Hello! So come on, be honest. How stressed do you feel?
I am a little, because I have to wrap and sort out a few more gifts and when it comes to wrapping I am not a lover of.
Do I need to say sorry? I find it causes me to pretend that I am busy doing something else. However I am not cooking the Christmas dinner thank the lord. My husband takes care of that whilst I take charge when it comes to breakfast and putting my son Gifts together, along with my nieces and tomorrow we plan to get up at 5am to go to ASDAS at 6am to get some last bits.
AT LEAST I GET A LIE IN ON CHRISTMAS DAY!
So not all bad. This Cheat sheet is giving tips on What to do to Delegate BEFORE Christmas Day so everyone involved is in fact involved. So here it is:
It has a been a different kind of winter this year. Not that cold but wet and rainy, with a bit of frost in the morning. Yet riding on the bus in the mornings to take my son, Henry, to do his schooling, I have found myself boiling hot.
Picture I took from when I visited Windsor this year and so been setting my Winter, to enjoy the places we went to and so using this time of year, winter, to go through 2025 heading into 2026.
I like to have a nice iced coffee still, yet you’d think that that would be too cold and hot coffee all the way but no. So enjoy your take away iced coffee, is one tip. As I write this blog, gonna have an iced coffee indoors and I am looking forward to getting a perfect glass for a home coffee for 2026. So to gift to myself is going to be shopping for a better set of glasses and no more novelty mugs.
With the changes I want to make I want to clear out the kitchen before the start of the New Year. I decided to let my baking tools and equipment go; I know I may go back into it but I like cooking dinners rather than baking.
So second tip, find some home projects to do. I am trying to do more of my sons bedroom and mine and it really is making me use my Winter, to my advantage to concentrate on what I can let go of and making improvements to my homes. I live in two places and soon we, my parents, will be moving from Wimbledon and I feel positive about it.
I spent time yesterday creating vision boards for 2026. Organsing my birthday and Christmas gifts for family for this years Christmas and been organising my Notion. I went through my plans in terms of my finances for 2026, just got to put my planner together. I like to plan ahead when it comes to my finances I am going to do “No spend January” and try to do a “Low spend year” as I am going to call it, because I feel doing a No Spend for me, too unrealistic.
I am finding now that there are less things I want to change, but have more experiences. I liked the walks we did this year and the places we visited, my son, husband and I, with my mum and step dad and would want to visit more places. So rather than focusing on the low energy I usually get, I think well I am going to slow down. I am going to have a good set of books to read and just thinking about what I can do, not what I can’t. Normally I put my indoor workouts on hold but I have found that I like breaking up my exercise and do some through the day, rather than a set workout and I have a watch that I bought to wear at home and out to see how many steps I do when at home and outside as do like to potter around the home and tidy. I like to walk through the local parks and checking out the shops and can shop with out buying and going to continue and not act on impulse unless it is doing a bit of a workout and cleaning and tidying is still physical activity. Check my blog site on google: https://getfitgetactivewithme.blogspot.com/
I loved the walks we did even though I was reluctant at the time but it was good and loved Windsor, We walked from Kingston to Teddington and would love to continue to walk and visit different places within the UK, so using the Winter to think of all what we did this year and I love to plan my year and have things to look forward to. I have tickets to see Bon Jovi, plan to visit Scotland and the Isle Of Wight. Third is to get away. If you can get out and my son and I do bus rides and just good to be in a different environment and where my creative side of my brain gets active and I live rivers, lakes and the sea.
I hope you have been enjoying these blogs and there will be more to come. Please check out these links:
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.
Hi and welcome to my blog site. No Cheat Sheet this week but posting my monthly newsletter. I post one each month and this months is about Christmas and showing items that would be good gifts and my plans for Christmas.
It is free to download and print. If you got anything you’d like to share in my Newsletter then please give me your feedback via the Comment box below.
I am still doing my Winter Wellness. If you have missed any of my Winter Wellness blogs then checkout my Pinterest where you’ll find other blogs written and on my X account too:
This idea came from watching a Youtube Video by Kate Kaden and each month I give to the local foodbanks in London and work for a Charity. I present a show for my local hospital and it gives me such a buzz. The Winter can be tough and so if you can cook a hot meal for someone that you know is on their own, can do a world of good. Or even buying them a coffee and give them your time to chat.
In the winter I find it hard to see those doing all they can to earn money from selling the Big Issue and people walking passed, knowing that they can really make a difference. We do have families who are struggling to put food on the table. Why in this day in age have people needing to go to a foodbank?
I’ve watched Call the Midwife and feel from the times that the programme is based on learnt nothing.
The high street is suffering, the prices on utilities are going up and I have been to a supermarket and had to cancel items having absolutely nothing and it is the worst feeling in the world.
This is not to make you feel guilty in anyway. It doesn’t have to be materialistic but just your time. One of my sons schools friends parent who’s child was in his class would use her to listen to children read and I love volunteering. So rewarding. At many of the staff at the local garden centres are volunteers.
When I do my shopping and I am asked if I’d like to give a donation and I say yes. It can be lending books to your neighbours if they are alone or if they’d like to go for a walk. Have a joint Christmas with neighbours. I remember when I was kid and we moved from one block of flats to another the lady opposite us looked after me and we often go to other’s homes when living on a housing estate.
There’d be Christmas parties on the Estate and I loved them or Christmas Bingo nights.
Such a massive community and wonder if that still happens now on Housing Estates. I see many in the library where my son gets tutored until he gets a place in a school, are people who visit it and are alone.
There are often events in libraries and run my volunteers. If you are struggling joining the library can be a good way to save money on books or visit charity shops. I buy most of my books from Charity shops and our library does free coffee and drinks, like juice and so can be a good way to meet people.
So if you can make a difference and have some time spare, it can be good for you and the reciprocate. M
Everyone can build a castle 