Welcome to that weird period between Christmas and New Year, when there’s still a lot of Christmas cake left but you’ve run out of pigs in blankets, the Christmas specials are over and you probably have to go back to work at some point in the not too distant future. I have a giant pile of ironing to do, a whole lot of unfinished projects that I should probably be getting on with, and I have had some truly excellent naps instead.

On Sunday Rachel, Jill and I went for a very chilly swim at 5.5 degrees – my fingers were agony coming back to life afterwards – followed by coffee with Edith and Miriam in Harlow, and a bit of shopping while they got their nails done. I’ve found there’s no point getting my nails done as crochet trashes them! Later in the day I started trying to retrieve the dining table from under a pile of crafting materials. I introduced Miriam and H to Wheatus’s festive classic ‘Christmas Dirtbag’, which they hadn’t heard before. The festive film of the day was Miracle on 34th St (the 1994 version). I still love the 1947 version more.

Monday was baking day with Thing 2, while listening to about five million Christmas songs, none of which were Justin Beiber or Mariah Carey. One of them was ‘A Christmas Song’, which I first encountered on a compilation called ‘Nigel-Approved Christmas Fodder’. We lost Nigel a year ago, but the playlist remains my December go-to (though I did delete Mariah Carey from it. Sorry Nigel.) The stollen was made. The Christmas cake was iced with lazy ready-made icing and some sugar snowmen and penguins and polar bears. We also made chocolate salami after a colleague brought some in as a treat. It was amazing, though I did have to use rum as I couldn’t find any Grand Marnier in any of the supermarkets (and I had rum in the house). I cleaned the oven, too – after an explosive beef joint last week coated the inside of the oven in yuk. The children tidied their rooms, with assistance from my Beloved who insisted on telling me about it in forensic detail, and excavated several tons of laundry. Truly my life was complete. The festive film of the day was Gremlins – who doesn’t love the Mogwai?

On Tuesday the final presents arrived, much to my relief – there’s always something last minute! Thing 2 and I were back in the kitchen baking stained glass biscuits to use up the broken candy canes and two sorts of Welshcakes – cranberry and orange as well as the traditional ones. I remembered to get the turkey crown out to defrost along with the sausagemeat, and to sign up to an ultra marathon in March (does 25k count? It’s only 15 and a half miles). The festive to-do list has definitely helped this week. In the afternoon I popped to the neighbour’s with some Welshcakes and had a coffee with Sue, her dad and the sock-stealing Bella-dog. In the evening realisation that while I’d remembered to get the turkey and sausagemeat out, I hadn’t got anything out for dinner so I took a vote and we had a kebab. The movie of the day: Arthur Christmas.

Wednesday was, of course, Christmas Day and we’d been invited to TT1’s for the afternoon – I was taking the stuffing, which I made in the morning and which is apparently the best stuffing her partner has ever had in his life. As expected, it was glorious chaos – 14 people aged from four months to 55 years, two dogs (one very large and one very small), piles of presents, enormous quantities of food. We managed to fit all the presents, all the kids and my folding table into our little Kia Ceed which was the equivalent of a very tricky sudoku.

Boxing Day began with a walk and a coffee with Miriam and the dogs, complete with banana bread. I had an excellent nap in the afternoon and in the evening we had our own Christmas dinner with my late MIL’s angel chimes on the table. Lulu sat on the spare chair and watched us intently, but it turned out she just wanted some turkey. Ever since she recovered from her operation (which has caused her insurance premiums to double) she’s been far more interested in food, especially people food which was never a thing for her before. While I was making the pigs in blankets she sat at my feet and shouted at me, even though she doesn’t like sausages. In the evening we watched Gavin & Stacey: The Finale, and the Doctor Who Christmas Special – I loved the cheeky Mr Ben reference!

On Friday Jill and I started the day with an early walk with to see the cows down at the farm, as well as Wilbur the pig and a lot of hopeful horses. I spent the afternoon looking for inspiration in my quilting books – particularly Stuart Hillard’s books. He does amazing things with colour but I never have the patience to recreate his patterns. I have a plan though… In the evening a gang of us got together for a walk to Marconi Bridge to see the Epping Ongar Lights Express going through to the station. There weren’t any trackside lights this year which was a bit disappointing but the train was everything we expected!

Saturday began with a swim with Rachel, Jill and Sue at 6.1 degrees (that 0.6 of a degree did not make a difference to the tingly fingers!) and then Thing 2 and I took a spur of the moment trip to Harlow to see if there was anything good in the sales. We had lunch at Wagamamas and a good mooch around the shops – I found a black maxi dress in River Island reduced by more than half, and the jeans I was after were also half price. It was foggy and cold, so the buses running to time was definitely a bonus – though heating was apparently too much to hope for!

I know I really ought to be doing some useful things (like finishing the quilt I started in the summer) while I’m off but I’m quite enjoying watching TV, doing the odd row of crochet blanket and spending some quality time snoring with the cats. The ironing won’t do itself though, sadly, but I do have a nice new iron thanks to my amazon voucher as my good one for sewing has taken to tripping the fuses in the house every time it steams. For those of you worried about me, I spent the rest on a new leather jacket as mine is as old as Thing 1 and definitely looking a bit battered.

Normal service will probably resume sometime next week – we’re babysitting for GT2 on New Year’s Eve so coffee tequila won’t be on the menu this year!

Same time next Sunday…

Kirsty x

What I’ve been reading:

Two for the Dough/Three to Get Deadly/Four to Score – Janet Evanovich

The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown/Inspector Chopra and the Million Dollar Car/Murder at the Grand Raj Palace – Vaseem Khan

BBC Dramatisations of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels (Audible)