Winter comforts I can’t live without!

Winter is not my favourite season, I am always complaining about the cold and I hate it. So I thought I’d round up the winter comforts I absolutely refuse to live without. The little things that make the season cosy instead of cruel.

Blankets!

Let’s start with the obvious: the blankets! There isn't just one because I need options and I need layers. There’s the fluffy one, the knitted one, the weighted one that threatens to pin me to my armchair forever. Each has a purpose and I love each one for different reasons and at least with having more than one I don't have to go without a blanket while one is in the washing machine!

Hot drinks!

Tea is lovely all year round but a cup of tea in the winter just hit's different and then there’s hot chocolate! Whipped cream, marshmallows and if it doesn’t look like a dessert I don’t want it. Winter drinks are like a warm hug for your soul.

Candles!

You’d think I’m hosting a séance some evenings with the amount of candles I light. They are needed though. The scented candles are mood lifters and winter is when they are needed. Vanilla, cinnamon, mulled wine, pine and cookie scents. My living room smells like Santa’s workshop at times and there’s something magical about that warm glow on a dark evening.

All the comfort food!

Winter meals are an excuse to eat things that involve potatoes in three different forms. There's stews, casseroles, soups so thick your spoon stands up on its own and the bread! Winter bread is different. Crusty, warm and slathered in salty butter. Then there are the slow cooker meals, they make the whole house smell amazing and take little effort to put together. There is also the baking! Cakes, cookies, cinnamon rolls and gingerbread, the smell alone is comfort enough.

Pyjamas!

Nobody thrives in winter wearing tight jeans and proper clothes. hehehe It’s the season for soft, slouchy, oversized pyjamas that make you wonder if you should ever wear proper clothes again. I’m talking fleecy sets, fluffy socks, sometimes slippers so squishy that it's like a hug for your feet. Some days I stick a hoodie on over my pyjamas and pass it off as loungewear and if delivery drivers judge me I don't care, they’re out here in shorts in December anyway so they can't be trusted.

Hand creams and lip balms!

Winter does awful things to my skin so hand cream becomes a survival item. I keep one in every room and I’m forever applying it like I’m in a skincare advert.

Evenings in with zero guilt!

In summer if you stay inside people look at you like you’ve committed a crime but in winter everyone just nods in understanding. One of my favourite winter comforts is the do nothing evenings. When it gets dark early and the house gets warm doing nothing feels productive. It's self care! 

Seasonal TV specials and films!

Winter TV is the best with the Christmas specials, snowy dramas and heart warming comedies! These shows are just different when the evenings are dark and the blankets are ready. I have a list every year of must watch specials and there’s nothing more comforting than knowing your winter evenings are already planned.

Long hot baths!

Winter is the season when baths become a must. I throw in bubbles, bath bombs, oils, salts whatever I can find like I’m a wizard mixing potions. I love that moment when the bathroom is warm and I sink into the water thinking this is luxury!

Winter walks!

This one surprised even me but winter walks have become one of those comforts I didn’t know I needed. Not the freezing ones where your face hurts but the crisp, still mornings when the air feels fresh and your coat actually does its job and when I get home where it's cosy and warm a cup of tea is extra special.

What are your favourite winter comforts?

What we will be eating for Christmas dinner! #MealPlanningMonday

This weeks meal plan post is a bit different from other weeks because It's Christmas!! This week we will be living off party food, Christmas dinner and leftovers so I thought instead of boring you with the meal plan I would share what we will be eating on out Christmas Dinner!

If you’ve never had a proper British Christmas dinner let me tell you it’s not just a meal, it’s an event! This is the roast of all roasts, the one we plan, prep and slightly panic over for weeks in advance. The kitchen looks like a war zone, the oven works harder than Santa’s sleigh and by the end of it all we’re full, happy and swearing we’ll never eat again until pudding shows up. I go into full on festive feast mode with every type of vegetable, gravy that flows like a river, and enough food to feed the entire street and still have leftovers for sandwiches the next day.

Starting with the most important part: the meat!

The star of our Christmas dinner is always the meat. This year we have 3 joints of meat. Turkey, gammon and beef! It might seem a lot but we don't all like the same things and we have an extra person with us for Christmas. Everything will get eaten or put in the freezer to use at a later date. Speaking of freezers by now I should have got the meat out to defrost!

