Christmas - Bring It On

The first day of being relegated to Tier 3 coincided with a day off and as promised the day was spent doing a big grocery shop for the next two weeks and possibly beyond.

It was a mammoth shop, taking in Home Bargains, Lidl, Dunelm and Tesco and after setting off at 12.30 pm I finally got home around 5 pm, exhausted, but relieved to have got it all done. I felt the urge,  as the realisation hit me, that should any of us come down with the virus in the next week, we'd be unable to get out and buy what we needed for Christmas, so I thought it best to do it all early.  Yes, the veg won't be super fresh, and some things may have to be frozen and defrosted, but I can live with that.

I say that I got it all done, but there were a couple of things I couldn't find with a long enough best before date, so hopefully we'll still be able to get out to get them nearer to Christmas. The shopping was unpacked and I was finally done for the day. The arrival of a parcel signalled the end of my Xmas gift shopping too, save for sending a digital voucher to my nephew in Australia, so that was a relief.

I was back at work on Thursday and I hoped that going into Tier 3 wouldn't affect the shop's footfall too badly, but it was very quiet for most of the day. We did still make a reasonable amount of money, but nothing like the previous year.  The number of volunteers we have is gradually dwindling too, as people head off home for Christmas, but a few student volunteers have returned home from Uni and are willing to come in to help, so we should be able to eek it out until Christmas Eve and keep the shop open.

I finally found out my shifts for over the Christmas holidays and they were better than I expected. I am going to get most of the week before Christmas off on leave, and will just have to work for 4 hours on Christmas Eve. I don't mind this, as OH has offered to come into town and meet me and we are going to walk around Central London and take in the lights and store window displays, which I haven't done so far this year. It should make for a nice festive Christmas Eve and it shouldn't be too busy because of London being in Tier 3.  We can't eat out or anything, but we may order a takeaway when we get home, as a treat.

I won't be returning to work after Christmas until Tuesday 29th, so I get a full 4 days off over Christmas, which is great. I'm back to my usual days from then on, which will include a short day on New Year's Eve and then the day after New Years Day. I'm probably going to take a week off in early January, which will give me time to make progress with the decorating and just generally ease myself into the New Year. I'm happy enough with the hours I'll be working and at least I now know what I'm doing and can plan my time a little.

On Friday, I had another day off. OH had booked the chimney sweep to come and clean the wood burner flue, after which we'll be able to light a fire, when it's cold enough to do so. I needed to do a bit of tidying around in the room to make enough space for him to work, as the room is currently a dumping ground for everything displaced from the hall, combined with being the place where we dry our washing.

I also needed to take LB to the doctor's surgery for a blood test and post a final gift parcel to my niece. I was glad to get the job done and know that I didn't need to physically send anything else to anyone now.

The rest of the day was spent at home, catching up on jobs I didn't have time to do earlier in the week, i.e. reconciling my finances, doing some washing, tidying around the kitchen, washing all the vegetables I bought on Wednesday and putting them away in the fridge.

I've now also got most of my present wrapping done.  The dog quilt I was working on is also now finished and ironed and ready to wrap up. Maybe just one more session of gift wrapping for the last few gifts should suffice, possibly on Sunday, leaving me free on the days I have off next week to clean the house in time for Christmas.

I have to say that this year is possibly the least festive feeling Christmas I can remember, probably since my Mum died over 25 years ago. I've usually been able to summon up some excitement over the holiday season, but not so much this year.  That's not to say that we're not going to try our best to enjoy it. 

I bought a TV guide this week, and I'm sure there will be plenty of good things to watch over the festive season. I've also got a good jigsaw to do and we've got lots of nice things to eat and drink, so I can't complain. We are very lucky. I think part of the feeling, is not leaving London and heading off to visit family, and the other part is that LB and her cousins are all getting older and Christmas isn't quite as special as when they were all young and excited about Santa's impending visit. Nothing stays the same forever.

My thoughts have now started to gravitate towards 2021 and what I want to achieve. Probably the main thing will be to get my spending (particularly on eBay) back under control. I want to be much more careful with money next year, as I seem to have been a bit spendthrift this year. Having said that, I still have money left in my account to last me to the end of the year, so that's one good thing, but I could have saved more this year if I'd put my mind to it. I'd definitely like to save more next year.

Have you started thinking about your aims for 2021, or after this rather tumultuous year, would you rather just take it day by day?