New Year's Eve

 Good morning, everyone.  This cold snap is still around although we've only had frost, not snow.  Thankfully, the air is very still so there's no wind chill.  I hope that continues anyway.

Yesterday was a normal day - as normal as a day can be in these worrying times, especially when one lives in Essex.   I had a bit of a crash in courage on Tuesday - I really shouldn't have watched the news so much - so yesterday was a day for giving myself a good ticking off and getting my act together.

I had to go into town to pick up my meds, something I would infinitely have preferred not to do, but the large car park I usually use was empty apart from me, there were very few people around and, for once, the prescription counter was absolutely on the ball with no dithering and waiting.
I then got the car and stopped off at the M&S food hall on the way back (also pretty empty) and stocked up with fresh stuff so I'm pretty much set not only for this afternoon/evening but also for the next week or so.

Not long after I got home, Val messaged me and we had a real time chat.  I hadn't expected it so it was a real treat and we managed to talk on for around three quarters of an hour before setting a date for next week.

That was it really.  The rest of the day was spent catching up on sleep, TV programmes and magazines.  Very pleasant indeed and I have to admit, I felt a lot better by the end of the day, despite the less than cheering news.
Good news about the Oxford vaccine though, isn't it?

Yesterday's Twelve Days gift to myself as a selection of tea bags, nine different kinds, some herbal and some 'proper' with things like lemon and ginger, chamomile, Assam, green, breakfast, etc.  I'll start on them tomorrow and have at least one a day, in order, so they all get used (unless I dislike any).
Today's is  a nail seven way buffer block thingy so when I sit down with my mid morning coffee, I will attack my nails which are, at the moment, less than lovely!

Today, New Year's Eve, I'm having a chat with Chris in the morning and I'm glad these chats have resumed.  I've missed them over the Christmas weeks.  There's also some housework to do and the bin in the kitchen is smelling less than fragrant so that's top of the list.

Mid afternoon Beth and Alex are coming over for games and a buffet.  They're not staying late so they won't be seeing the new year in here.  Come to that, I won't be seeing it in either, I will dream it in.

Thank you all for your lovely, cheering, supportive messages through this year of unprecedented happenings.  Things may feel very dark at the moment but there is a small light on the horizon with the vaccine programmes and it is with a very full heart that I wish you all a cheerful and positive New Year.

Wednesday

 I found these questions (and her answers) on Eileen's blog and asked if I could use them.

1.  Despite the weirdness of this past year, was it still a good year for you anyway or not? 
Yes and no.  I live alone anyway and have done for decades so I'm totally accustomed to it and, as a result, haven't had to cope with  the stresses of over much levels of contact with the same people because of Lockdown.
I wasn't able to take two of the three holidays I had planned.  One was deferred although the way things are going, I am starting to wonder about May 2021 now.  The other one resulted in a complete refund so no complaints.
The one I did manage was a week in a Warner's hotel.  It was nice to get away but wearing masks inside the hotel was, frankly, weird and quite a lot of the activities were curtailed.  Still - I got a holiday and that's more than many so I was lucky there.
I spent most of the year with dental issues which wasn't so nice but, as it wasn't painful very much, I bided my time and the year has finished with all but one of the issues resolved which feels very good indeed.
I think the worst thing has been the curtailment of contact with family and good friends.  I miss the hugs.  However, the knowledge that, as far as I know, everyone is virus free and being very, very careful is cheering and thank goodness for Zoom and others that enable face to face chats.  I've stayed in touch with friends, family and groups and that's been a treasure.
As I'm retired, there have been no work pressures, no worries about salary, no stresses about having to travel to work and expose myself to possible infection.
I've had time to knit, sew, generally create, read, exercise, watch TV, get much of the house reorganised, get to my weight target, and plenty of other stuff.
I've been very lucky and, yes, it has been a good year.  Different, and with plenty of stress and worry, but good, all the same.

2. How will you spend New Years Eve?
Beth and Alex are coming round early afternoon to play games (Scrabble, Yahtzee . . .) and we will have a buffet at around four.  It won't turn into a party of any sort, they will be off and I will be in bed pretty early.   No seeing the New Year in here.  Fireworks?  Well, there may be but I won't hear them!

3. What do you do on New Year's Day? Is football part of the agenda? 
Not a chance!  To be honest, New Year's Day is a day like any other.  It's a Bank Holiday but, as I had always taught, school was closed anyway.
This year, I will tidy up the kitchen which is bound to have been left in a mess and then I need to get down to some serious planning.

4. It's a Scottish tradition to kiss at midnight.  Do you keep that tradition? Does everyone get a kiss if you do? 
Not this year!  Beth and Alex, being my support bubble buddies, will probably get a hug when they leave.
As I'm well into the land of Nod by the time midnight strikes, it's never been a tradition.
My ex/late was Scottish by birth and we sometimes went to his parents' for New Year.  Now that was totally different and, to be honest, it wasn't my thing and really put me off.  Just too noisy, boozy and extrovert and I just wanted to snuggle up in bed and go to sleep.

Thanks, Eileen, for letting me use these questions.

Tuesday

 Good morning, everyone.  After a cold, dry and sunny day yesterday, it's not so cold this morning - no frost, although there's fairly thick cloud so maybe that's why no frost!  No snow here - we hardly ever get snow worth getting excited about.

As expected, yesterday was a quiet, pottery sort of day.  Bit of housework, bit of clearing up, bit of cooking, etc, plenty of sitting and reading or watching telly.

I expect today to be the same, pretty much, with a chat with Dad in the afternoon to brighten things up.  