The vegetables and lots of them!! 

The vegetables at Christmas dinner are a big deal here and there are many!

We’ve got roast potatoes, they’re golden and crispy on the outside with a fluffy inside. Then there’s mashed potato, buttery and smooth. Some might say having both roast and mashed potato is overkill. Those people are wrong!

We also have roast parsnips and carrots. Brussels sprouts are mandatory even if half the family swears they hate them. Boiled and then fried up with a bit of bacon, they make an appearance every single year because it just wouldn’t feel right without them. There’s also cauliflower cheese, it’s basically cauliflower baked in a creamy cheese sauce until it’s bubbling and golden on top and just to make sure every colour of the rainbow’s covered, there’s red cabbage: cooked with vinegar and apples and mashed turnip, which adds that lovely earthy flavour. It’s a proper mix of textures and tastes with a bit of sweetness here, a bit of creaminess there. Every forkful is different, and that’s what makes it special!

Pigs in blankets!

If you’ve never heard of them, they’re little sausages, we usually use chipolatas wrapped in streaky bacon and roasted until crispy. They’re bite sized, salty and absolutely addictive. In our house, they disappear faster than the Christmas chocolates. They’re the perfect mix of savoury and smoky, and no matter how many I make there are never any left. This year I have also got some pre-made ones wrapped with maple streaky bacon! Yum!

Stuffing!

Stuffing is another area where I go slightly over the top but that’s part of the fun. We usually have a few varieties: a sage and onion stuffing, a chestnut one and sometimes even a sausage meat version. I also treat us to a fancy stuffing from M&S. You know the ones, the gourmet style ones with things like cranberry, apple or caramelised onion mixed through. It just adds that little touch of luxury to the plate. You can always rely on M&S to make the humble stuffing feel posh. Everyone has their favourite so it’s only fair to have options.

The gravy!

Finally we reach the most important finishing touch, the gravy! It’s not just a drizzle, it’s a necessity. Christmas dinner without gravy would be like a tree without lights. Some people go all out with homemade turkey stock and drippings but I’ll admit, I’m not above a good gravy granules shortcut. I always make sure there’s plenty. By the time we’re done the plate’s basically swimming in it and that’s exactly how it should be.

Drinks and laughter!

Once everything’s plated up, we raise a glass usually Bucks Fizz, that perfect mix of orange juice and prosecco. It’s light, fizzy and makes the whole meal feel extra special. The table’s full of chatter, paper crowns from the crackers and someone pretending they’re too full to eat pudding but change their mind when they see it. 

Our Christmas dinner might sound like a lot and it is but that’s the whole charm of it. We cook too much, eat too much and spend half the afternoon in a food coma but that’s what makes it magical and the bonus is that we live of the leftovers for a few days so I don't have to cook!! 

What will you be having for Christmas dinner?

A photo every day for a year! 14th - 20th December! Week 51 of #Project365

Are we all ready for Christmas? I feel ready. All the presents are bought and wrapped, we've visited family, the big food shop is coming tomorrow and now we just need a good tidy up which I am going to get the family to help with.

We are having a nice quiet weekend. Ellie and I have dyed our hair and done our nails. She was very excited to have long nails back on, they're not practical for college so she's making the most of them during the Christmas break!

I have decided that next weekend the 28th when my Project 365 will usually be posted I am going to hang on and post it on the 31st, finishing the year of in one post and starting from day one the following weekend. I hope that makes sense.

Now for a photo every day!

348/365 - 14th December

The WWE wrestler John Cena. He had his last match in the early hours of Sunday morning and I stayed up to watch. He didn't win but he went out the right way. It was worth staying up just to see everyone come from back stage to show their respect and give him a big cheer.

349/365 - 15th December

I never buy a paper TV guide apart from at this time of year! I like to go through and mark off what I am planning on watching on TV and what I need to record. Are paper TV guides still a thing or do they just get created at Christmas for people like me who have this tradition?

350/365 - 16th December

I caught up with Neighbours, my last ever catch up because the show has ended again. Hmmf! I am sure at some point it will be brought back. I really don't understand why it was finished, every time I went on Amazon it was in the top 10 most watched things on there!

