Goodbye 2019!
Jesus H Christ - where did December go to?
This will be the last post of not only the year, but of the decade!
Since I last posted, I hit my five and a half stone weight loss two days before Christmas... and subsequently put on 4 lbs this week. How? Wine. Red, white, Cava, Prosecco. You name it, I drank it over the course of two days. Mr G, who didn't have a drink, only put on 1.5 lbs. He ate a full box (the big box!) of Maltesers! And had a pork pie? I'm fuming, but hey ho. It'll be off again in two weeks maximum - I just hate re-losing weight I have already lost once?
Christmas dinner was mainly on plan, the meat, veggies and roasties were all syn free. I even made SW syn free gravy. The children wanted goose fat roasties, so Mr G and I pinched one each to go with our Marmite roasties. For pigs in blankets, I used Asda lean pork sausages (the half a syn ones), halved them and wrapped them with bacon.
It was lovely to have all four home for Christmas, the eldest is down from Manchester, and my daughter actually tore herself away from her boyfriend and was here on Christmas Eve for Christmas Day!
Mr G did a good job of setting up our dinner table as usual. Our house is so small (even though it's big, it's just really poorly laid out) that we only get the table out for Christmas, New Year and Easter Sunday because it takes up the whole room.
We enjoyed our day out at the Victorian Market in Wrexham. Mum and Adam came along with us and we met up with our friend June and had fish and chips (for a change) in Everland. Absolutely laden down with bags we were.
Had a lovely meal out in Table Table with the female family. One auntie had to cancel as she had the bug, and I had to go home early because I too was about to pull a Will McKenzie and shit myself in public.
My cousin and I always take a selfie at the table, and she always looks gorgeous and I look like I've put lipstick on a watermelon. Glad to say that my head is slightly smaller this year. A couple more pounds and it won't need its own postcode...
There was more, so much more in December but those are the edited highlights, really. I try not to get political here, this is a fun space, a food space, but the election result and all the complete and utter f*ckery of the media beforehand, well, it really has got me down. The Monday before the GE, our Slimming World group held a food drive for a local food bank, and immediately after voting, Mr G and I went into Bangor to deliver this...
A shoe box (forgive the wrapping, the box had been filled for weeks but I forgot to wrap it until five minutes before we were due to leave) for the homeless appeal in Bangor. Now, when I was a kid, and when my eldest was a kid - Christmas shoe boxes were for children in war torn countries. It comes to something when you're having to give them now to adults in your own country.
There is a wonderful community on Facebook called #CorbynsChristmasChallenge which was set up after the election, and the challenge was to donate £5 (or whatever you could afford) worth of food to a food bank. The group has almost become a movement now, there are over 18,000 members all trying to make life a little brighter for those in need. And we're not talking rich people either, although some may be better off than others. Children have been spending their pocket and Christmas money. People have spent their last fiver. Some people have spent more, much more. The problem is real, very real, and it's only going to get worse before it gets better. If it ever gets better.
So, when you're doing your weekly shop, please do pick up a few things and put them into the food bank donation basket. Pick up some toiletries in Poundland or Home Bargains. Support a local business that helps feed the homeless, like the Fair Price cafe in Bangor. Ask your local women's refuge if they need anything, toiletries, or baby items; these women are fleeing violent partners sometimes with just the clothes on their backs? Support local charities who give to the people in your community (we already do this - we support a local cancer hospice financially and when we donate goods and clothes to a charity shop we choose an independent one who help the blind in North Wales only). Support local businesses - sometimes they can be just as cheap as online, or the supermarkets. We really have all got to start looking out for each other, and our immediate communities. I wish I could say that I was going into 2020 with optimism, but I'm genuinely worried about what the future is going to bring under this current government.
Whoever is reading this (quite a few of you are, according to my blog stats...) I wish you a Happy New Year from me and mine. I'll be sat here with a bottle of Lucozade Zero Pink Lemonade (but I'll stay classy and drink it out of a gin glass...) and I might mix things up later with a mug of hot Bovril. We'll see. Here's to the next decade, and whatever that will bring!
This will be the last post of not only the year, but of the decade!
