Farewell to 2025

 It is fair to say that 2025 held it's fair share of good times and bad and I am definitely not going to take good times for granted in the next year!

So how did December pan out?

There was a fair amount of socialising which is lovely but I did seem to cram it all into the first ten days of the month and at one point I had been out for meals three days in a row which is not good for my waistline! 

The Christmas tree was decorated (much to Coco's disgust as it is standing in the corner that she likes to lie in after dinner in the evenings), cards were written and a nativity show was watched.  Of course I cried when the angels came on stage, I always do, but even more so this year as Rosie entered the hall dressed up in her long white dress and tinsel halo. Gingerbread houses were decorated 

The start of the process showing an artistic interpretation of Father Christmas climbing up a roof, (you need to use your imagination 😆) and by the end of the process every icing tube had been used, every sweet stuck on and quite a lot of mess was made.

The Christmas cake was more subtle using vintage decorations that once belonged to my mum.

I lost count of the number of times I went food shopping; how much food do you really need for two full days of entertaining?

We had Rachel and her children here for Christmas Day and Jon and his family joined in on Boxing Day.  It was very tiring but lovely to gather everyone together.  The children are now all of an age where they can play together and it made my heart sing to watch them all having fun.

It's been nice to have a few days to relax and have the house to ourselves after the lead up to Christmas as well as the days themselves.  I have to own up to having a two hour nap on the day after Boxing Day, I was exhausted!  I wasn't the only one  ...

The leftover food has been used up and I am trying hard to resist the call of the boxes of chocolate.  Sometimes more successfully than others 😉 Thankfully Coco is feeling back to normal and has enthusiastically come with us for long morning walks. While out with her this morning, a fellow dog walker stopped for a chat and as Coco greeted her dog she asked us 'Is she a puppy?' and was genuinely surprised when we told her she was fourteen and a half!  

Thank you for reading over the last year, I do appreciate it and hope you will continue to visit in 2026.

Let's look over the last 31 days, 1 Second Everyday

Time has flown!

I seem to have blinked and suddenly weeks have passed! I blame it on the time of year 🎄 

So what have I been up to since I was last writing a blog post?  There's been a hair cut, quite a lot of childcare, Pilates classes, Zumba classes, we hosted an Indian takeaway meal for three other couples, watched Leo play in two football matches, had a meal out with friends who we first met when we went to antenatal classes 39 years ago, decorated the house for Christmas, enjoyed a meal out with the ladies I used to work with,followed the next day by a meal out with my Knit and Natter group, celebrated my cousin's husband's 60th birthday with an afternoon tea also with my sister and her husband, wrote and sent Christmas cards, watched Rosie's nativity play, went for a birthday meal with Paul and yesterday hosted a family celebration for his birthday.  Let me share the November 1 Second Everyday roundup that I should have posted last week!

So yes, it has been busy time but we are finished with all the going out socialising now and have a quiet few days before the big event.  This afternoon I have set aside for Christmas wrapping while watching a Christmas film.  

Can you guess how excited our grandchildren were when this passed by our house just as they were going home last night?

It’s definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas!