It has been a difficult few weeks. Thank you to Teresa,Gracie,Taci,Kay,Darnell,Laurie and Linda for your kind comments.
I have not achieved much in way of card making for a while. In fact I had to buy my Christmas cards as life threatened to overwhelm me as I tried to do everything. In the end I gave in to the inevitable there was no way I could do everything /please all of the people all of the time as they say. So I decided not to try!!. Although still very sad at times I am feeling a lot more relaxed and looking forward to 2014 and new beginnings. I am attempting to take a back seat in certain situations and make time for what I want to do and for DH, my sons and their families and one or two close friends.I also need to take care of my health.
Anyway I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas - DH and I managed to do so in the end, although DH has been unwell for most of the time , started as a nasty cold and now has a very nasty cough :-( I am just praying I don't get it.
On Friday 20th we had some friends come over for dinner and had a lovely evening. It seemed that Christmas had started. Sunday 22nd my youngest son and his family came to visit. My granddaughters decorated gingerbread men and made fir cones into Christmas trees. Afterwards we had a lovely meal together and they were able to stay a little later as there was no school the next day.
Monday 23rd and we set off for Yorkshire. The weather was awful but I was so excited. I hadn't seen my grandsons for a little while and I was actually going to be with them on Christmas morning!!! I was a little emotional on arrival ( several reasons) but my D.I.L. soon had everything under control and we settled in.
Her parents had already arrived and we were soon having a cup of tea and chatting and playing with the boys. Everywhere was cosy and festive. Our son arrived home from work and we had a delicious dinner.
On Tuesday - Christmas Eve we went out to see a production of Rapunzel followed by a lovely lunch and then to church for a Christingle Service. Sadly DH had to stay behind as he was feeling quite poorly.
Later two very excited boys got ready for bed, put out food for Rudolph and Santa. It took a while for them to settle as you can imagine!!! We had supper and finally went off to bed wondering what time we would be woken by cries of 'he's been!!!'
They actually didn't wake until 7 so not too bad really. They were soooooooooo excited and after opening stockings down stairs we went. They were very happy with all they had ( which was quite a lot :-) lucky boys) as were the grown ups :-)
My son and D.I.L. prepared a beautiful , traditional lunch. We managed a little walk later and then settled down to play games and watch one of the D.V.D.'s the boys had received. A wonderful day.
Boxing Day saw us back on the road and returning home. After popping in to our house we then went to younger son's for light lunch and then later a lovely tea. They had also invited my friend's husband and daughters ( see previous posts) so there were a few tears but mainly happy memories.
On Friday my son came down from Yorkshire with my grandsons - sadly his wife had to work on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. She is a nurse and had been off for Christmas so was thankful for that though we missed her greatly. Both sons and the youngest's wife and all our grandchildren went out for a while on
|Saturday and I prepared for the evening. They all came to tea along with my brother and his wife and also my friend's husband and daughters. Everyone seemed to have an enjoyable time. All of the children stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's which they thought was great. Fortunately they were not up too early either :-)
After lunch on Sunday Matthew and the boys went home to Yorkshire and to see my D.I.L. they had of course missed each other so much.
We all said that we had had a truly lovely Christmas.
DH and I are having a quiet New Year's Eve :-)
I don't have a lot of photo's of Christmas to share - waiting for some from my son.
I managed to finish decorating my Christmas cake - not exactly as intended but done at least
The tree which actually looks better in real life :-)
A little village scene on my dresser
A ( not so good) close up of a beautiful heart decoration that my friend gave me .
Grandsons Harry and Sam with the gingerbread house they made :-)
I hope you have enjoyed my little flavour of Christmas. All being well will be back soon. x
Dear Anne, it sounds like you had a tremendously wonderful Christmas time, getting to see all your kids and grandkids. I'm glad you're feeling better about your loss, you'll keep doing better, just remember all the good things.
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*H*A*P*P*Y* *N*E*W* *Y*E*A*R*!*
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((hugs)), Teresa :-)
So glad to hear from you, Anne! Your Christmas gatherings sounded lovely except for DH's illness. Your cake is an amazing work of art, and I enjoyed seeing some of your other Christmas decorations as well. Wishing you a new year filled with peace and good health. xx
ReplyDeletehullo Anne have read through your last few posts and can see that your Christmas was special in spite of all that was going on.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad and pray God's blessing on you and those you love in 2014. Shaz in Oz. xx
I am so glad you enjoyed your Christmas with your famili and friends. It's very hard the first major holiday when we lose somebody so close to our heart, but rememeber my dear friend it's the good memories we have of them that keeps them alive.
ReplyDeleteHope you have a great new year and I look forward to " seeing" you a lot more.
Happy New Year to you and your family.
Lots of love !
Thanks for sharing your Christmas with us. It looks like you managed to make the best of it even though you have had such a sad time. Life has to go on. Take care. x Jo
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you have had a wonderful time with your family over the Christmas period. Your Christmas cake looks amazing and I love all your photos - what a great job your grandsons did of the gingerbread house.
ReplyDeleteWishing you all the best for 2014. x