The festive season worked out just as we had expected for the most part. We feel well rested and to think that we still have another week of slow going makes me smile. Here are the highlights of the week.
On Sunday we were looking forward to going to the one-hour Carol Service at church between 7:30 and 8:30 even though we don’t enjoy going out at night. Well, we found out that it would be streamed on YouTube so we opted to do that instead. It got worse. As it had started to get dark by just after 3 pm the sleepy monsters got to us so we decided to head upstairs and enjoy the service from there. I am a little embarrassed to report that we both fell asleep before it even started and we missed the whole lot! I guess we needed the rest as we were up again by 9 pm and couldn’t sleep. It was therefore turned into a movie night.
Christmas day was the usual chilled one for us. Gifts were opened at 11 am, and we had dinner at about 12. We are pleased to say that our brined turkey crown turned out lovely and we would do it again. It was our first time doing it so I was very pleased. We also had roasted potatoes and carrots (with a spicy twist), stuffing balls, oxtails, and rice and peas. I took out my electric carving knife that I had bought years ago and it was comical to see me trying to slice the turkey breast. It wasn’t doing it at all. I don’t know what the problem was but a sharp knife did a better job. It was my first time trying to use an electric carving knife. I bought it one Christmas years ago but I never used it.
We had sorrel and Jamaican black fruit cake too. For our birthday on the 22nd, we got a store-bought carrot cake. It was surprisingly very delicious and a close match to our homemade version. We enjoyed the meal with our kids and rested with some cooking shows on Netflix for the rest of the day since we were up from just after 8 am to start the cooking. We enjoyed watching Easy Bake Battle and Cook at all Cost.
Some of the gifts.
With all this time to rest, we also got into some reading using the app we had got on our iPads. It was a hard battle trying to read and feeling like we were missing out on some of our favourite YouTube channels. At one point we were both in the living room reading and we both fell asleep! We had decided to do one hour of reading that day but only managed about half an hour! That’s bad, we know, but we will try to get back into reading more. My book at the moment is Notorious. It is interesting although a little out of my league reality-wise.
On Wednesday night our bins were put out as our collection day is on a Thursday morning. Well, the bin men didn’t appear and it is now a mighty mess in our cul de sac. I suppose the bin men are being rested too. They deserve a break to spend special times with their families and loved ones. It doesn’t help that it has been very rainy and windy. Now we’ve been told that they will be in our area on Tuesday of next week. Oh boy!
My highlight of the festive season is spending time with the only family we have here, being so rested until I even got the days mixed up, and having all we need while just being all the time mindful that others have less and need our help. I always think of people who are sad for whatever reason at this time. If only we could ease everyone’s burdens.
We want to take this time to send New Year’s greetings and all the best to our readers and fellow bloggers. We hope you are feeling rested too and ready to greet the new year head on.
On the Vlog, we will be starting a new season of Come Dine With Me. So I thought I’d share last year’s one here.
I’m glad you had a restful time over Christmas, I’m not very good with an electric carving knife either. I also had the issue with the bins and ours won’t be collected until Wednesday and again the following Tuesday. then it’s back to Fridays. I had to check the website and I heard a lot of complaints. I’m pretty sure the council has sent residents notes with collection dates in the past. I guess they couldn’t afford it this year as they are broke!
I wish you ladies a truly Happy New Year x
Anne Sweet recently posted…Bournville Christmas Tree for my Sunday Snapshot
It sounds like you had a lovely week. Rested is such a good work, I feel the same. Oh dear with the carol service, you obviously needed the sleep. We had an electric carving knife given to us a few years ago and it was useless.
Our bins were collected Thursday morning and they came so early but the whole street was a mess with all of the wind blowing everything everywhere.
Wishing you both all the best for 2024. x
Kim Carberry recently posted…A photo every day for a year! 23rd – 31st December – Week 52 of #Project365
Glad you had a lovely Christmas. I admit I have never used an electric carving knife and I’m not sure I’d want to. A proper sharp knife is much better. Our bin men left tags on the handles of the wheelie bins telling us when our collections would be. Falling asleep and missing something I wanted to watch is the sort of thing I would do. Hope you have a happy new year
Relaxed is a lovely word for the festive period. Oops to falling asleep and missing the carol service – you obviously needed the sleep though! Glad the turkey crown turned out well. Lovely to spend time with family over Christmas. Glad you had a good one. Happy new year to you both. #WotW