Seventeen days and counting!

I am frighteningly organised.  Almost everything is bought and wrapped. I know what I need to buy for those I haven't bought for yet, and where I'm getting it from.  We have our Christmas meat bought, we backtracked and opted for Turkey in the end.  No, not Bernard Matthews sliced turkey in a packet, either ;-) The ham is bought, the sausages, bacon, biscuits, chocolates, and other goodies.  Plenty of beers in and Prosecco for the Christmas dinner. I've steamed my Christmas puddings and I've baked and decorated my Christmas cake.

Just needs the ribbon around the outside and bingo!

It actually made it to the decorating stage this year!  There have been years where it's been hacked into while it's still warm and on the cooling rack, I am not even joking.  It's that good.  You can find the recipe here and the only amendment I make is that I use sherry and not rum to soak the fruit and feed the cake, which is just personal preference. So now, the only bits we need to pick up are the fresh fruit, vegetables and bread a few days before Christmas and we are done!   

We are more than ready for our break away now.  The plan is to keep it pretty chilled.  On the Saturday as we arrive, I've bought pizza and party food ready as it's the X Factor final that night (Matt to win!).  On the Sunday, Cait wants to meet a friend in Wrexham so we will go in and stock up with food for the week and do a bit of shopping.  Steve wants to return to Wrexham at some point mid-week when the market is open and Cait can hit Primarni and choose her Christmas clothes.  Adam has requested a visit to Chester, he's fascinated with cities, and he's never been to Chester, so we'll do that.  And we'll take a stroll around Llangollen too.  Mr G wants to pop to Wigan for the day to deliver his presents and cards and visit the cemetery to put his Christmas pots on his parents and grandparents.  Other than that, the plan is to sit, read, play pool, watch Christmas films, eat, drink and be merry!   And, hopefully, catch a few Pokemon, but shhhhh, don't tell Mr G.  I only have 42 left to catch or evolve.  Yes, I did say that the plan was to keep it pretty chilled... I'm not so sure now, looking at all that!

Adam took part in his last school concert, which was a bit poignant.  My first concert at that school was in 2000, with Dan.  Now, my 'baby' is going up to secondary school next year.  It's a shocker how time flies.  It was about homelessness this year, and although not traditional, it's good to make our children socially aware.  Their Thanksgiving service at school for the last two years has asked for donations to the Church's food bank, and it was that which instigated the idea for the show.  Not everyone is as lucky as we are, and I hope it makes some of the 'I want!' type children think twice this year.  I'm paying for a homeless person to have Christmas with Crisis at Christmas, and easing up on the amount of 'special' Christmas cards that I send this year, the cost of those coupled with postage easily amounts to the £22.00 this costs.  More than just a Christmas meal, it's a chance to get clean, get clean clothes, three meals including the traditional dinner, access to help and advice and health checks such as a dentist and optician.  Things we take for granted.  If you would like to pay for someone to have dinner (and the rest!) on you, the link can be found here.   Better for the environment too ;-)

I 'won' NaNoWriMo 2016!  My second year running, and I excelled myself this year too, 78,000 words this time, I think it was 62,000 last year.  I'm looking at it, wondering what to do with it.  Mr G reckons that I should self publish on Amazon, but I don't know.   I haven't had the guts to let anyone read even a chapter yet, so I don't know how I'd feel about putting it 'out there'.  It would need an awful lot of editing first, so we'll see.  I didn't start this with the intention of publishing, it was only something for me, to see if I could do it.  I did :-)  Twice :-)

Go me!

Tonight, the ladies of the family are out for our annual Christmas airing outing - and I am really looking forward to it.  It's anyone's guess what sort of a state I'll be in coming home, if previous years are anything to go by...  Three courses and wine, ye Gods.  This year we are going to The Antelope Inn in Bangor, which has recently changed to a Sizzling Pub, and the food has been fantastic lately, so fingers crossed that we have a good one.  Cait and I have matching reindeer antlers and flashing red noses to complete our look, keeping it classy as always ;-)

Ha.