The End and The Beginning

I don't do resolutions. They always seem far too easy to break, and are met with comments ranging from "That's nice, dear" to "Yeah, right!". I'm not setting myself any goals or making any wishes that wont come true. I'm just going to try my hardest at everything and hope it all works out well, if it doesn't, I know I couldn't have done any better, and I wont feel any guilt over failure to meet targets!

This is the end of a very fast moving year. It was the first full year of my ittle man's life, and it flew by at rocket speed. I dropped out of the blogosphere for quite some time as I struggled to find a balance between my many roles, and I think right about now I have a very tenuous hold on it all. I've had to learn to let some things go. If I haven't made a handmade gift for a certain event/birthday, if I've had to BUY a card, if I've had to say to the Small People 'just watch a movie/tv programme', if I've had to say 'pizza/take away for dinner tonight, if I've not contacted friends for weeks or even months, I've just had to learn to LET IT GO. I can't do everything as much as that niggling voice in the back of my head says "sure, you can do this. *INSERT NAME HERE* would manage this fine". There simply isn't time, and our current situation is a temporary one. The other things have to be set aside so that I can complete my degree, look after the Small People, have some time with Mr Bogert and have some time with just ME. These are the essentials to survival and a happy future.

I spent the first 8 months of my degree feeling bad every time I didn't return a phonecall or remember a birthday. I've now come to terms with it (I'm hoping my friends have too!). My head is filled with coursework and day to day chores. It wont be forever, and hopefully once I have my degree, I can work towards having a career and buying a bigger house. We live in a shoebox :D

So, after that mad ramble, what I'm trying to say is, I will try hard in all the things I manage to fit into my life, but I can't afford to beat myself up if things get skipped out or I don't quite acheive absolute perfection in. This is a temporary state of being - normal programming will resume (just not until about 2015!).

So for the speed and chaos with which 2011 has been experienced, we have slowed it down for the very last day. We got out of bed later, we ate breakfast later (and it didn't involve a great deal of preparation), we took a walk around the village and tired the Small Person out as much as possible. The Smaller Person is now having a nap, Mr Bogert is visiting a neighbour, The Small Person is lying on the sofa reading a book, and I'm here talking to you, my blog friends. Later, Mr Bogert is cooking a roast dinner, we've got a bottle of wine ready and a cheesecake for dessert. The Small People will go to bed early, then Mr Bogert and I are going to curl on the sofa with a movie and some Christmas chocolate. There will be no books (me), not knitting/crochet (me), no sewing (me), no photo editing (Mr Bogert), no computer game playing (Mr Bogert), no answering emails (Mr Bogert), just us and some random actors.

I'm sure things will begin to speed away from us again next week, and through 2012, as Mr Bogert returns to work, the Small Person returns to school, the Smaller Person and I return to toddler group and I tackle my next assignment before my next course starts alongside this one, but for now, it's peaceful and there are no demands of any of our time.

Have a lovely last day of 2011, see you in 2012!

Fun Festivities with Friends

 If you've been reading my blog for a while, you will know that since 2003 (when we bought our first home together) Mr Bogert and I have always invited all of our friends around to our house on the evening of the 27th to celebrate Christmas, eat some food, drink some drinks and hopefully play some games.

This year quite a few of our usual friends couldn't make it, particularly the ones with children this year (a first for them, and we can sympathise entirely. We've been in that position for 6 years). An old friend who we haven't seen for around 3/4 years came round though, which was great! He went to uni with Mr Bogert, was an usher at our wedding, and filmed Alexandra's christening for us. The only reason we haven't seen him is that he's been living in Canada for a bit and more recently Northern Ireland while he completes his Masters in Fine Art. I hope we get to see him more often from now on.

In the past at our Christmas gethering we have played Twister (alot - we rubbed the spots off), Wii games: Supermario kart, Wii fit games and Just Dance, but this year we decided to do a pub quiz.

We were split into 2 teams by the quizmaster Mr Bogert. One round was charades and Mr Bogert had to act them out for us to guess.

It was so funny, we never went back to the rest of the quiz! We just played charades all night, taking turns.

Our friend Mark was soooo funny. He had to be reminded several times that charades has no talking involved. How he tried to mime "It's a Wonderful Life" will never EVER be forgotten! It was like conducting an orchestra of voices all singing "wooooooo-uuuu-err-oooooo"!

Mr Bogert had an interesting mime for "Dusk 'til Dawn" too, but as this is a Small Person friendly blog, I don't think I'll go any further than that!

I don't think I've laughed so hard or so long for quite some time. My sides ached all the next day. Good friends and laughter are great for your health.

I'm also quite concious that in previous years, this is the day we would be heading off in the car for our stay in the Lake District until New Year. I'm a little sad we're not going, but at least it means no packing and plenty of time to just do nothing with the holiday days left for family Wishes. Mr Bogert goes back to work next Tuesday after a really long break (since 12th Dec), the Small Person goes back to school the next day, then the folloing Tuesday we're back at Toddler Group. Before we know it, everything will be back to our old routine, so I'm savouring every last drop of family time. We've been off to the cafe today for hot drinks and a relaxing trip out of the house, surrounded by the scent of lattes and mochas and biscuits.

Boxing Day in Pictures

On Boxing Day we take it easy, chill around the house all morning, have dinner at home, then wander down to my mum's house for a drink and a chat. Later, early evening, we travel over to Mr Bogert's mum's house for tea.

Making snow globes from a kit from Santa

playing marbles (from the crackers).

My sister and her boyfriend

At Nanny's house (Mr Bogert's Mum's)

Hide and seek under the snuggie - come on Nanny! Join in!