I haven't mentioned so far, but I'm doing a sort of 'Twelve Days of Christmas' with myself.  A bit like an Advent calendar but the other way round!  The first day was Christmas Day so the gift was a reasonably biggie one but since then they're been little.  I got them ages ago and had pretty much forgotten what each little parcel contained so they come as half a surprise each day.
The first, the bigger one, was some of my favourite perfume, then a bar of soap, followed by a miniature port, yesterday was a tube of hand cream and today's is a sudoku puzzle book.  I remember I tried to get things that I could use straight away, one way or another.  I think I will continue this next year as it's really rather nice to have a little treat each year.

Have you had snow?  If so, fingers crossed it isn't causing you too many problems.  xx

Monday

 Good morning.
After dire threats of horrible weather from the weather forecasters, yesterday turned out sunny and calm and getting increasingly cold through the afternoon and evening.  There's a frost this morning and Beeb says light clouds and light winds today - and cold!  I'm very glad we didn't get the rain predicted yesterday; that would have made the roads very treacherous.

Not that I'm planning to go out today - it's going to be another stay in all day with a couple of cupboards to clear and tidy, books to read and programmes to watch.  Calm, gentle and very self indulgent.  Sounds OK to me.

Have a lovely day too.  xx

Sunday

 Good morning, everyone.  After a crisp and cold Christmas (some places even had a bit of snow, lucky them!), it's turned horrible again with heavy rain and, I gather, there are strong winds a-coming.  The temperature is due to drop again later on and overnight too.  As I so often say, I am sincerely grateful for good heating and a strong and protective home. 

This will go down soon so one more photo.  Although some decorations stay up till twelfth night, from not until then I start dismantling some things and the nativity crib is one of them.  I polish it, carefully wrap each piece and put it all in a damp-proof box out in the garage.

Boxing Day was a good day.  There was rather too much alcohol floating around as my slightly muggy head testifies this morning, but I'm back on the old SW track again now, aiming to deal with my temporary gain and then to maintain.  We had another big dinner, me, Beth and Alex, with more turkey and vegetarian crumble, bubble and squeak, roasties and green veg.  The easiest meal of the week really; the only thing that I had to do was make the bubble and squeak.

The Christmas cake is still uncut, Beth has taken about two thirds of the Christmas pudding home for her and Alex to enjoy and I think I will cut up what's left and re-freeze it.  It's not meat so that should be absolutely fine.

As for the turkey - I'm dealing with it.  It was a very expensive piece of the Christmas table so I don't want to waste a single bit.
Yesterday I set to and stripped the cold carcass.  One and a half breasts became numerous slices and most of the rest came off in good chunks.
The carcass, stock, herbs, citrus - everything from the roasting dish - went into my Instant Pot for a slow bubble.  This morning I strained everything, stripped off the rest of the bits of turkey which will be perfect for adding to soups before putting the rest back into the instant pot, adding some fresh water to mix with the jelly stock clinging to the bones and bits and set it to bubble again for ages.
I don't do this second simmering with a chicken but I do with the Christmas turkey as there's still loads of flavour there.  Once that has been strained again, all the bones and bits will go out for council recycling and will eventually become potting compost or similar.  I love that absolutely nothing is wasted.

As for all that meat, some will be covered in turkey gravy and frozen for meals (some for Alex too), some will be frozen in chunks in stock for stews/hotpots (Dad lovely turkey hotpot so I will be taking some up to him as soon as it is permitted again) and all the little bits will be perfect for chunky soups.

Yes, it was costly, but making the most of it will produce quite a lot of meals and it becomes a bit less of an extravagance.  

Today is going to be a quiet and restful day.  I have no visitors, will be doing no housework and have books to read and recorded programmes to watch.  I suppose there's a bit more foody/drinky stuff to sort out but slowly and without any rush.  To go with my new Nigel Slater book (which is lovely), I brought down other Christmas specials - Jamie, Nigella and Christmas Bake Off.  I must go and get the Delia one too, they are such treasures and I can enjoy them now without feeling that I am searching for ideas.

So, yes, that's me today.  Have a great day, whatever tier you are in.  There's still plenty one CAN do and remain safe.  xx

Boxing Day

 Good morning, everyone.  Today is the day of clearing up, dealing with leftovers and re-heated meals.  It's cold but there's no frost, unlike yesterday afternoon when Beth had to defrost her windscreen.  Five hours later, in the dark, there was no frost so it must have warmed up a bit.  

The forecast for today is OK and it should be warmer by seven or eight degrees by the evening.  However, tomorrow is predicted to be really horrible; strong winds and heavy rain is not something we need!

Yesterday was a lovely day.  The turkey cooked a dream, the roasties were scrummy and dinner was thoroughly enjoyed.

(please excuse the light; the sun was so bright I closed the blinds - no complaints)

As is always the case, there's loads of leftovers.  Some are deliberate - I purposely did loads of veg for bubble and squeak - and some are just because we didn't have it yesterday.  No mince pies or Christmas Pud was eaten so that's today's dessert sorted out.

The family Zoom chat worked a treat.  The quality was good, everyone came along and it was so lovely to see everyone together (sort of).  There was plenty of laughter and it all did my heart good.  Later, Dad said in an email that he's expected to feel a lonely but he didn't, not a bit, thanks to neighbour Ann in the morning (coffee and mince pie) and the family chat in the afternoon.  I just wish I'd though of pressing the PrtScr button and got a screen shot of us all.  I just never thought at the time.

Today, Beth and Al are over again.  There's a whole lot of food to eat up and some food to sort out so they can take it home with them.  We have games to play and stuff to drink.
Getting back on track will have to wait until tomorrow!

Hoping your day was good too.  xx

Christmas Day

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

The last Advent Calendar music: