Good to see you again @Yviestevie and good luck for your surgery.
When I was at my big old house my 4 children and all the grandchildren used to come every other Christmas. The inbetween Christmasses they went to their inlaws or had it at their homes. I went to Daughter 1 a couple of times. Now that I've downsized I can only have one family to stay at a time. This year I will be having 2 Christmasses.
This weekend Daughter 1, her OH and 3 sons and I are going to Daughter 2's and having a Christmas Day with presents and food on Sunday. Daughter 2 is feeling low because of her divorce preparations. Her ex wants to be with them on the 25th. On the real Day I am going to Son 2 and family, 5 littlies.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
Morning everyone. We must be the only ones who don’t have regular plans for family get togethers. We first met in Darwin, which is thousands of miles from anywhere, so we didn’t have family except my kids. Then we moved to Canberra after cyclone Tracy and again, not close to family. My family were three hours drive away at Ulladulla, so we did see them for short visits and Hubby’s family were in Victoria, so that was only occasional trips. I think we are happy just being us. It’s all we’ve ever known since we’ve been together. I stopped sending Christmas cards a couple of years ago. I’d rather speak on the phone or use emails. Maybe we are strange!
I’m planning a jam-making day if my energy doesn’t run out today. I’ll tackle strawberries first, then might make a start on some of the crab apples.
Yum, hope the jam making goes well, Pat E. I don’t trust my technique, so I tend to freeze the fruit, and then make just enough jam to fill a jar, and eat it up quickly. I make it in the microwave, so only small quantities at a time. Took the decision yesterday to tell daughter and husband not to come for Christmas after all. We had warned them that it was dependant on the Covid situation not getting worse, but we were getting increasingly concerned. Interestingly, once I’d sent the email, OH and I are feeling a lot better. Very disappointed, but so less stressed. Still both awake in the small hours, but certainly feeling a bit more like normal.
Good morning all 😊 ☕️ Jam looks good @Pat E Good to see you @Yviestevie … hope you’re soon feeling much better … all the other ‘stuff’ will settle into place bit by bit.
Christmas has changed over time for us … following my divorce we’d all go to Bro’s cos he has a huge place and they like entertaining, but then when OH and I settled together we would alternate Christmas … one year with my family here and the next we’d go to OHs mum’s while my parents would go to Bro’s, and Wonky would host her brother at their place … bit by bit things changed … one year I took roast beef and all the trimmings in the car 30+ miles to my Aged Ps on Christmas morning to cook for them for a 1o’clock lunch 🥴 … then Pa went into the care home and Ma would spend Christmas Day there and we’d all visit on Boxing Day. Then Ma moved into the Care Home too and OH and I had one Christmas on our own with two lobsters for company … bliss! Think son was in Russia that year and Wonky was with her Lovely Hub’s family … they do visit Papa Womble but his wife’s not great on hosting … apparently.
We usually try to spend some time over the holiday with OHs family … but they’re all pretty independent and just get on with their own lives most of the time. One sister has horses so she and her husband are either feeding and turning them out or getting them in and grooming and feeding and in between theres mucking out and bedding down to be done … so not a lot of time for festivities … more recently MIL has gone to a country hotel with a few friends for the Christmas period and she’s enjoyed that. She was thinking of doing that this year but was waiting to see what the Covid situation was. Grown up niece is planning to spend Christmas with her father’s family this year. There’s also a relative who isn’t jabbed 🙄 😠 so she’s not been invited to any family members’ places and will have to swap presents in the doorstep. That’s up to her …
This year Wonky and her Lovely Hub will be at home … they’ll visit her elderly MIL, and I expect her OHs son and his brother will visit them for a meal or three.
We will have a quiet day here together and hopefully my son will be able to drive up and visit us for roast beef and chocolate mousse after he’s finished work at the Testing Centre.
I used to sing in church choirs and have a real ‘village Christmas’ but that was aeons ago … I’ll still listen to Carols from Kings as I do the last minute preparations on Christmas Eve, and we’ll still wake up on Christmas morning with the hope that the world will be a kinder and more peaceful place in the future.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Looks to be another beautiful winter's day today. 14/16°C yesterday, sunny and NO wind!! Frosty morning and evening.
Second lesson of Swiss Ball this morning - at which I am utterly hopeless - no balance whatsoever and my brain cannot tell my leg to lift. Completely new movements than an exercise class (Pilates, gym etc.) Good for balance and muscle control. Only about 4 or 5 in the studio. Morning classes are better as is the attendance (over 55s)!! and triple jabbed.
We are having a quiet Christmas too. Just OH and I. I'm fine with that. We have good neighbours, but they are away at family's or have family coming. Apart from having something nice to eat, it's pretty well a day like any other. Yes, I have had the big family Christmases up until about 18 years ago. Times change. Still like a walk along the beach in the afternoon to watch the sunset, come home, light the fire and watch a film. Some things don't change!!
