enough casserole for six took me most of the afternoon.
Day 15 Went into town to pick up a couple of presents I had bought on 'click and collect' then more wrapping of presents in the afternoon.
Day 16 Had Max here for the day, managed to tweak my back moving his car seat from Paul's car to mine and have been in more pain as the day went on.
Day 17 No Zumba for me today, in fact no 'anything' for me today and I'm hoping that getting some rest will help my back which is currently very painful.
Day 18 Back still hurts but not quite so much today, went on a long dog walk as I think that keeping moving is key to key to helping it heal.
Day 19 Christmas is cancelled. We have been moved to Tier 4 so no indoor mixing at all for us. Cannot put into words how disappointed we are.
Day 20 Still feeling down about the new Tier system, less than a week ago we were in Tier 2 and now we are in 4. So many people's plans spoilt.
Day 21 Braved the supermarket at 8am, hardly anyone there - was a totally different story when I came out 40 minutes later, they were queuing into the car park
Day 22 Went out for a walk with Leo and Rosie so Rachel could take an important work call, it was so lovely to be out and about with them, safely in the fresh air.
Day 23 Jon and Sophie came over to collect their presents, had a nice (but muddy) socially distanced walk around the lake
Day 24 Christmas Eve - dropped Rachel's family's presents to them once the children were safely asleep.
Day 25 Christmas Day - how different it was to our normal Christmases but we made it as nice as we could, met up with Rachel and family in afternoon for a dog walk, feeling sad that we weren't able to have the day that we had planned with them.
Day 26 Boxing Day, had a zoom chat with my sister and brother in law, niece and her family, nephew and his family and Rachel. Jon was supposed to join too, but apparently they all fell asleep on the sofa after lunch #lifewithaoneyearold
Day 27 Went to Tesco to restock up on fresh fruit and veggies, was pleasantly surprised by how quiet it was.
Day 28 Zoom Zumba! Was so good to do some proper exercise again!
Day 29 A day of jigsaw puzzling, crocheting and a zoom quiz in the evening
Day 30 Oh no, lockdown baking has started again, keep me away from the cake ...
Day 31 New Years Eve - takeaway dinner from our favourite Thai restaurant, a bottle of bubbly and the TV for entertainment - someone, somewhere near us had fireworks in their garden which went on until almost 1am #notagoodstartto2021forCoco
So that's it, not just the end of another month, but the end of a pretty unpredictable year. While I know that 2021 is not going to see an immediate improvement I really hope that as the months pass our restrictions can safely be relaxed. The important thing is to keep safe and keep well, this year has shown us what things are really important in our lives and I for one cannot wait to spend more time with friends and family in the coming year.
Happy New Year!
Always enjoy your sentence a day posts. We also had someone setting off fireworks but because of noise by-laws they had to be done by 11pm (thankfully).
ReplyDeleteHappy & healthy 2021 to you, Paul, Coco & the family.
Your review of the month really captures the ups and downs of it all (and it must feel there were more of the latter than the former). Hoping for a different trajectory in 2021. What a lovely photo of you both! Warmest good wishes for the New Year ...
ReplyDeleteAnother good report for the month. I love your haircut. And that cake looks amazing!! I can't bake very often because I'll be the one eating it all! Here's to the end of 2020 and much hope for 2021!! Happy New Year to you!
ReplyDeleteI know you were so terribly disappointed when you went to Tier 4 and Christmas plans dissolved. It was a very strange holiday for us, too, but not unpleasant. Just very quiet. Christmas is for children and there should be little ones about, opening gifts and giggling and scampering about. My daughter and son-in-law impose new restrictions about me being with the girls daily. I can't keep up with where I stand. I can babysit but can't go over to play. Hmmm.
ReplyDeleteCoco is such a fluffy pup. Can't imagine that she ever gets too unkempt. Even when there are puddles about. We gave our kittens baths right before Thanksgiving and they are still so silky and soft. Hope they will stay that way until their spring bath.
You look especially adorable in your blue sweatshirt with the reindeer. Very cute sweatshirt and your hair is so pretty. I am about to decide to have my hair chopped off. Have never liked my hair and it is falling out with great abandon. Looks stringy the longer it gets.
Happy new year, my friend. Hope we can both soon surround ourselves with our loved ones, especially the little ones.
Certainly a different Christmas than normal - we were also in tier 4 with Christmas cancelled! I found it very restful, it was just nice to be off work! Your baking sounds yummy. I never do any baking sadly. My husband doesn't like my cooking and prefers to get things from shops!
ReplyDeleteThe doggy looks cute. And well done on the Zumba. I've always wanted to try it but am very un co-ordinated so perhaps Zoom is my answer (switch the camera off!).
I've so enjoyed this series of yours! :)
ReplyDeleteChristmas was certainly different for all of us, wasn't it. Absolute genius finding Santa could receive an online 'visit'!
I tweaked my back Christmas Eve and was in a bit of pain for a few days as well-- it's amazing how fast it happens too. Glad to hear the rest of your month went pretty well. I am so sorry to hear you couldn't spend Christmas with family but it does sound like you made the best of it.
ReplyDeleteHi De4b, it's always interesting to see how life is treating you in the alternate Deb's World and I feel your pain about Christmas! Hoping things improve for you all soon. My daughter is in Tier 4 in Somerset too and now the lockdown is in place again, it's not good! Take care and hopping 2021 is a bit of a better year for us all.
ReplyDeleteGood to spend time with family in unique ways during the lockdown. Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteOur Christmas was so quiet too. And we headed into another lockdown on Boxing Day and are in an even stricter one now. I'm envious you got a hair cut and colour. I am in desperate need of one.
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