351/365 - 17th December

Becky was off to her works Christmas party. She had a lovely time with great food and fantastic company. She brought her Deadpool Christmas jumper out for the occasion.

352/365 - 18th December

It wouldn't be Christmas without getting a new Christmas mug. I got this from Morrisons for a couple of pound! I think it's so pretty!

353/365 - 19th December

Christmas nails, I bought them months ago and put them somewhere safe. Isn't it funny how that somewhere safe place is somewhere that you would never think of putting things like this, it took me a while to find them. They were in the kitchen junk drawer. 

354/365 - 20th December

Hair dye day for Ellie and I. I'm going bright red, probably pink, my hair doesn't seem to like the red anymore and dark red for Ellie.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

This week my Word of the Week is: Ready!! #WotW

This week my Word of the Week is: 

We're ready for Christmas and ready for the fun to start. I feel like all the hard jobs are out of the way now and the next week is all about enjoying the good things.

Well, I say we're ready but we're waiting for the online food shop to be delivered in a couple of days. I have been on a few times and tweaked the list, at the moment it feels like a daily obsession. I go on once a day and keep adding and removing things. The list is full of things that we only get at Christmas like smoked salmon, salted peanuts, fancy flavoured cheese, Baileys thick pouring cream, fancy pork pies and snacky food. I took all the veg off the list as I am getting it all from the farm shop, their veg is way better than supermarket veg. It might cost more but it's Christmas and it's good to support small businesses! 

All the wrapping is done, even the girls got theirs done early on in the week. That was funny to watch. We discovered Ellie is like me when it comes to wrapping, it  is a chore and is there to be complained about the whole time you are doing it. hehehe The last present I sent was received and we dropped the presents off with family yesterday, well most of them. My dad and his partner still have a bag of presents here but I am planning on seeing him on his birthday in a couple of days to give him them then. There was just too much to carry everything yesterday. I may have got a bit carried away buying things for my brother and his family.

Poor Becky is not ready for Christmas because she won't get to celebrate like the rest of us as she is working Christmas Eve, Day and Boxing day too. She works in care and someone has to do it so we're going to make the most of the time she has at home. We will have to be out of bed ready to open presents on Christmas day when she gets in from work so she can rush off to sleep so she can get up a bit earlier on the evening to spend some time with us.

Ellie has finished college for the year and she is ready for the break. She has been struggling to get up each morning, the dark and all of the rain hasn't helped. She slept in on Monday but made it for the bus but it was a bit of a rush, I slept in on Tuesday, when I woke up at 8am I thought it was still night time as it was so dark. I hate this time of year, especially for my family. When Becky is at work she never see's daylight with sleeping during the day as she works night shifts and poor Stu leaves the house when it's still dark, is in an office with no windows all day so doesn't see daylight and comes home in the dark too. It's the shortest day tomorrow so at least from now on it will start to get a little lighter each day. 

How has your week been? I hope you have had a good week and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!! I am of course linking up with Anne who blogs at Raisie Bay to join in with her Word of the Week linky!

What I have loved this week! Week 51. #FridayFavourites

Here we are the weekend before Christmas! Eek! I hope everything is going to plan for everyone and you are getting all those little jobs done. I think we are just about ready for the big day. Today I am linking up with Erika and Andrea to share what I have been loving over the past week.

Fixed internet!

We had no internet all day Friday and half of Saturday! Eek! It is crazy how much we relay on it for simple things like online shopping, tracking parcels, transferring money through the bank, chatting online to friends and of course blogging. Our internet provider said out router was the issue but then found a fault local to us and lots of other people were affected too. So we ended up being sent a new router, when the internet was back working we set it up and have discovered there must have been a small fault with out box as the speeds we're getting now online a lot faster.

Watching the girls wrap presents!

On Sunday the girls were at either end of the living room doing their gift wrapping. My eldest, Becky loves wrapping, my youngest, Ellie doesn't. It was so funny to watch. Becky with her lovely, square, easy to wrap boxes and Ellie with everything that wasn't square and easy to wrap. There were encouraging words coming from Becky which just seemed to rile Ellie up, she says next year everyone is getting a gift card then there will be no wrapping to do. I think she has the right idea.

