December 2019, a month where there was that General Election and for some reason it took me forever to get my Christmas on even though there was plenty of fun stuff to go at, and, the month that said goodbye to a decade.
HELLO 2020. Also people keep referring to this decade as the roaring 20's and I'm a bit like 'no' because there is nothing Gatsby-esque to this life and we should find something new and original instead of stealing from the past.
Anyhow. December.
It's really funny because people talk about the Christmas holidays but the festive season isn't a holiday really is it, it's lovely and fun and all, but it's also exhausting. I think it is at least - so much socialising and so much to do and so much time spent with your game face on being around people; I find even being around the people I adore to be exhausting and there's such a lot of that in December, so much expectation to be social. It's so much harder to say no to anything at Christmas. Which perhaps makes me seem like a cantankerous old Scrooge. I am not that. I love Christmas, I love spending Christmas with the people who make me smile, I just...I find it to be a lot.
What I did:
· The month started at the cinema. I went with my Mum and Helen to see a screening of the Les Mis concert with Alfie Boe and Michael Ball and it was all kinds of excellent. Loved it. I am so here for Alfie Boe doing anything and everything.
· My Dad and I had a lunch date and did some Christmas shopping which was a nice time I love spending time with my Dad and he was in great spirits that day. We ate fish and chips and bought Christmas gifts for my Mum and it was lovely.
I had a date with MBG at a pub local to us called The White Hart where the food was excellent and there was a roaring fire. I had my first taste of Christmas pudding. It was delicious. I love date night - I love that we still make the effort to get dressed up and go someplace nice and look at each other across a table and spend some time. Time with My Best Guy is my favourite time and I genuinely believe it's because we make that effort to do stuff (even though we do have a list of places we love and frequent on the regs) and I hope that never changes.
I had a date with MBG at a pub local to us called The White Hart where the food was excellent and there was a roaring fire. I had my first taste of Christmas pudding. It was delicious. I love date night - I love that we still make the effort to get dressed up and go someplace nice and look at each other across a table and spend some time. Time with My Best Guy is my favourite time and I genuinely believe it's because we make that effort to do stuff (even though we do have a list of places we love and frequent on the regs) and I hope that never changes.
· I went to Molly's first school nativity which was cute. An odd sort of a nativity but a good one and it was nice to see something that wasn't the same as every nativity ever - I've seen a lot of nativity plays and I'm pretty sure I could play Mary now with zero rehearsal time - and Molly was, as ever, so sweet.
I got my carpets cleaned which was a delight even though it traumatised my cats. That's a really grown up thing to include in a wrap-up, right? They still smell lush when I vacuum almost two month later, it's marv.
MBG had our little Christmas gift exchange - he goes away a couple of weeks before Christmas so we always have a mini celebration before he goes where we exchange gifts and get a bit festive. I get festive. He claims to not like Christmas; I maintain this is a lie. IT was nice, and whilst it's totally not about the gifts and we do all get caught up in consumerism in December, he did get me amazing presents and I felt very spoilt.
My friend Jane and her two girls came over for our Christmas which is our annual tradition. This year we did present swapping before a festive afternoon tea and then headed to a local pantomime. It was, as always the nicest of times and is when my Christmas really begins. MBG goes away and then I have Christmas with them and then that's it, I'm generally just full-pelt into all things festive. It's like the starter gun. Anyhow, the littlest girl was excellent value at the panto; she's 5 so just the right ge and honestly I think I enjoyed watching her more than I enjoyed watching the action on stage. And I had a cherry bakewell cocktail. Yummers.
We had a Secret Santa exchange at work which was fun times. I got earrings with my actual cat's faces on. Amazing.
I went over to my friend Kez's to hang with her and my God-Daughter Emily. We watched The Holiday in Christmas pjs and ate crisps. Too many crisps. So many crisps. All the crisps.
Natalie and I met at the Trafford Centre for a buritto and to watch Last Christmas which is a truly excellent Christmas film.
I went out with my team from work. There was too much alcohol. The end.
Mum and I went to see Alexandra Burke in The Bodyguard in Manchester which was such a lovely lovely time. Musical theatre and my mama. Perfect.
Helen and I went to see the Cats movie. The less said about that the better, but it was lush to spend the time with her, obvs.
