Reflect.

Well I didn't think i'd make it back in September...sheer bl***y mindedness got me through and I am so thrilled that I have.

Suzie, you are a star for bringing us together and Anne, you are a star for keeping us together.

I am with Helen and Jo, I don't really like to reflect, however I do think it is good for you to think things through and learn from them and that is something that I have learned this year about myself. Doing this project, having access to great technology, doing Project Life (which I just have the last week to complete) have all added something to my life and how I live it. I have always been quite self-aware but now I purpose to notice as much as I can about the world and people around me and how we all fit together.

I also learned I could be brave, never before this year would I have managed the meet-up that Anne and I had, although I was terribly nervous it was one of the highlights of the year and I felt so happy for doing it. I am certainly going to be brave next year and try and get down to Kathi as well as she is near-ish.

I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year and say a huge thank you for the comments that have made each and every day special.

So a photo today? Well I saw a brief glimpse of pink and light sky just at twilight which cheered me up from this infernal rain.

And light reflecting in my eye as Louis and I goofed around with the camera.

Lucky Snapping then. 

End.

Bittersweet.

The end of the two towers is upon me, again, and just as well, it is silly o clock.

Free Choice.

Minty had to have a rub-down after her wet and wild walk :) She is such a tiny little skin and bone thing she shakes like a loon when she gets in.

They have their rub-down and then spend a bit of time in the utility room to dry off before being let loose again, then they go mental running around and have a play fight, then they assume their normal positions of sleep.

Something you would change.

I am going with the weather as well. It is blowing a hoolie and we have heavy rain. Now, if it was just a one-off storm for this month I would enjoy it, I love variations in the weather. It isn't and I am worried about my friends and colleagues houses and businesses flooding again and more selfishly whether my trip into work will be as dangerous this saturday (I was aquaplaning and driving round every way I could think of to get in for an hour and then ended up on a 30 minute walk into the village as the roads were all closed).

I would change it to a lovely big snowstorm which blanketed everywhere deply and it would be a benign storm, everyone would have enough soup for a couple of days, no-one would lose power, no-one would be poorly or have a need to be anywhere and everyone could just enjoy it.

The river outside our store, it is usually about 2 metres wide on the furthest bank meandering behind those trees. This area in the foreground is meadow. 

Special.

On Christmas Eve, Ali wanted to give Frosty, his penguin a present. I had been at work the night before so I hadn't seen this but he had wrapped a present for him, made a tag and everything, he's his Mummy's little crafter ;)

Bless him.

Delight.

Leftovers with Parsnip Roulade :D

Lots of playing with lego and watching crafting videos...bliss :D

Can there only be 5 days left to take photos? That means as my challenge goes live next week I better get a wriggle on with it :)

Something On Your Table.

I shared yesterday the table as we had christmas dinner on christmas eve. So today I can show you the start of the lego marathon!

The Battle of Helm's Deep.

We have got a bit more to build today :D

Merry Christmas to you all xxx

Mouthwatering.

We had our christmas dinner this evening to change things up. A couple of reasons why, Rich loved christmas more than the rest of us put together so we wanted to do things a little differently so we could get through it. We did pretty well too, we did have a howl over the table decorations of all things. Anyway it was sad to see so much space at the table where Dad and Rich should have been. The other reason is that Lauren my niece that lives with me can never be sure of when her Mum may serve up dinner (she is a little unpredictable) and she has been caught with two dinners quite quickly before bless her. Anyway, to be perverse, Lauren decided yesterday that she doesn't want to eat with her at all if she can get away with it.

Anyway it is done now, Mum and I weren't stressed out and we managed not to pick all day so we really enjoyed it. It was lovely and mouthwatering.

Today we have agreed with Ali to do presents at 9am so I am waiting for that, he is up now and looking forward to it, but he is not beside himself. Lauren and Louis will have to drag themselves up at that time... It is not the same at all. I can quite see why grandchildren are so desirable :)

Then it is Buck Fizz and a walk and then making lego all day with nibbles.

The Yule Log wasn't a huge hit, it was so sweet. Louis helped me decorate it though and it might be better chilled slightly more. 

Yes that is Tomato Ketchup on the table, give me strength. 

Merry Christmas to all of you and your families xxx

Festive.

The bokeh from my fairy lights in my room.

Green.

I don't know if you saw Braunton on the news today as the latest place that got hit with flooding? It was me trying to get into the store as that is where I work. I am too, too tired to recount it all here, I may do on the other blog when I get time. Suffice to say it has been the hardest day ever and I am physically and mentally exhausted with dealing with my own journey and the fact that so many of my work community have been devastated in their houses. The difficulties that my staff have had to come into work and have still come in. I spent the day trying to get in...looking after people, including feeding them (for free of course), looking after the firefighters that set up command in our car park and helping people to get home.

I had a very tiring, stressful journey, myself. A half hour walk in and then out of the village. An hour journey through flooded hills to get 8 miles. I am now exhausted and aching and feel like the Grinch.

Surfing?

It is not funny though is it? Those poor people facing Christmas or anything with that damage. Fortunately it was a lot of shop space rather than personal space but economically and creatively that is heartbreaking. 

Human Spirit? My colleague Dan that waded in (his flat is above one of those shops).

My colleague (another) Dan that spent two hours to get in.

and it goes on and on. Love my job to work with such lovely people and in such a great community.

Red.