Cat presents!

I have decided to cause chaos at Christmas. hehehe My dad always says not to waste our money on him, he doesn't want Christmas presents but I've got him a few bits regardless but I have also bought his cat a present. He adopted a cat earlier in the year, it turned up at his place and never left. The nearest house to his is a 10 minute walk away and the next one another 5 minutes so we say the cat chose him. He found the owners and they said just keep the cat and he has. It's a sweet little thing and as he lives in the middle of fields it does a good job of keeping the mice and rats away. Anyway it deserves a treat so I've bought it a little stocking filled with cat treats. Puss will love it, my dad not so much. He doesn't think pets need presents.

John Cena!

He retired from the WWE in his final match in the early hours of Sunday morning. Becky and I stayed up to watch it. I remember when Cena first appeared on WWE shows over 20 years ago and he's had quite the career. I was happy with the ending of the match, he tapped out and most likely gave a huge boost to the career of Gunther who made him tap out. I cried, not when he lost but when he took his boots and wrist bands off and left them in the ring, it was the end of an era.

Chocolate Limes!

These remind me of my childhood, going to the corner shop and getting a quarter of them in a little white paper bag. I saw these in a shop in town and had to get them to see if they were as good as I remember, they are! Hooray! Sometimes I have got things I remember from my childhood and they are just not the same, it was so nice to get something that tasted just how I remembered.

The end of Neighbours (Again)!

Neighbours the Australian TV show ended in 2022 and then Amazon took over and it ran for a few more years and last week it ended again. Hmmf. I caught up with the last episodes and it made me sad all over again. It has been on the TV for over 40 years so most of my life. They left the end open so it could start again, just maybe not on Ramsay Street.

Spotify playlists!

I know that over the next week I will be listening to more music than watching TV so I went and sorted out my Spotify playlists. Adding more songs to certain lists like musicals and rock and making a couple of new lists. I also deleted a few lists that I haven't listened to in years, now I just have to get the rest of my family to organise their lists to make it look a bit more sorted.

What have you loved over the last week?

What I’m buying for myself while Christmas shopping!

Christmas shopping, the magical time of year when you leave the house determined to be a generous, thoughtful human being and return home with bags of treats for yourself. It’s basically tradition at this point. If Santa can reward good behaviour so can I! So let’s talk about the things I definitely didn’t plan to buy for myself this December. hehehe.

December shopping does something to my brain. One minute I’m hunting for stocking fillers and the next I’m holding a fluffy cardigan thinking this will help me survive winter. It’s always pretty, it’s always soft and it always comes home with me. I try to imagine gifting it to someone else but then I picture myself wearing it and it's too precious to let go.

Nothing tests self control like a shiny skincare gift set. I go in for wrapping paper and come out convinced I need a three step routine that involves serums, massaging and misting. I buy them for myself every year and I always feel like I’m doing something responsible. Never mind that I’ll forget step two by mid January and end up using the fancy night cream as hand lotion. The thought was there.

I fully intended to grab a candle as a gift, something classy like Frosted Woodland something but then I spotted one that smelled like gingerbread and happiness and next thing I knew I was buying two. One for them and one for me because what am I supposed to do live in a house that doesn’t smell like Christmas! 

Socks are always marketed as a gift but who are we kidding, no one appreciates them the way we do. The second December hits my feet are suddenly freezing and if my feet are cold the rest of me is so when I see fluffy socks in festive colours my brain goes these are needed to live just like food and water. I try to justify it by thinking I’ll give them to someone but once they’re home I become attached to them, they’re mine now. Oops!

Every December I become a new person. I see a fresh notebook and think this will change my life. I will become organised, write plans. I will journal daily but jump to February and three pages filled, one of them containing a shopping list and the phrase remember bins but I still buy it because who doesn't like new stationery.

Every year I buy a fancy box of chocolates to either gift to someone or have out when guests come over, then two days later I’m eating them alone while watching TV and pretending the box ripped itself open but December calories don’t count in case you didn't know!

There is no marketing stronger than the words worth £80 but now £20. I don’t even care what’s in it. It could be eyebrow glitter or make up I don't know how to use, I’m still tempted. I tell myself it’s smart shopping, I’m saving money. Never mind that I wasn’t planning to spend the money in the first place.