Since I last posted, I hit my five and a half stone weight loss two days before Christmas... and subsequently put on 4 lbs this week. How? Wine. Red, white, Cava, Prosecco. You name it, I drank it over the course of two days. Mr G, who didn't have a drink, only put on 1.5 lbs. He ate a full box (the big box!) of Maltesers! And had a pork pie? I'm fuming, but hey ho. It'll be off again in two weeks maximum - I just hate re-losing weight I have already lost once?
Christmas dinner was mainly on plan, the meat, veggies and roasties were all syn free. I even made SW syn free gravy. The children wanted goose fat roasties, so Mr G and I pinched one each to go with our Marmite roasties. For pigs in blankets, I used Asda lean pork sausages (the half a syn ones), halved them and wrapped them with bacon.
 |
| Our Christmas Dinner |
 |
| The kids Christmas dinner |
It was lovely to have all four home for Christmas, the eldest is down from Manchester, and my daughter actually tore herself away from her boyfriend and was here on Christmas Eve for Christmas Day!
 |
| Selfie! |
Mr G did a good job of setting up our dinner table as usual. Our house is so small (even though it's big, it's just really poorly laid out) that we only get the table out for Christmas, New Year and Easter Sunday because it takes up the whole room.
We enjoyed our day out at the Victorian Market in Wrexham. Mum and Adam came along with us and we met up with our friend June and had fish and chips (for a change) in Everland. Absolutely laden down with bags we were.
 |
| On the way back to the car park, spent up |
 |
| Hot chocolate in top 'Spoons |
Had a lovely meal out in Table Table with the female family. One auntie had to cancel as she had the bug, and I had to go home early because I too was about to pull a Will McKenzie and shit myself in public.
 |
| Potato and Leek soup - gave the bread away |
 |
| Turkey dinner (with three people's green veg on) |
 |
| Baileys Chocolate Coated Profiteroles (ate three, brought two home in doggy bag for Mr G) |
My cousin and I always take a selfie at the table, and she always looks gorgeous and I look like I've put lipstick on a watermelon. Glad to say that my head is slightly smaller this year. A couple more pounds and it won't need its own postcode...
There was more, so much more in December but those are the edited highlights, really. I try not to get political here, this is a fun space, a food space, but the election result and all the complete and utter f*ckery of the media beforehand, well, it really has got me down. The Monday before the GE, our Slimming World group held a food drive for a local food bank, and immediately after voting, Mr G and I went into Bangor to deliver this...
A shoe box (forgive the wrapping, the box had been filled for weeks but I forgot to wrap it until five minutes before we were due to leave) for the homeless appeal in Bangor. Now, when I was a kid, and when my eldest was a kid - Christmas shoe boxes were for children in war torn countries. It comes to something when you're having to give them now to adults in your own country.
There is a wonderful community on Facebook called #CorbynsChristmasChallenge which was set up after the election, and the challenge was to donate £5 (or whatever you could afford) worth of food to a food bank. The group has almost become a movement now, there are over 18,000 members all trying to make life a little brighter for those in need. And we're not talking rich people either, although some may be better off than others. Children have been spending their pocket and Christmas money. People have spent their last fiver. Some people have spent more, much more. The problem is real, very real, and it's only going to get worse before it gets better. If it ever gets better.
So, when you're doing your weekly shop, please do pick up a few things and put them into the food bank donation basket. Pick up some toiletries in Poundland or Home Bargains. Support a local business that helps feed the homeless, like the Fair Price cafe in Bangor. Ask your local women's refuge if they need anything, toiletries, or baby items; these women are fleeing violent partners sometimes with just the clothes on their backs? Support local charities who give to the people in your community (we already do this - we support a local cancer hospice financially and when we donate goods and clothes to a charity shop we choose an independent one who help the blind in North Wales only). Support local businesses - sometimes they can be just as cheap as online, or the supermarkets. We really have all got to start looking out for each other, and our immediate communities. I wish I could say that I was going into 2020 with optimism, but I'm genuinely worried about what the future is going to bring under this current government.
Whoever is reading this (quite a few of you are, according to my blog stats...) I wish you a Happy New Year from me and mine. I'll be sat here with a bottle of Lucozade Zero Pink Lemonade (but I'll stay classy and drink it out of a gin glass...) and I might mix things up later with a mug of hot Bovril. We'll see. Here's to the next decade, and whatever that will bring!
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