2020 ROUND UP!!

HELLO  Goodbye 2020!!

WHAT A YEAR????

A year no one could have predicted or imagined.

A year of celebrations - Sam's 18th, Sophie's 21st, my 50th. 

A year of travel to Florence, Majorca, Prague, Amsterdam, Barcelona.

A year of planned ADVENTURE.....

....or NOT!!!

Because we found ourselves in a Global Pandemic, as a result of COVID-19!

We were told to Stay at Home, Save Lives, Protect the NHS! 

and the whole country went into Lockdown, not once but twice and very nearly a third time!!

Sophie came home from Uni and is still here, doing her Placement Year from home instead of in Cardiff. Sam's A-Levels got cancelled and he's now working during his Gap Year. Jeff worked throughout the Summer term but returned in September and I just carried on as normal but now with the grandure of being called a Key Worker!!!

We clapped for the NHS, I baked, read books, walked daily on our 'Boris Walks' with Sam. We made the most of the glorious Lockdown Spring sunshine. We drank Corona, ate our meals outside and were grateful to live in a nice house, with fantastic countryside so close to home. Jeff cut my hair!! And we spent quality time together as a family.

Spending time together for me was the biggest positive to come out of such a disappointing year. 

Bonus time together as a family, with everyone back at home x

So here's my year in pictures. 

You can always look back through the blog for all the details xx

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

I follow a page called Simple Politics on Instagram and they've just posted

 this round up of 2020, sums the year up nicely too!

What a YEAR!!!! 

A year we'll never forget for sure but a year I don't want to repeat in a hurry. 

As ever we enter a new year with hope, a clean slate, a chance to discover new things, travel to new places, meet new people, catch up with old. Without doubt 2021 has to be a better year. We have a vaccine, we have hope that we can get life back to normal, whatever the new normal may be. In life I always try and look for the positives. It has been a terrible year for many but we have made the best of it and I will always be grateful for the bonus time we've had together as a family.

Twixmas....

... the bit between Christmas and New Year!

Although not so much the muddle of days for me,

 as it was back to work for me straight after Boxing Day!

We entered Boxing Day going in to Tier 3!

Boxing Day was a completely relaxed affair! They played an 'Escape' game and I 'escaped' to the sitting room to relax on the sofa and watch Grease.

I then worked the Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, was down to do overtime on the Wednesday but wasn't needed, so spent the day de-christmasing the house, ready to welcome in the new year.

Love going in to a new year with a clean and tidy house.

So today is the last day of December and 2020!

And five days on from entering Tier 3, we enter Tier 4!

Jeff and I got up early, were out the door by 8:30am and made the most of the stunning weather, walking along the River Brue. It was bitterly cold but such a fabulous start to the day.

I will do a round up of the year in another post but

 will leave you with this little robin fluffed up against the cold x

Christmas x

Hope you all had a FAB-YULE-OUS Christmas x

Obviously due to Covid and Tier restrictions, Christmas for many will have felt very different this year. Be it having lost loved ones, not being allowed to travel, restrictions due to the rules, self isolating.... For us, we were lucky, our plans haven't changed. For the last few years now we have spent Christmas Day just the four of us. Yes we have missed the big family gatherings, lunches, meet ups before and after the big day but Christmas Day has been as planned.

However Christmas Eve didn't start off as planned, with a box of beer being dropped from a height, smashed glass all over the kitchen floor. So an unscheduled steam mop to stop it smelling like a brewery and numerous rounds of hoovering to ensure all the glass got picked up!!

Once sorted, Jeff, Sophie and I headed over to Shapwick Nature Reserve for a walk. Sam was working his last Christmas shift at Sainsbury's. It was a beautiful blue sky day, a chill in the air, perfect x

Following tradition, we all sat round the table late afternoon, listening to carols, 

doing all the Christmas veg prep.

With the table all set and ready, we were just waiting.....

....for the worker to return home.

Christmas could now properly begin!

Because Sam worked all day, I did allow him to spend the evening on his computer with friends, rather than have to sit in the sitting room with us all evening, watching a film. Gave Sophie and I a chance to watch Miracle on 34th Street. We seriously have run out of film watching time this year!