Hello! @Yviestevie Everything crossed for your operation on Sunday. We'll be waiting for the results. Not a pleasant situation for your daughter. Divorce and separation can be so demoralising. I imagine your OH has physio exercises to "get through" daily. Yo are most likely "the rock" of the family.
@punkdoc Glad to hear that your sister is on the mend - having worked in a primary school for many years, I fear for my work mates who are exposed to this Covid situation.
@Hostafan1 Great letter from a child that obviously has a positive attitude. Aren't children resilient? I hope he gets his Christmas wish.
Hello @Uff !! Bien venue to a fellow gardener. Nice to "meet" you.
Just watching ITV GMB. A record for the Million Minutes!! How lovely of the Brits!
You are all right about Christmas, but it is so easy to be sucked into all the hype, happy families around the tree.... and then feel like a failure because that is not your world.
It's why Christmas is so hard to live through for a lot of people - it's easy to feel like a complete outsider. But in truth there are a lot more people who don't have a traditional family 'do' than the supermarket adverts would have you believe. And lots that do feel pressured into trying to do that sort of Christmas and make themselves broke and miserable in the attempt because it just doesn't work for many families. I've gone through the phase of the big family Christmas while my parents and their siblings were still alive. It was fun. But most of them are dead now so if I tried to recreate that, I'd only be reminded - painfully - of what's lost. So now we have a different sort of Christmas. I've lived in a small village and done the big New Year's party in the pub with too much alcohol and lots of friends. It was great while it lasted, but we all grew up, moved on, moved away. Trying to cling onto the life of your 30s when you're in your 50s or 60s is just going to give you indigestion and a nasty headache. So we now do a different sort of New Year. Make the best you can with where you are, and who you're with now. It's one day in a year. It doesn't have to be perfect, any more than any other day of the year.
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Posts
Best of luck for the surgery.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
Good to see you again @Yviestevie and good luck for your surgery.
When I was at my big old house my 4 children and all the grandchildren used to come every other Christmas. The inbetween Christmasses they went to their inlaws or had it at their homes. I went to Daughter 1 a couple of times. Now that I've downsized I can only have one family to stay at a time. This year I will be having 2 Christmasses.
This weekend Daughter 1, her OH and 3 sons and I are going to Daughter 2's and having a Christmas Day with presents and food on Sunday. Daughter 2 is feeling low because of her divorce preparations. Her ex wants to be with them on the 25th. On the real Day I am going to Son 2 and family, 5 littlies.
Took the decision yesterday to tell daughter and husband not to come for Christmas after all. We had warned them that it was dependant on the Covid situation not getting worse, but we were getting increasingly concerned.
Interestingly, once I’d sent the email, OH and I are feeling a lot better. Very disappointed, but so less stressed. Still both awake in the small hours, but certainly feeling a bit more like normal.
Jam looks good @Pat E
Good to see you @Yviestevie … hope you’re soon feeling much better … all the other ‘stuff’ will settle into place bit by bit.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Looks to be another beautiful winter's day today. 14/16°C yesterday, sunny and NO wind!! Frosty morning and evening.
Second lesson of Swiss Ball this morning - at which I am utterly hopeless - no balance whatsoever and my brain cannot tell my leg to lift. Completely new movements than an exercise class (Pilates, gym etc.) Good for balance and muscle control. Only about 4 or 5 in the studio. Morning classes are better as is the attendance (over 55s)!! and triple jabbed.
We are having a quiet Christmas too. Just OH and I. I'm fine with that. We have good neighbours, but they are away at family's or have family coming. Apart from having something nice to eat, it's pretty well a day like any other. Yes, I have had the big family Christmases up until about 18 years ago. Times change. Still like a walk along the beach in the afternoon to watch the sunset, come home, light the fire and watch a film. Some things don't change!!
Hello! @Yviestevie Everything crossed for your operation on Sunday. We'll be waiting for the results. Not a pleasant situation for your daughter. Divorce and separation can be so demoralising. I imagine your OH has physio exercises to "get through" daily. Yo are most likely "the rock" of the family.
@punkdoc Glad to hear that your sister is on the mend - having worked in a primary school for many years, I fear for my work mates who are exposed to this Covid situation.
@Hostafan1 Great letter from a child that obviously has a positive attitude. Aren't children resilient? I hope he gets his Christmas wish.
Hello @Uff !! Bien venue to a fellow gardener. Nice to "meet" you.
Just watching ITV GMB. A record for the Million Minutes!! How lovely of the Brits!
Have a pleasant day all.
I've gone through the phase of the big family Christmas while my parents and their siblings were still alive. It was fun. But most of them are dead now so if I tried to recreate that, I'd only be reminded - painfully - of what's lost. So now we have a different sort of Christmas.
I've lived in a small village and done the big New Year's party in the pub with too much alcohol and lots of friends. It was great while it lasted, but we all grew up, moved on, moved away. Trying to cling onto the life of your 30s when you're in your 50s or 60s is just going to give you indigestion and a nasty headache. So we now do a different sort of New Year.
Make the best you can with where you are, and who you're with now. It's one day in a year. It doesn't have to be perfect, any more than any other day of the year.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”