Whilst half term was busy, much of the middle was spent at appointments and doing life admin so not the most exciting of weeks but at least it was productive.
The week had begun with our little football trip to Manchester and ended with a trip to Somerset to celebrate my mum’s 75th. It’s sad that any big birthday is matched to a big anniversary of the passing of her much adored dad who died on her 40th. It was unexpected but happily she had spoken warmly with him earlier in the day before he had a heart attack late at night. My gramps was one of life’s lovely people so it’s always a bittersweet day. Football of course impacted our week, we went to see a cup match (and victory) on Wednesday night and couldn’t miss the training on Thursday night which meant a very late night journey to my parents, arriving just after 11pm and then needing to decorate for the birthday. The window is just part of the decorations we had the birthday table too with presents, fresh flowers, more balloons and cards. We were only able to stay for Friday so tried to squeeze as much birthday fun unto the day.
We went out for a family meal on my mum’s birthday at an Italian restaurant in a local village. The building was light and airy and with the Italian decor and the sun shining through the glass roof it did feel like one was in Italy. I chose a different main, a beetroot and goats cheese salad which was sublime. The whole meal felt like an Italian family meal, chat, laughter, lots of food and drink and the perfect way to celebrate a birthday. We went home for birthday cake and champagne, although as I was driving it was cake and a cup of tea before a night drive home to be up and ready for Halloween parkrun on Saturday morning!
Of course our parkrun was a fancy dress but I kept it simple with a ghostly theme, I had a t shirt with a Halloween / parkrun phrase that I had made last year with the obligatory tutu, wig and ghost shaped glasses. Mine was simple but others really had nailed the brief, there were some magnificent costumes and it was a fun morning. I had a lovely catch up with friends after in the cafe before heading home.
In our family, birthdays come in bursts so after a birthday meal on Friday, we followed this up on Saturday night with a meal out for my husband’s birthday. I went to pick up the boys from the football, another win on an impressive run and then we headed to their favourite carvery pub for dinner. There is something about the warm glow of a pub on a dark winter’s night to give you cosy vibes. As I’ve got older, I do like a lunch or early dinner, rather than a 8pm meal. We were home by 8.30pm ready to catch up on the Strictly Halloween special, a perfect day.
Half term is my normal time to start Christmas planning but with two birthdays this has been slightly delayed this year. The hotel and dinner have been booked for our family trip away so we have started, it’s just the presents that I need to organise. I have made good use of my Borrow Box library account to read all the Christmas magazine specials, such as perk of my library membership. I look forward in the coming weeks to getting the lists sorted and ready for my planned Christmas shopping trip.