Well I am sure you know that we love to have fun at work at Christmas; at work, it is such hard work at Christmas to make sure we have enough of everything without having too much and lots of food going to waste. 

Dan who is the most cool guy I know totally embodies fun at work, he is friendly, hilarious, kind, fair and fun. He is totally cool but at work he will join in with all the silliness, evidenced here with his Christmas Jumper (that he fought with someone in a Primark queue for) and a silly hat. He did the Usain Bolt pose with his Gold certificate he got through the post today. Dan you are a goof in the best possible way and the best Compliance Manager to make my life easier that I have ever had :D

Something I want.

Something I want..and have wanted for two years and have never quite matched up with the spare cash is Nigella Lawson's Feast.

As an advent pressie today from the family I got it :D

Looking forward to reading it, her food writing is so agreeable :)

Drink.

Di Saronno, White Wine (as cold as can be), Small glass of Mum's homemade Bailey's :)

Ali's teacher got her hands on this one, fortunately there was half a glass left from this batch to keep us warm in the church :)

Slippers.

I use a pair of cheap 'Uggy' type boots from Primark to keep my feet warm and snuggly around the house.

Grey.

One of my lovely colleagues has made this gigantic cake to use as a guess the weight competition for our customers and staff this week. What a beauty.

I must say a big sorry for not getting round to your blogs. I will be better hopefully this week. Oh and please don't worry about leaving a comment here, I know you are all super busy too.

Wealth.

Having your lovely Aunt & Uncle over for dinner has been lovely.

All the wealth you need, although of course we are so lucky that we can afford to put on a lovely roast dinner and crumble, never mind the goodies that came out at tea-time.

That is the first Christmas Cake I have ever made completely from scratch, I didn't do much in the way of decorating as I am pretty new to it. I didn't take a photo of the roast dinner as I took a video instead. 

Blanket.

Cosy like a blanket I suppose.

Ali's new reindeer slippers.

Health.

Elf you say Suzie? Ok then.

Obligations.

Ali will be asking me to hold the grapes for him next!

I was obliged to finish Christmas shopping off today, get the mincemeat and marzipan made too. Nice obligations I guess.

Look Up.

Beautiful this morning...where is this month going to exactly? It is just whizzing by....

Tree.

Firstly, in case you missed it at Suzie's, here is the link to the new blog. If you have anyone else that might enjoy it please let them know, other than that I don't think we will advertise it anywhere else.

My Tree. It is totally bare now. I do love the shape of him. Most years I can see the squirrels in there scurrying about but nothing so far.

Mundane.

Staff christmas party last night. Ugh. I come to you today from my bed. Ugh. Hangover. Ugh. Silly, silly me.

Yummy meal finished with Death By Chocolate.

I think it might have been at this point that things went seriously wrong. Some of my colleagues felt that I needed to experience a Jaeger Bomb. They felt that my lack of knowledge about this needed rectifying. In case you don't have helpful colleagues like me, it is a shot of Jaegermeister in a shot glass, in a tumbler of Red Bull. Well quite. Even taking the photo of it before I had it was out of focus.

The beautiful tree outside the venue.

Right, i'm going back to sleep for a bit.

Comfort.

Ahh, tonight was the christmas evening at the town library, my Mum and Ali go frequently and one of my oldest friends Anna is the Chief Librarian (I am ashamed that we don't see each other much but it is nice when we do), her Mum used to be a librarian there and she is good friends with my Mum. She took me abroad on holiday when we were teenagers and I am ever grateful for that as my parents couldn't afford to do that then.

Anyway, I digress. Anna had arranged an amazing get together for the community, the music club from school sang, which is why I went primarily as Ali goes to music club, but there were craft stalls, lovely, lovely stuff on those stalls. Wine and mince pies added nicely to the ambience.

I have a lovely video of them singing but don't seem to be able to edit it tonight.

Here he is instead having his face painted.

Goodnight xx

Curly.

Christmas dinners went well at work, the management team always support but this year they were extra specially helpful and it all went smoothly, as usual by the third sitting it was like a well-oiled machine :D

This was us dressed up as characters from Alice in Wonderland. Martin, the store manager and I were The King & Queen of Hearts. Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum were hilarious, considering they had to be persuaded they didn't do too bad. They did go and have a couple of pints of cider yesterday before they went shopping :) Then there was the dormouse and the White Rabbit, Alice and Chloe did brilliantly as The Cheshire Cat.

Apologies for the poor photos, the 'big' camera wouldn't even turn on :(

Bed for me, I cricked my neck on monday and I have had a long week with it in pain so I am indulging in an early night.

Corner.

Louis in the corner finding his chocolate this morning. I put a clue for each of the family as to where their chocolate treat might be hiding in the advent calendar. Louis' was hiding with Robbie the Reindeer who stands on the landing, eyeballing us as we go up and down the stairs. I apologise for the quality of the photo.

Couple.

A couple of Christmas cards Ali is plowing through. If you can't wear your crown to write your christmas cards out, well, when can you?

The cardboard is for me, I am making fancy dress for myself and the boss to wear when we serve Christmas Dinner to the staff over the next couple of days. The management team are going as characters from Alice In Wonderland and as the bosses we are the King & Queen of Hearts :D

Curved.

Tree decorating today, so the curves of some of the baubles.

And naughty little Minty!

Around the home.

I cannot believe I haven't blogged any photos this week at all...Last gasp for december now. I have taken photos so I will catch them up. For today though, just this lot larking about.