A strange year.

 2020 will go down in history as the craziest year. A mixture of sadness, frustration, joy, blessings and an appreciation for fellow humans.

Selfishly I have enjoyed being paid by the government to stay at home. I have been one of the many that have benefited, having the longest time off work in my life. Those who have worked harder than ever before, I salute you. Those who have lost loved ones, or not been able to see or hug them, my heart breaks for you.

For all learner drivers my heart goes out to you. What a frustrating year for you all, so happy for those who have managed a pass in these turbulent times.

At the beginning of the first lockdown I was beyond excited that I had infinite amount of time to complete my accounts months before the January deadline.

I could sort the garden out.

Paint the house.

Write my book.

Complete the couch to 5k run.

All the jobs I swore I would do if only I had time. I was given the gift of unprecedented time. All the above remain undone. Thankfully I redecorated the small downstairs bathroom. Not sure where all the time disappeared to. How can time fly so quickly when you are doing nothing.

Last night we suddenly found ourselves in tier 4. Basically lockdown. This means our son, daughter in law and two gorgeous granddaughters cannot spend Christmas with us as planned.

How can I be too upset, when my brother is unlikely to see another Christmas, whereas right now it looks more of a promising prospect for the majority of us.

At Mass this morning the priest asked..have we prepared a place for Jesus in our busy plans for Christmas. Had I? Or was I too busy Thinking of food and presents. No I hadn’t specifically other than Christmas Eve reading in church and watching Mass online on Christmas Day. We always sing happy birthday to Jesus before unwrapping the first present. So probably no...if I was honest.

What gift can I prepare for The Lord on His birthday. I can prepare my heart, be willing to seek His Will in my life that day and all future days. I reflected that I should have done that everyday for the past 33 years...note to self to try harder.

So all the jobs I had planned remain undone. Having no sense of smell and a terrible memory I have only just remembered the urgency of the fridge. Oops.

Christmas cards lie in a pile on the table, some written awaiting stamps, others waiting for addresses as I have no idea where our address book is. Far too many still to write.

Incredibly Pete and I ventured on a local walk instead of staying on the couch Like the proverbial potato, and delivered a couple by hand. Not one present wrapped yet though to place carefully under the dilapidated cat beaten tree.

A disappointing 5500 steps that felt like a marathon. I’m sure my short legs work twice as hard as Petes longer ones. Nice mild weather though. Lots of walkers back out like first lockdown. Hardly any cars which was great. So strange how quickly lockdown ways disappeared so quickly once we were set free again.

Actually our walks finished long before lockdown ended.

Cooked a quick roast, not intentionally...started off putting in a leg of lamb before our exercise, originally earmarked for Christmas dinner but now will be surplus to requirements. Cooked some Yorkshire’s from scratch, as Aunt Bessie’s stock Had not been replenished.

 As I’m currently on my 5,978th diet I was not going to indulge. I forgot you have to taste them to see if they turned out ok...then another one kind of got stuffed in my mouth afterwards before Mr Willpower could intervene.

I will regret this tomorrow when sending in my weight to my lovely slimming world consultant.

Think I will have to google ‘excessive wind’ to confirm it is old age creeping up and not any horrid disease symptom. Is this why my sister in law says I am a hypochondriac? Think Pete has googled to see if it can be a reason for divorce. I’m grateful I was born with no sense of smell. Unfortunately Pete does have an acute one. 

So all this waffle and no memories mentioned. The idea of the blog was to write down all the experiences and adventures God has been on with me. I realise this will diminish my audience by 80% but it is for me to break it up into bite size pieces so I can one day compile it all into a book for Christians and loyal friends to read.

The good news is you can ignore the blogs and pretend to buy the book if it ever gets published.

So as most of you acclimatise to a very quiet and more solitary Christmas, I pray you will find joy in unexpected places. Every cloud has a silver lining, sometimes we just have to look up to see them.

Here’s to many this week, as we enjoy our first Covid Christmas.

God Bless you all x