Hello! So should I ask how the Christmas shopping is going and organising the food, presents and decor. My husband and my mum have taken care of the decor and the food.
It is good to delegate and I can take care of buying gifts and ordering bits and I am looking forward to the celebrations.
Then there is the new year. Twenty Twenty Five has not been a bad year for me and share the things I feel were good and worth remembering. Please check out my December Newsletter:
Hello! It is early I know but that what heartburn does. I am good nevertheless and had to get up.
So Christmas is upon us and so wanted to do a Cheat Sheet of tips of what to do after Christmas having leftover food, sales on Christmas products that are on sale and tidying up.
These are free to download and print. I post each Monday and to be kept and help you with tips and advice and we can have so much food, drink and it is good to be prepared for the following year.
I do have a Vlog channel, sharing parts of my life check it out here:
I have felt good this year. I am enjoying journaling whilst my son is having is lesson and it has been a great resource and I do it as my first thing in my journal and I would recommend using the Journal APP I have, not sure if it is available to all phones as it was an APP that was already on my phone. By making this change has helped me to plan content, write about my life, moving on and growing from the past. I dwell a lot on the past from things I did wrong but has helped have shape in my life and “Grow”. My word for 2026. This year 2025 was “Lifestyle” and I have changed my lifestyle.
Was a bit Skeptical about the Elf on the Shelf but my son loves it and I have stopped being a Humbug.
My reading has been an amazing and walked a lot and now as it is Winter I have taken a step back for the Winter and just slowing down, but still being somewhat productive without overwhelm.
Just making one change to your routine can make such a difference. Like having more reading time. I read every morning and evening and it has been one of the greatest habits that has really been a boost and set a challenge of reading 20 books. I am on 17 and have a book on Audible that I am listen to and so is 18 so will have two books left. I have done this on Good Reads. Check out my site: https://mybooksandstories.wordpress.com/
The other change is cleaning. I do it as I go and will make sure that before each meal that I have cleared away the items used. Cleaning does not give me joy but like the results do. Learning. I have done some really good courses and been using Youtube for free training to, to build my platforms and content.
It is good to see the stars and do like a clear sky, but at the same time it is time to slow down and watch some good TV, with a nice hot meal and it is the simple pleasures that makes it different for me now. I did get depressed as I reached adult age, in the winter, but now I embrace it, by not rushing and focus on little pleasures. https://mystylewayofliving.blogspot.com/2025/11/things-that-gives-me-pleasure.html
It is good time to declutter. I do a bit a day and once I start which is the key. Less thinking, more doing and going through my things and today I wrote a list of what I want done by the end of the year and love planning for the next year, around about this time of year and embrace the new year which back at one point would get emotional and felt I wasted a year and so I make the most of the days whilst I am alive and it just simple changes, can make such a difference.
It all counts.
So I hope you are finding these blogs helpful and comforting and that it does not have to be doom and gloom.
Hello! I hope you had a good weekend. It is Monday once again and this weeks Cheat Sheet is all about What To Do On a Rainy day. Inspired by getting wet on Friday when the Radio Station I work on, hosted an event and was cold too.
In the year the Two Thousand for the first time I dreaded Christmas. My family life had changed, my Nan passed away and I was in a job I hated. It was a fail. I had to re-address my life and where it was going.
Our Elf on A shelf
For some, there are people, like that year who dread Christmas. When a change happens, all those good times feel like they have stopped and can make you feel like you want the world to swallow you up, to never be seen again. It took me a while to adjust and I made the decision to leave my life in Richmond behind to move to work in the South Coast.
When I moved Christmases were a work day. I moved to work at a holiday camp and where I met my husband and so I had the Christmas my boyfriend, then at one of our friends house and it was fun working at Christmas. Within in one year, I stayed with then my boyfriend and worked with a hangover but I do not regret as it, it was so much fun.
I lost my spark for the festive cheer. I was sad. My nan was the center of my universe and my Grandad and my Nan, made the Festive season the best ones and it struck me that those times were gone and I asked, “Would Christmas be good again?”
I see the Christmas as a day a of rest and recuperation now. I love that my son loves it and he has helped bring back my Christmas spirit, to feeling happy again, we hosted Christmas once with my in-laws. Now though it is just the three of us and celebrate for him now and he has helped me bring back my joy for #Christmas.
I am not a fan of the busyness of the Christmas so tend to buy online but do like to have a traditional drinks, decor an like a Mulled Wine or a Winter Cider and may have a glass of wine. I love a festive coffee. This year 2025 its the nutcracker latte, iced or hot. What is your festive drink this year? For a while it was the Blackforest Gateaux Hot Chocolate.
If you’ve not had a good year then it can be hard to enjoy Christmas but do something different and if you want to eat out as many restaurants or pubs can be open. The year before Henry was born we, my husband I went to Florida which was good fun and next year I plan to go to Scotland and today we are off to Kingston if the weather is okay and see the lights and see if we can get any decor or my sons bedroom.
The other thing is family break ups. Alternate visits. One year let your kids be with their dad and the next with you. It was hard when my parent divorced but my dad would go to my brothers and so it can work out and just say “Your not gonna choose” but will see them what day works for you and if they are persistent then say “No this is what is going to work with me” and if they make it hard for you then you have to be honest with them and be stern with the decision you have made.
It is not the time for arguments. It is the time to end family feuds and just enjoy it.
So going to pop out as I need something for my teeth they’ve been hurting me a lot and have a Christmas coffee and a pastry of some kind. Sometimes you just need that lift and it helps me think and feel lucky to have experience Christmases with those gone and that Christmas is now worth celebrating.
Hello it is the start of a new week and is the beginning of December and so got literally 25 days until Christmas. Yikes! It can be the best time to declutter and so this weeks Cheat Sheet is tips on Decluttering Your Life.
Everyone can build a castle 