Then it was Christmas. I got my nails did on Christmas Eve and then went to Helen's for festive fun times with her and her family. I got to hang out with Molly and Baby Leah and then I got to hang out with Helen and play Santa and watch My Big Fat Fabulous Life, because, well, nothing says Christmas like that show. Ok, lots of things do, but it;s backing up on Helen's sky box and so we drank bucks fizz and talked through it like we always do. I woke up there on Christmas morning, got in lots of quality Leah snuggles whilst Molly opened presents being all cute and reading her own name and insisting on sitting right in front of Leah and I to open every one, played a lot of Hungry Hippos and then went home to shower and watch Chalet Girl before heading over to my parents for Christmas Day shaped festivities.
On Boxing Day I headed to the airport at 3am and was finally reunited with My Best Guy and the start of the new ski season. I love that I both started and ended 2019 on a mountain. I love that I rang in both 2019 and 2020 at a house party at the same house. Full circle.
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I got my carpets cleaned which was a delight even though it traumatised my cats. That's a really grown up thing to include in a wrap-up, right? They still smell lush when I vacuum almost two month later, it's marv.
MBG had our little Christmas gift exchange - he goes away a couple of weeks before Christmas so we always have a mini celebration before he goes where we exchange gifts and get a bit festive. I get festive. He claims to not like Christmas; I maintain this is a lie. IT was nice, and whilst it's totally not about the gifts and we do all get caught up in consumerism in December, he did get me amazing presents and I felt very spoilt.
My friend Jane and her two girls came over for our Christmas which is our annual tradition. This year we did present swapping before a festive afternoon tea and then headed to a local pantomime. It was, as always the nicest of times and is when my Christmas really begins. MBG goes away and then I have Christmas with them and then that's it, I'm generally just full-pelt into all things festive. It's like the starter gun. Anyhow, the littlest girl was excellent value at the panto; she's 5 so just the right ge and honestly I think I enjoyed watching her more than I enjoyed watching the action on stage. And I had a cherry bakewell cocktail. Yummers.
We had a Secret Santa exchange at work which was fun times. I got earrings with my actual cat's faces on. Amazing.
I went over to my friend Kez's to hang with her and my God-Daughter Emily. We watched The Holiday in Christmas pjs and ate crisps. Too many crisps. So many crisps. All the crisps.
Natalie and I met at the Trafford Centre for a buritto and to watch Last Christmas which is a truly excellent Christmas film.
I went out with my team from work. There was too much alcohol. The end.
Mum and I went to see Alexandra Burke in The Bodyguard in Manchester which was such a lovely lovely time. Musical theatre and my mama. Perfect.
Helen and I went to see the Cats movie. The less said about that the better, but it was lush to spend the time with her, obvs.
Then it was Christmas. I got my nails did on Christmas Eve and then went to Helen's for festive fun times with her and her family. I got to hang out with Molly and Baby Leah and then I got to hang out with Helen and play Santa and watch My Big Fat Fabulous Life, because, well, nothing says Christmas like that show. Ok, lots of things do, but it;s backing up on Helen's sky box and so we drank bucks fizz and talked through it like we always do. I woke up there on Christmas morning, got in lots of quality Leah snuggles whilst Molly opened presents being all cute and reading her own name and insisting on sitting right in front of Leah and I to open every one, played a lot of Hungry Hippos and then went home to shower and watch Chalet Girl before heading over to my parents for Christmas Day shaped festivities.
On Boxing Day I headed to the airport at 3am and was finally reunited with My Best Guy and the start of the new ski season. I love that I both started and ended 2019 on a mountain. I love that I rang in both 2019 and 2020 at a house party at the same house. Full circle.
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December in 3 photos:
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| Selfies with my cat |
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| Festive afternoon tea fun-times |
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| Christmas Eve snapchatting with my bestie |
I listened to:
Not a lot, actually. Whoops. Christmas music.
I watched:
Grey's Anatomy. Still. His Dark Materials. Chalet Girl. I don't actually know? Nothing else comes to mind...
Bookish plans for January:
I'm actually flying through books this month too - I've read 7 already, thanks to being off work sick - I just started Attachments by Rainbow Rowell which I can't believe I haven't read yet, and also for the rest of the month there's a couple of ARCs that I have on my Kindle, one of which is the latest Aiden Waits novel from Joseph Knox. Instead of listing titles I'll just say I'm aiming for 10 books in January which might actually be a record but feels totally do-able.
I'm actually flying through books this month too - I've read 7 already, thanks to being off work sick - I just started Attachments by Rainbow Rowell which I can't believe I haven't read yet, and also for the rest of the month there's a couple of ARCs that I have on my Kindle, one of which is the latest Aiden Waits novel from Joseph Knox. Instead of listing titles I'll just say I'm aiming for 10 books in January which might actually be a record but feels totally do-able.
