It’s going to be another lovely day spent doing some gaming! I got back into Braid on Steam yesterday (a game I’ve been meaning to finish for a long time) and am also charging my Switch Lite, as it’s seemingly run out of battery since the last time I used it. I may also be doing some coding later, as Geth got me lots of interesting coding books for Christmas.
…are one of the best things about the Christmas holiday. I’ll be enjoying a new Steam download all afternoon!
The week in between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day is my favourite week of the year. Quiet days with lots of videogaming and Christmas food. (This year I’m going to try and make the following week special too… I never really get the chance to have a ‘birthday week’ as there’s always too much going on with New Year followed by the dreaded ‘back to school’ feeling, but I’m going to try. Focusing on this week first though!)
It’s been so long since my last stretch of free time that I’m a little overwhelmed by all the options, so I’m going to spend this afternoon planning them out so that I’m not dithering during the rest of the week and can just curl up with my chosen books/games/podcasts!
Christmas, while still not fully back to normal, is so much better this year than last. I’m with the family (including my brother and sister-in-law whom I’ve not seen in two years), and that is all I wanted for this Christmas… though I did also get a lot of amazing presents!
It’s been a very long year of work / studying / creative pursuits, but I am finally on holiday. Christmas is the only proper holiday I take all year as business calls the rest of the time! As such, I am really going to enjoy the next couple of weeks. Blog posts will be mostly short but I should at least have a picture to put up every day.
Here’s the first one:
Dad and I did some Christmas baking this afternoon! I made the cake in November and we decorated it today. We also made some mince pies. I’ve been eating supermarket mince pies all month but homemade ones taste extra special!
Now to settle in for (hopefully!) a much happier Christmas than last year 🙂
(Still no earworm playlist, sorry. Hopefully Hogmanay will be quiet enough that I can get a bumper version posted.)
I’m still working this week, but I’m managing to get some Christmas celebration done as well. Geth and I cooked our pre-Christmas roast today and have plenty leftovers to eat tomorrow. I made a really nice veggie option that I’ll be making again to have on Christmas Day with the family 🙂
We’re also making good headway through our usual list of Christmas films! Muppet Christmas Carol now watched, and It’s A Wonderful Life lined up for tomorrow…
No ice cream post today – I’ll return to those in 2022 (and start thinking about the 2022 food series!).
Geth and I are back home after a lovely few days in Colne seeing Geth’s family. We’re now looking forward to enjoying lots of Christmas food made by ourselves tomorrow!
It’s been a very frosty day. As such, my morning run was beautiful but very cold! I’ve been enjoying the warmth inside for the rest of the day, and caught up with the Strictly final, which I really enjoyed. I’ve got a bit of work for the week ahead but on the whole things are winding down for Christmas now.
I’ve been at Mum and Dad’s doing their Christmas decorations today, including this gorgeous tree – I think it’s one of the nicest they’ve had over the last few years.
It always properly feels like Christmas is nearly here when I decorate Mum and Dad’s tree! Not very long to go now… though it’s going to be a busy couple of weeks.
Back to rejoin Geth in Newcastle tomorrow. I hear he’s wrapped my Christmas presents now! 🙂
Friday evening is here, and so we move from weekday busy to weekend busy. A nice change of scenery!
It’s been a really busy week with work and so I’ve not had time to do any studying. Hopefully I will be able to fit that in next week. The course organisers have just released three new modules so there’s plenty to get on with between now and Christmas.
Geth and I were meant to be volunteering at Jesmond Dene parkrun tomorrow, but unfortunately they’ve had to cancel. Under normal circumstances this would mean I’d be scrabbling around trying to decide on a replacement parkrun, but there’s an all-day TechUp online event tomorrow and it’d be nice to attend all the sessions for that, so I think it’ll be another week with no parkrun. I definitely want to get back to it next week though!
On Sunday I’ve got my last race of the season. A bit late this year – next year I’ll definitely be ending the season with the GNR in September! But it’ll be nice to tootle along for 10k and get some fresh air, assuming the weather’s not awful. We’re then seeing Mum and Dad later in the day, which will be lovely.
The weekend after should be a lot quieter… which will be a well-timed lull before the busy Christmas visiting period!
This week’s earworm playlists:
Saturday
Masashi Hamauzu – ‘Thunder Plains’
The Running Channel – ‘Run With Me’
Celine Dion – ‘It’s All Coming Back To Me’
Sunday
Bing Crosby – ‘White Christmas’
Monday
Chris Rea – ‘Driving Home For Christmas’
Masashi Hamauzu – ‘Thunder Plains’
Tuesday
Herman Hupfeld – ‘As Time Goes By’
Wednesday
Elton John – ‘I’m Still Standing’
Thursday
Masashi Hamauzu – ‘Thunder Plains’
Friday
Masashi Hamauzu – ‘Thunder Plains’
Boyzone – ‘A Different Beat’