A Cracking Christmas

Posted on December 30, 2024 by suzie81speaks

I think 2024 was the first year since I started blogging over a decade ago that I didn’t post something before Christmas.

Yes, I was busy – December is often one of the busiest points of the year as both my clients and I take some time off over the festive season, so essentially a month’s worth of work needs to be done, approved and scheduled in advance in less than three weeks. Additionally, regardless of how organised I try to be, there are ALWAYS extra things that appear – company Christmas parties and events (the week before Christmas I was in London for two days filming several events with a client), Christmas and New Year video messages from different teams etc. I genuinely enjoy it – this time of year is always perfect for creating lots of fun and joyful content, but it doesn’t necessarily allow for personal Christmas prep time, (despite my declarations in November that this year would be different).

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I Hear Sleigh Bells

Posted on November 5, 2024 by suzie81speaks

Christmas. It may be early November, but the sleigh bells have started on the TV adverts, the stores are already heavily into their festive marketing strategy, and I’m getting messages from family asking what I would like as a gift.

For the last few years, Christmas has followed a similar pattern. I start the month of December with the concept that I want to make this year the best Christmas ever, and then I get slammed with work as everyone starts freaking out and needing ALL THE THINGS NOW NOW NOW as everyone, including myself, is taking a little bit of time off. Inevitably, by the time it gets to a few days before Christmas I’m fed up and exhausted, and I’m not in the mood.

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A Basic Christmas

Posted on December 17, 2023 by suzie81speaks

“At the beginning of December I’m going to go all out with the Christmas decorations,” I said to The Bloke last month.

We’re moving house at the beginning of January and so it is going to be the last Christmas we have here. I had every intention of making a huge effort – Christmas over the last few years has been haphazard and last-minute and both The Bloke and I have felt like we’ve just gone through the motions rather than actually feeling festive and celebrating.

And then at the beginning of December I got covid. I’ve been pretty careful at trying to stay as safe as possible, but I met up with a friend at the end of November and must have picked it up on the bus on the way home – there were lots of people coughing and spluttering and because it was minus temperatures all the windows were closed.

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Chrimbo Limbo

Posted on December 28, 2021 by suzie81speaks

It’s that point between Christmas and New Year where many of us feel like we are in Chrimbo Limbo. Christmas is over but it’s not quite time to take down the decorations yet (although I do know a few people who have), and there are still a few days until the new year. I’ve seen quite a few social media memes about not knowing what time of day it is or what is happening, and I can relate.

For the first time in almost a year I took a period of annual leave that was more than just a few days. After working so hard for such a long time and experiencing high levels of stress over the last few months I found it disorienting and difficult to relax at first – even when I was in my jammies and watching Christmas films I felt a little agitated, like I should be doing something and it took a few days to be able to get into the it’s ok to have a rest mindset. I think I needed to decompress. It has made me think about the importance of regularly taking some time for myself next year – the mental state that I was in before Christmas wasn’t an entirely healthy one and despite the fact that I enjoy my job, I need to start setting some very clear boundaries when it comes to workload and client demands and expectations.

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A Last – Minute Christmas

Posted on December 22, 2021 by suzie81speaks

I look forward to Christmas every year. Since we got married (can you believe that was over four years ago already??!) The Bloke and I spend Christmas at home, visiting family and friends in the weeks before (although last year we weren’t able to do that). We have developed a bit of a routine and traditions – when we buy presents and send cards, when and how we decorate, when we go food shopping etc. Usually by now everything would be done and ready to go well in advance – the cupboards would be full, presents would be wrapped, our Christmas watchlist would have been planned to the nth degree to avoid missing any of the Christmas specials, The Bloke would have braved Marks and Spencer to grab a pre-rolled turkey and stuffing (there’s only two of us and there’s no way I’m spending half my Christmas Day cooking a massive frozen turkey that will go to waste) and I would have posted on the blog several times about how drunk the tree looks etc.

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Warp Drive On the M6

Posted on December 27, 2014 by suzie81speaks

For the last few years The Bloke and I have established a Christmas routine – we have our own little Christmas celebration a few days early, I get the train up to my Mum’s house on the 23rd, he drives to his Mum’s house (which is about 50 miles away from my Mum’s) early on the 24th, and then he drives across to pick me up on Boxing Day and we drive back down to Birmingham together. It’s a tiring day for him, but it’s quicker, cheaper and easier than battling with the trains and he always insists on doing it to ensure that I get home safe. It normally takes him about an hour to get to me and then a further two hours to drive home, but time always seems to pass really quickly as we spend the majority of the journey blathering at each other about the events of Christmas.

Yesterday, however, turned out to be a little more of an adventure than usual. The Bloke is an experienced and excellent driver and I always feel safe with him when I’m a passenger in his car, but despite his driving prowess he also possesses no sense of navigation or direction whatsoever. What should have taken him about an hour to meet me turned into a three-hour epic that involved a number of phone calls and texts after he missed the one crucial junction he needed. I felt really sorry for him during his regular updates, but although I felt mean in doing so I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself – it isn’t the first time he’s phoned me from the middle of nowhere after becoming totally lost. I eventually jumped in a taxi and met him in the nearest town to me, where I found him in a rather stressed-out state and sporting a chest infection. After he had calmed down we made onto the M6, where the sky quickly went dark and we were met with a blizzard – the first snow of Christmas. I always feel a bit strange when travelling in snow storms, the oncoming snow often makes me think I’m going into warp drive aboard the Starship Enterprise.

Thankfully, we made it back safely, there was a parking space right outside our house, the heating was on and the cats were pleased to see us. I had been spoiled yet again with gifts from his family and we snuggled up on the couch and watched some TV. Unfortunately his chest infection has got worse so I’ve ordered him to stay in bed and let me look after him today – he’s one of those really annoying patients who wants to get up and carry on as normal. He needs the rest, bless him, and it will give him a chance to wind down from the last few weeks…

What about you guys? Are you beginning to wind down or are you gearing up for New Year?

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