There’s always something in the supermarket that jumps into the trolley. Mini mince pies, fancy crisps, hot chocolate with marshmallows shaped like snowmen. I tell myself it’s for Christmas week. Then it disappears during a random December afternoon when I need a break from real life.

December is stressful enough without pretending we don’t treat ourselves while we’re out shopping. We’re juggling lists, crowds, budgets, wrapping disasters and that one person who keeps saying they don’t need anything. (my dad). So if something brings a little happiness or warmth I say go for it!

Do you buy yourself treats while doing the Christmas shopping?

The Wednesday Hodgepodge #37

I hope you are all having a good week? It's Wednesday which means it's time to join in with the Wednesday Hodgepodge with Joyce who blogs at From This Side of the Pond! Each week there are 6 questions, we answer and then link up. Simple!

1. What's one thing on your to-do list that you want to get done, need to get done, or that must get done before the year ends?

This is nothing festive, boring I know but I need to book an appointment to get my contraceptive implant changed. I can't believe I have had this one for almost 3 years. I won't get an appointment this year, there's a waiting list because our local GP practice doesn't do them anymore. Which I suppose is a good thing as I haven't had a great experience with my last 2 being changed. The first time they couldn't get my old one out and last year they forgot to order a replacement implant so I had the old one removed one day and the new one put in a few days later which stressed me out, I panic about medical things and dragging the ordeal out wasn't helpful. I will have to go to the NHS health and wellbeing hub in town and If I get booked in now I should get it done in about 6 weeks.

2. December 17th is National Maple Syrup Day...are you a fan? Do you like maple flavor in other food items such as candy, cookies, donuts, oatmeal, hot toddies, coffee?

I do like Maple Syrup! I don't have it often but I do have it now and again on pancakes and waffles of course and it is a nice treat in porridge too. For Christmas we will be having Maple Pigs in Blankets, we had them last year and I think the year before and they're amazing!

3. Time magazine names a person of the year every year. The tradition started back in 1927 with a 'man of the year' but has since changed to recognize not only an individual, but also to consider the impact of a group, movement, or idea that most influenced the year. The selection is not always someone or something good (think Hitler in 1938 and Stalin twice). This year they've named The AI Architects as their 'person of the year'. What say you? Is this a good choice, an obvious choice, a logical choice? Who do you think should have been named person of the year?

The AI Architects feels like an obvious pick but also a logical one. AI has been everywhere this year: work, school, phones, creativity, in the news, everywhere! You can’t really avoid it. So from an impact on the year point of view it makes sense.

If I were choosing I think they should honour the normal every day people like teachers who deal with the youth of today. They shape lives every single day and never get a headline. There are also the caregivers who are quietly looking after parents, partners, kids, relatives, often while working, parenting and trying to keep their own heads above water. They’ve felt the pressure of rising costs, stretched services, long waits all while doing jobs they were never trained for.

4. What's a city, state, or country you've visited that you never care to visit again? Tell us why.

That’s a tricky one for me because I really can’t think of anywhere I’ve visited that I wouldn’t go back to. I guess it comes down to the fact that I’m not that well travelled. I haven’t spent enough time hopping from city to city or country to country to really have a never again spot.

5. Next Sunday (December 21st) marks the first day of winter (or the opposite if you're living down under). What's one thing you love about this new season?

This question confused me for second, I thought how can we not be in winter already as it's so cold. I am not a fan of the cold so winter for me is all about being cosy! It’s the season where blankets are my best friend, thick socks are a must and hot drinks are a necessity. I love lighting candles, wrapping up in layers and creating little warm corners to hide away from the cold. Winter gives me all the excuses to slow down, get snug and just enjoy the little things without guilt.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

This time of year seems so quiet compared to years ago when the girls were little. This week would have been filled with school nativity plays, Christmas meals, carol concerts, Christmas parties and of course visits to see Santa. I remember one year they had Santa visit the school. I am 99% sure that the Santa was the headteachers husband and the kids were so sure they recognised him but couldn't quite place him. hehehe

The Christmas traditions I miss now that my girls are adults!

