Okay confession time, I really don’t like New Year’s Eve. I have celebrated NYE in the most amazing places but I just don’t get it, it feels a little superficial and fake. I now enjoy JOMO on NYE, the joy of missing out.

This year, I really enjoyed New Year by creating a special day of things we like to do. On NYE afternoon, Little Miss and I went to the cinema to see Little Women. The 1949 film version of the book is one of my favourite ever films so I was a little apprehensive about the new version. However it was amazing, I was a sobbing mess and felt it was really true to the book. The nice thing about going to the county town to the cinema was the buzz and busyness of the town centre, there was a pleasant vibe as we walked around before the film.

In the evening we enjoyed a family meal and relaxed before an early night and a good book.

I was up early on New Year’s day as it was parkrun day! Whilst I had contemplated the double, it was tight timing between the two venues so I decided to do my own double, volunteer and run. I’ve been wanting to volunteer for a while but other commitments have made it difficult. However as Little Miss didn’t want to run because it was earlier than normal, I was able to do the pre event set up and found myself out of the house by 6.50am to be on time. It was a great feeling to be able to volunteer and help my home parkrun. I was helping to put out the markers and walked the course as dawn was breaking, the quiet and stillness of the morning was a perfect opportunity to welcome the new year. The parkrun was wonderfully busy, a new attendance record was set and there was a life affirming atmosphere, everyone was happy to start the new year with a run (or two)

When I got home Mr S has taken the children to the skate park so I was able to have a leisurely shower and to use all my fancy lotions. We then took the Christmas decorations down and spent the day pottering around. Sometimes it is the simple things which bring the most contentment.