It’s been an exhausting week for no other reason than it’s December and it’s 2020. But that’s ok – we’re on the downhill slope to a break and the long days are punctuated with some loveliness.

1. A wet walk with my husband. Coffee and mince pies on a wet bench in the rain with no view to speak of was still good.
2. I saw my friend on her birthday and we went for a walk in the sunshine. I really wished I could have hugged her but the sun shone and my presents made her smile.
3. The present shopping is very nearly finished, and everything that needs to be posted has been. Home collection by Hermes is a revelation (although god only knows whether the presents will arrive in one piece since he piled all five on top of each other as he staggered away from the house).
4. My work is full of lovely smiley people. Christmas Jumper Day at work included a hilarious quiz with hand drawn pictures of Muppets recreating scenes from music videos. Lots of laughter plus an excuse to wear Reindeer glasses.
5. I went for a lovely muddy walk with some lovely friends. It included mulled wine from a flask and it didn’t even rain on us. Even better we switched to yesterday from this morning because of forecast torrential rain and we were right!
6. We bought After Eights and opened the Christmas biscuits. Although they may not make it past 12th December.
7. My surprise Advent charm bracelet is filling up nicely.
8. Zoom origami Christmas foldalong was a bit different to our normal Wednesday nights and we all managed to create things including Christmas trees and stockings. Plus only one minor tantrum which was easily overcome. Win.
9. We had the loveliest evening watching Kate Rusby from our candlelit living room. We sang, but also relaxed and did crosswords and jigsaws. It was the definition of cosy.
10. We finished watching ‘The Good Place’ as a family. I mean it made three of us cry and us all think about the meaning of life possibly too much to be healthy, but we’ve all loved every second of it. Forking brilliant.
11. I’ve nearly finished a book about women in WW2 and it’s encouraged Dad and I to find out more about my Grandma’s experience in the WAAF. Fingers crossed there’s some information out there. Ancestry is still fascinating.
12. Tea in the morning in the glow of twinkly Christmas lights, and the prospect of Christmas baking with the kids today. Let’s hope they are better than my attempt last week!

Even with all these lovely things my temptation is to balance them with the ongoing crap stuff (that is impossible to ignore to be honest) but I’m holding firm. Good stuff. Good stuff. Good stuff.