You know when people warn you "enjoy it while they’re little, they grow up fast!" and you’re like yeah yeah, well it happened! My girls grew up fast!! Don’t get me wrong, I love having grown up daughters. They’re smart, funny and are tall enough to reach the top of the tree! So here’s a nostalgic ramble about the Christmas traditions I miss now that my girls are very much grown ups living their best lives.

Letters to Santa!

Remember those letters, the ones that where kids would confess everything! Dear Santa, I’ve been good this year except when I pushed my sister and when I drew on the wall but that wasn’t really my fault, there were the doodles, spelling mistakes, and the100% belief that the man in a red suit could deliver a pony even though we lived in a terraced house with a tiny back garden. One of my favourite parts was when they wrote their letters at school. My friend worked there and was the one in charge of writing Santa’s replies. Bless her, she’d give me the heads up on what my girls were dreaming of that year because the letters they wrote at home and the ones they wrote in school never matched. At home they wanted a teddy or a Barbie but at school they were asking Santa for an iPad, a mansion and a unicorn that pooped glitter. lol

The Advent Calendar!

Back in the day my December alarm clock wasn’t my phone, it was my girls bursting into my room at 7am practically shaking with excitement. It’s day three they’d shriek like it was the most urgent newsflash ever. Every morning in December, that tiny cardboard door became the most important thing in the world.

Over the years, the calendars evolved. Chocolate was the main treat then there was the Roblox calendar, the Friends TV show calendar, one with crystals, and even a rubber duck one. We still do advent calendars now but it’s different. There’s no urgent excitement and sometimes they even skip days and play catch up. It’s a small thing, but it’s one of those traditions that made the countdown to Christmas feel the run up to Christmas extra exciting.

Baking Together!

You haven’t lived until you’ve baked Christmas cookies with kids and spent the whole time saying things like: please don’t eat the raw dough, no flour is not snow, how did you get icing in your hair already! It was messy but so much fun! They still like to bake now but won't let me be involved. Hmmf!

Making gingerbread houses!

Our gingerbread houses never looked like the ones on Pinterest, not one single year! They were sticky, they collapsed, the icing drooped, the walls slid and they were held together by nothing but sugar and hope! Those were some of the best afternoons. The girls would be so proud of their creations even if the roof fell off five minutes later. The house would smell of ginger, there’d be icing in someone’s hair, sprinkles rolling under the fridge and a smear of sugary glue on the table that would still be there in February. hehehe

Christmas Eve chaos!

There was a routine and it was adorable. Christmas Eve boxes filled with crafts to keep the girls busy, special PJs, hot chocolate with enough marshmallows to suffocate a small elf. We’d watch The Snowman on TV, track Santa on the NORAD website, leave carrots and mince pies out and sprinkle reindeer dust like we were in a fairy tale. The girls would be itching to go to bed but not to sleep. One would peek downstairs, whispering is Santa here yet . I loved that chaos, that excitement and the next morning drinking strong coffee to keep me going because of course they were up at 5am after I had only gone to bed a few hours before. lol

Elf on the Shelf Shenanigans

Ahh! The elf, the tiny plastic troublemaker who stole both my sleep and my sanity for several years. Starting Elf on the Shelf was one of my greatest parenting mistakes and also one of my greatest parenting successes. The first week was magical but about halfway through December I would run out of ideas. I’d be lying in bed at 11pm just dozing off to sleep and remember I hadn't moved the elf. lol but I miss it. I miss hiding that tiny judgemental creature in ridiculous places, hearing the girls coming up with their own dramatic theories about how she travelled around the house.

Handmade Decorations!

Oh, the decorations they made. Wonky stars, pipe cleaner angels, baubles that looked like they’d been through a traumatic event. My tree basically had the look of a charity shop window but it was perfect!

Being sneaky after their bedtime!

I deserve an award for the stealth skills I developed as a parent. Wrapping presents quietly, tip-toeing around the house and don’t even get me started on arranging presents around the tree like I wanted it perfect! I wish I could do that all over again. Stu, probably not as he would always get the big presents to put together on Christmas eve! The dolls’ house incident comes to mind: power drill at the ready, trying to assemble it without waking the girls. They weren’t asleep and curious little heads would pop up at just the wrong moment.

Christmas morning magic!

