I find this is a strange time of year, the anticipation of Christmas and early prep but against the hub of everyday life. The weather has been very mixed and although I was planning an early visit to the Christmas lights in our neighbouring ‘big’ town, we postponed it due to the storms . Many of the attractions ended up being closed due to flooding and high winds. Fortunately there’s lots of time to visit so we’ll get there eventually. There has been some wicked storms recently. On another Saturday I had planned a little mooch for Christmas inspiration in town but the heavy rain meant a super quick 20 minute trip to do the essentials. Despite the storms there has also been the opportunity to wear my fav winter combo of woolly hat and sunglasses on some days and I have also managed two lovely long sunny runs. The weather really is random.

My Christmas shopping is progressing well. I was very well prepared for Black Friday and with the children’s wish lists. They’re at the age when they tend to want named products now, Uggs etc.. so in advance I had bookmarked the items and price checked and was able to get some good deals. I do find that Black Friday now seems to be a month of deals and I am dubious of the true value but I did get discounts on the items I needed. I didn’t really look for any other deals if the items weren’t on my list I wasn’t buying them. Apart from the big items I do try to buy lots from independent shops and Etsy types sellers. This is where I get really lovely presents. I do pride myself in my present buying and I would rather a good quality gift over quantity. On one of the wet Saturday afternoons when the boys were at football I made a decent start on wrapping and hiding the presents. I didn’t do it to a Christmas film but watched Brooklyn as I had seen a clip on social media and wanted to see the full film. It’s an excellent film and the perfect background to wrapping presents. Now the Black Friday presents are arriving, I’ll do this again in the coming days and will be pretty much ready on the presents. Christmas is too short for stress, I would prefer to be out and enjoying events than thinking about presents.

My recent audio book on my commute has been Gareth Southgate’s Lessons in Leadership. It’s a really interesting read particularly about culture and national identity and one of my favourite reads of the year. The England job is an impossible job but I feel Southgate’s values and drive make him one of the best we’ve had.

In the past few weeks it has been the first anniversary of my very good friend’s sudden and unexpected death. I still find it hard to believe she’s not next door and so many times over the past year I’ve imagined myself popping over to tell her something, finding a great recipe, book or film recommendation or local news (gossip) to share and then the very sad realisation she’s not there. Her husband shared that he had put up lights at her stables for the anniversary so on the evening I walked down to spend some time there. Now whilst the stables are close to home and in daylight a quick ten minute walk it wasn’t so simple on an extremely dark night down unmade tracks. However the sight was truly stunning. The stables were beautifully lit and the dark cloudless sky was shining with so many stars. My friend loved Coldplay and their song Sky full of stars was played at her funeral, so the setting was perfect. I felt so sad but strangely peaceful at the stables, the place where she had died and always her happiest place. I had a proper good cry and remembered such wonderful moments with her. I miss her.