Happy new year and all that guff. Yep, I’m glad all the festivities are over. You see, I’m not a massive fan of Christmas. There’s too much pressure, faff and fuss for just one day. Anyway, by the time the end of term came around, I was exhausted and just grateful for the two weeks break. My parting end of term gift? A cold! I was a sleepy, snotty, coughing mess for the first part of the holidays. Then Phil came down with something worse for the remainder of the holidays, meaning all we pretty much did was sleep and veg out, trying to rid Crafty Chai towers of the plague.

But having a less than mediocre Christmas did get me thinking about what I want our Christmas next year to look like, colds and flu notwithstanding. One thing I realised is that I need to get my shit together for Christmas way earlier than I did. Not just buying presents, but organising decent card, festive treats and thinking about what we’d like to do during the festive season. Because while I enjoyed being lazy and binge watching the latest Netflix sensation, it’s not how I want to be spending all my time away from school. I realise that I was really tired and needed to spend some time recuperating but I also felt that I was wasting my two weeks off. Next year, I want to make sure that there’s time for vegging out, but also time spent seeing a few friends, going on some lovely walks and spending more time reading and crafting.

In my head, next Christmas, I envisage a whole different picture. More fresh air, less time on the sofa. Trying out great, healthy plant based meals, less cheese and crackers. More time reading, less junk TV. Focus on the special things, make new traditions and plan lovely things. I want to make sure that the foodie treats we have are worth it, and just mindless eating. I want it to be something I enjoy and not regret. So I’ll be planning next Christmas with military precision, making sure that there’s time to enjoy it, without worrying that time is being wasted.