There was the rush to the tree, the squeals, the paper flying everywhere, watching my girls tear open presents, see the things they wished for or didn’t even know they wished for and feeling the sheer magic of it all. It isn't the same now that they are older. I miss it but things change and there are still surprises under the tree for them.

Now our Christmases are quieter. The girls are older, more independent, they don’t burst into our bedroom early on Christmas morning, don’t leave flour trails through the kitchen, they don’t build gingerbread houses that collapse within an hour but instead we exchange gifts calmly and reminisce about the old days, laughing at the chaos we survived and the magic we made.

What do you miss about past Christmases?

Our weekly meal plan! 15th - 21st December! #MealPlanningMonday

Last weeks meal plan went well, we ate everything apart from the Pizza on Friday as my dad decided to give us it for lunch and the picky bits on Saturday as my family decided that they wanted burgers and fries. We were all home so I thought I would go with what my family wanted.

We had a good weekend. If you read my post yesterday you will have seen our internet was off all day Friday and most of Saturday, my dad did rescue us and leant us his router which can be used anywhere which was a lifesaver when it came to blogging. I haven't quite got the hang of writing blog posts using my phone so without the borrowed router there would have been no posts over the weekend.

I don't know what I have planned for this week, I feel in a bit of limbo. I am as ready as I can be for Christmas but it's not here yet so I am just waiting. I am wracking my brain thinking of things that I need to do and so far I can't come up with anything which I suppose is a good thing. We have 3 Gousto meals this week, all one's we've had before but not in a while.

On the menu this week we have:

Monday - Stu is cooking!

Stu is off work and will be doing the cooking so it could be anything from omelette to goodness knows what.

Tuesday - Gousto meal - Chicken & Stuffing Sarnie With Plum Chutney!

I think last time we had this I coated the chicken in gravy too which gave it that extra bit of flavour. This was actually the recipe that taught me that stuffing was so easy to make.

Wednesday - Gousto meal - Curried Veg Soup With Parsnip Crisps & Yoghurt!

You can't beat a big bowl of home made soup in the winter and this is a good one. It has that little kick from the curry powder but isn't too spicy.

Thursday - Gousto meal - Hoisin Glazed Meatloaf With Crispy Potatoes!

My family love anything with hoisin sauce so this was always going to be a favourite of theirs. I cheat a little with this and make the meatloaf in the air fryer, I think it cooks better in there than in the oven.

Friday - Fish fingers, chips and baked beans!

I always think of this as a kiddy meal but sometimes you need a bit of that and Friday is fun day so why not!

Saturday - Pizza!

We might make our own, well ready made dough but put our own toppings on. I will go with BBQ sauce, salami, ham, mushrooms and onions.

Sunday - Sausages, mashed potatoes and vegetables!

Nice and simple, we will probably have carrots and sweetcorn.

What are you eating this week?

A photo every day for a year! 7th - 13th December! Week 50 of #Project365

I feel like I am ready for Christmas, well apart from getting the fresh food shop delivered, I have the slot booked and everything in the basket, now we just wait for delivery day! The freezer food has been bought, presents wrapped, lots of Christmas movies watched and I am feeling more festive with each passing day.

Stu had a treat, having Friday and yesterday off work. It worked out really well because our internet went off sometime in the early hours of Friday morning and didn't come back on. He rang Sky and they said there was a fault with our box and they're sending a new one out which should have arrived yesterday but after having a look on Facebook there must have been about 25 people, all customers of Sky with no internet. It took Sky until lunchtime on Friday to acknowledge there was a problem in our area. Ugh!

Now for a photo every day!

341/365 - 7th December

Sharing a bit of real life, a mountain of washing. It was clean, it just needed to be put away. It all got folded and took upstairs by Stu and Ellie.

342/365 - 8th December

Terry's Chocolate Oranges are around all year but they are something I associate with the festive season. I always remember getting one a year, in my Christmas stocking. It seemed like such a treat, now I probably eat one every couple of months.

343/365 - 9th December

Becky got all of her Christmas shopping done within a couple of days and was showing off what she had bought people from town. She was so proud of herself and can't understand why it takes me weeks to buy all the presents. lol

344/365 - 10th December

We got Becky's report from her heart check up! I have learned not to Google the words and terms that they use in the medical world when it comes to hearts as it's all so confusing and can cause worry, we're just taking the fact they don't want to see her for two years as a good thing and are ignoring the leaky heart valves.