So the big day arrived! No mountain of presents under the tree, 

instead our new tradition Breakfast Bags!

A really lovely chilled morning, breakfast rendezvous at 9am. 

A few rounds of presents, factime with Mum and Dad and then lunch prep!

Ready and waiting for the main event - lunch!

Delicious turkey dinner for lunch but a new pud, so we could all eat the same, salted caramel chocolate sponge pud from Sainsbury's! A few more rounds of presents and the Queens speech with coffee and mints, after all the washing up was done and cleared away.

A lovely facetime with Granny.

It was lovely to see her albeit briefly and via the wonders of technology x

Will do a separate post on the breakfast bags just in case anyone is interested, plus it'll be a good reminder to me next year, when I look back through my blog to see what we did!!

The evening was spent eating leftovers, drinking, eating some more, watching Hercules on Disney+, the film of choice and just relaxing - a lovely family day just the four of us!

Merry Christmas x

 

Slipping into Christmas

Another busy week! Thought I'd sneak in a little catch up before a final post before Christmas. Despite the challenges of the weather, I managed to meet up with my sister and niece on Saturday....

...... for a socially distanced breakfast, walk and present swap in the car park.

Feels strange that that will be it for this year!

Spent the evening on the sofa with Sophie watching the Strictly final, 

with my first Baileys of the year and the first of the Matchmakers!!

Monday, before work, our lovely hairdresser Di came over to do an emergency trim! I fear we'll be in lockdown immediately after Christmas, so thought an extra cut would be a good idea, just in case!!

 

Monday was also the Winter Solstice, brighter, lighter days to come x

I slogged it out at work, 3 long 8 hour shifts. Am exhausted and my feet hurt but 4pm on Tuesday evening, I hung up my festive antlers for another year. It has felt more tiring than ever this year both mentally and physically, coping with a varying degree of social distancing!! I'm looking forward to 4 days off but I'm then back in Sun, Mon, Tues, Weds!!

This morning I did pop back in though, to do my final food shop. Sophie and I went to M&S last night after to work, to pick up our food order and a few nice bits. We then got up super early this morning, I went to Sainsbury's, she went to Tesco's and we got everything we need and more!!! And yes, I do have a lot of butter but for one I have a boy who eats a mountain of toast daily and two I buy it when it's on offer or when we get a bigger discount!! We certainly won't run out!!

After a much needed coffee, Sophie and I sorted out all the plates, platters, dishes etc for the next few days. A few favourites amongst them all.

Sam finally got round to wrapping his bits for the breakfast bags. I certainly haven't passed on my wrapping gene to him!! The moaning, he only had 9 things to wrap! So this is it, this Christmas, our gifts to each other. A lucky dip from a £10 category - magazine, drink, dvd or socks, and the £5 category - lottery, chocolate, puzzle and joke gift, a t-shirt round, a book round from Jeff and a few extra rounds from me, just for fun. Each round wrapped in the same paper, that we'll all open at the same time and guess who got which round. The wrapping might give a few away, plus I think Sam pulled his own name out of the hat for the t-shirt round!! Bet he'll of treated himself to some designer one, he certainly wouldn't have got from the rest of us. He's working his last couple of shifts at Sainsbury's. Bless him, he's worked hard keeping all the fruit and veg stocked up. He outwardly curses me, as it's hard work but I think secretly he's quite enjoyed working there, meeting lots of other young people and he'll be glad of the money on pay day.

Anyway I'm off to spend my afternoon on the sofa, watching a Christmas film with Sophie. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, Sam's working and it's supposed to be a dry, sunny, cold day, so I'm hoping to get out in the fresh air for a walk, before a relaxing afternoon at home.

Will wish you all a very Merry Christmas now, just in case I don't get time to pop back here before the big day. Have a lovely 'safe' Christmas this year. I appreciate it will be very different for many and I know I'm very lucky to be spending it with my favourite people, just the four of us but it is just one day and hopefully by keeping this year small, we will get to enjoy many more big family Christmas get-togethers in the future x

Merry Christmas x