A Christmas Catch Up and Looking Ahead to the New Year

Apologies for disappearing from Blogland just before Christmas. I intended to post the week before Christmas, but got busy with work, packing and heading off to Yorkshire and I forgot to publish the post and wish everyone a Merry Christmas. I do hope everyone had a good one and enjoyed spending time with their loved ones.

Our Christmas in Yorkshire came to an end and we returned to London on Wednesday this week. It was not the Christmas that we had envisaged, as OH unfortunately tested positive for Covid when we got there. This really threw us a curved ball, and was a bit of a disappointment, but we just had to make the best of it. By Boxing Day, he had tested negative, so we did get to see quite a few of the family members we had planned to see, but not all, and not as much or in the circumstances that we had hoped. 

Luckily, LB and myself didn't test positive the whole time, so we were still able to get out and buy what we needed for Xmas lunch, etc. We had a nice Christmas Day and enjoyed opening our presents and watching some good movies. Our accommodation was lovely too, which helped. It was restful, but it did taint what was our first Christmas spent in Yorkshire for a number of years, which was unfortunate.

Anyway, back in London, I spent my first day on Thursday, getting settled back into my normal routine. My first priority, was to get back to the gym. I'd overeaten in a big way on a couple of days whilst we were away, but thankfully I'd not put on too much weight. I did, however, want to get back to exercising and had booked a gym session. I managed to get there by about 11am and really enjoyed the session. It felt so good to work out again.

When I got home, I made myself a big salad to try to get back to eating as I healthily as I could. To aide me in this, I later decided to do a weekly food shop, as we didn't have a lot of food in the house. I shopped at my local Lidl, as I didn't feel like going too far. I used another 10% off voucher on the Lidl plus app, that I'd earned in December. It felt good to get the house stocked with food again.

In the evening, after supper, I got my finances organised. I'd spent quite a bit of money whilst we were away, mostly on grocery shopping and a few other things, so I needed to reconcile everything. It was good to get it done and now I can look forward to a new financial month and a new financial year, hopefully one in which I get back control of my spending. 

I think that because I've been working again and earning money, my mindset has been a little spendthrift, so I need to rein my shopping urges in again and try to spend as little as possible as we head into the New Year. I don't know how much longer I'll have a job, as my current contract ends mid February, so I need to save as much as I can from now on.

I also opened up 'My Little Jar of Good Things' that happened in 2023 and read my entries for the year. It was a little activity in gratefulness that I started last year. Everytime something good happened, I would write it down on a post it note, fold it up and put it in a jar. It was good to read all the entries and remember the highlights of the year. I think I'll be doing the same exercise again this year. It's good to help you appreciate the positives in your life. I managed to fill the jar this last year, so it can't have been all bad.

Having done the above jobs, I got to thinking about the year ahead. I don't have many aims, save to continue on my weightloss/fitness journey, spend money in a more conscious fashion, generally make progress in my life and try to improve things where I can. I'm trying to just keep it real and not put unnecessary pressure on myself.

There are lots of things that we need to do around the house and garden and if any of them get done this year it will be a bonus. All the fences in the garden need replacing and I'd really love for the paths around the raised beds to be landscaped into brick paths, but I don't know if this will get done. In addition, some of the decking needs to be replaced, as it is quite old and rotting in places. OH did replace some of it a couple of years ago, but the remainder needs replacing now. If all we get done this year are these jobs, I'll be very happy, but it depends a lot on our finances and on OH doing them or us paying someone else to do them. I'll keep you posted with progress in this regard.

I'm looking forward to spending New Year in London. LB will be going back to her halls to spend Xmas Eve with her friends, so we'll be having a quiet evening at home, trying to keep the dog calm when the fireworks start. We enjoy spending New Year this way though, we're not party animals. I'm not due back at work until 3rd January, so I've got the whole of the festive period off work, which is amazing and a first for me in quite a few years. I don't quite know why that is, but I'm grateful for it. I will be doing quite a few consequetive shifts when I do start back though, so I need to enjoy the down time while I can.

I hope you all enjoy your New Year celebratins and I look forward to catching up with you all in 2024.