345/365 - 11th December

I got Ellie and I a meal deal for lunch which came with the food shop order. In my opinion this year Asda has the best Christmas sandwiches and snacks. Ellie has a prawn cocktail sandwich and chicken and stuffing balls with a cranberry dip and I had a Boxing Day sandwich with turkey, ham, coleslaw and chutney and as a snack mini waffles, marshmallows and chocolate dip! Yum!

346/365 - 12th December

My dad came to the rescue when our internet went down, he loaned us his router thing from his office. It's such a clever thing. It doesn't need to be wired in or have a phoneline to work, you just plug it in anywhere and you have internet, it's like magic!

347/365 - 13th December

The last flower in my garden, a pretty little marigold. What a trooper it is, hanging on this late into the year!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

This week my Word of the Week is: Presents!! #WotW

This week my Word of the Week is:

I love this time of year, I have hit that magic point where I’m almost Christmas ready, not quite done but so close that that the panic has stopped and the fun bit can finally begin. It’s crazy to think that in a couple of weeks it’ll all be over and we will be heading into a new year.

Earlier this week my Dad took me shopping like he does every December, it's our little yearly tradition of trekking around the supermarket and filling the trolley with all the freezer bits for over Christmas. We had such a nice morning. Nothing fancy, just chatting, wandering and my Dad stopping every few minutes to speak to people he knows, how does one person know so many people! Of course I ended up buying more presents. I’d fully planned on giving a couple of people money in a card and then I spotted some lovely gifts and thought that's perfect and so much nicer than money. I couldn't help buying more for the girls and to be fair Ellie actually did need the thing I bought her. Something for her bedroom that she’s wanted ages, the only reason I’ve not bought it before is because the idea of dragging it home on the bus made me want to cry. I could’ve ordered it online but the price difference was crazy! Hooray for my dad and his car.

Every time I sat down this week and got comfy, without fail someone has knocked on the door with yet another parcel for Becky. She’s done nearly all her Christmas shopping online and had everything delivered, which is very organised of her except she works nights, sleeps during the day and I have become her unofficial parcel secretary. I feel like I've spoken to more delivery drivers than actual people this week. I had my own little moment of chaos with parcels this week. I got a text saying I had a DPD parcel arriving between something like 11am and 1pm. So there I was waiting but then I get the your parcel has been delivered message, I open the photo and it is not my house. I had a little panic and then it hit me, it wasn’t my parcel, it was one of the presents I’d ordered for someone else which was delivered to their house. They messaged me, thanked me for the gift and then I realised they had got their Christmas gift, I had sent them a birthday gift which was supposed to arrive before the Christmas one. It was all so confusing but they have their gifts so all is good.

I dedicated 2 days to wrapping presents this week as I do every year, plonked myself on the floor, legs going numb within about five minutes and just got on with it. I got everything wrapped and I am now laughing that the girls still haven’t started and Stu still has mine to do too. This is Ellie’s first year buying Christmas gifts with her own money and bless her she’s already learned an important life lesson: do not buy awkwardly shaped presents unless you’re prepared to suffer. Not one single thing she bought is in a normal square box, everything is round, lumpy, strange shaped or comes in packaging designed by a complete lunatic.

Present wise I’m pretty much done now. Everything’s bought, wrapped, organised and waiting to be delivered to family. This is the easy part, the fun bit. dropping things off and having a little catch up. I will of course get a telling off from my dad, saying we shouldn't have bought him anything. it's practically a tradition now. It isn't that he's not grateful, he just thinks we should spend our money on ourselves. It's just a joke now between my brother and I as to who can wind him up the most. hehehe

I am expecting a present of Sky today! Our internet went off yesterday so Stu rang up and the guy on the phone said our router was not working so he'd send a new one out. It was only after when I went on Facebook saw Sky Broadband was down in our area. Eesh. So if there is no blog post tomorrow you know our internet is still off and I have limited access.

How has your week been? I hope you have had a good week. I am of course linking up with Anne who blogs at Raisie Bay to join in with her Word of the Week linky!