Who ready for Christmas

I read this and it made sense.

Hope things ease a bit for you.

There is no rainbow without the rain, Stuart.

don’t bury the thoughts, hold them tight, yank and rip them from their roots, throw them on the floor, spit on them, stamp on them, and then burn them, never to plague your mind again.

you are capable. Don’t wait for the storm to pass, learn to love dancing in the rain. You are tough, strong, smart. And really good at writing poetry too.

it made me smile when I saw the end of your message, about perhaps you will win the lottery. If you do, keep it all yourself, don’t waste it on people who were only there for you when you did things to please them. They have left you. All of the energy that you wasted, the tears, the blood, the pain, the bruises, the falls, the losses, the time that you’ll never get back. All of that means nothing to them. They don’t care about you and they are not thinking about you. But, when you are winning again, they’ll be back to come and steal from you, like the pathetic, rat, poisonous, gross ingrates that they are.

also, did you see my reply to your flower poem?

I thought I was ready but today I go t a assive food shopping list from my DiL of all the stuff they need to cook over xmas, it looks like I'll be well fed!

One more shopping delivery and that's about it. I have found it difficult to get the energy this year. A few decorations up and last year's tree is in the garden with solar powered lights. It will only be me and my little family, so quite low key anyway.

I am working up until Christmas Eve and again after Christmas. The plus points are that last year I was off work with burnout, but this year trying to gauge what I can cope with. I can decide how much to do and currently the weather forecast is for some sunshine over the period, so looking forward to some walks.

My wife is working on Christmas Day, hopefully she will finish by 2pm, we will then drive 250 miles to Cornwall, our future home is now habitable. A late dinner will be gammon, crispy potatoes, pickles and salad.  A roaring log burner and just the two of us. Unfortunately it will only be a 3 day trip, it will give us a chance to see how much the electrician hasn’t done.

My 30th Christmas alone. Normally it is ok, I don't mind having a rest from work,. But last Christmas the current burnout started, and is now ending, which has lasted all year and led to my diagnosis. 

Normally I cook a roast. Has been turkey, goose, pork, beef, at various times.  But I don't think I can do it this year. I don't have any food at all at the moment, I need to go shopping next week.

I have a holly wreath on the door, lights in the window, a tree etc. like normal.

I just want it to be over, to be honest. I've never felt like this before. The diagnosis process opened too many memories I am struggling to bury again. Really it's the realisation things didn't need to be this way. Everything was arranged around coping, but I didn't know I was doing it. It felt strange but I didn't think about it.

I thought of going away but I thought it would make me feel worse, and cost a lot. These feelings come and go, they'll pass. Maybe I'll win the lottery. 

You just need something to look forward to. Next year things will be better.

Just about. I think this year also marks the 30th christmas panto for the family. The only year we missed was due to COVID. Even when two sides of the family fell out, the regulars still made it to panto.

I like this reply, Iain.

instead of looking at your loneliness as a negative, you’ve turned it into enjoying the time that you’ll spend with yourself, and also the energy that you’ll save from not being amongst a horde of screaming children, disappointed grandmothers, and drunk uncles.

I am alone this Christmas. Times are tough.

I don’t want anything, but I think that someone to be here with me, whilst it’s cold, and whilst I can see others getting excited, it would be nice to share even an hour with someone to feel the same excitement that I see going on around me.

I have a little Christmas tree, it’s very nice and nice coloured lights lovely things.

i don’t like christmas.

I've made some parsnip and carrot soup today. I added an apple to it but I'm not sure about it, it was a little bit sweet.

I went for Christmas lunch today in a local restaurant. Don’t really like having my shoulders massaged from behind by a waiter. Leaving the smoke on Monday for the seaside, loaded with presents. Bought some nice holographic snowflake paper from John Lewis which doesn’t seem to stick to sellotape. Have ribbon skills if all else fails. Nearly forgot batteries.

Some very graphic descriptions here.

I got some of my veg in aldi, for 8p, some 'n lidl for 5p and some in tesco for 15p, lots of soup needs to be made, I've just done a big pot of carrot soup, then I've got parsnip soup to make. 

I got the rest of the decorations up too, as well as all my usual saturday jobs.

Managed to go to Aldi and got my veg for just £1.50 I’m thrilled with that and tomorrow I’m going to get everything else with my friend who is with me on Christmas Day 

I've got my presents, most are wrapped, the tree is up and dressed, half of the cooking is done, I've still got some pasties and soups to make before the big day, the rest of the decorations will go up later.

I'm almost ready for Christmas! I've got everyone's presents sorted (including the dogs' gifts, they absolutely deserve the best, like you say it's Christmas for dogs as well) just got to get the wrapping done at some point. Looking forwards to the big day, I love Christmas, we've had the decorations up since the last weekend of November.

I'm lucky this year as it is just me - I have the food shopping sorted apart from fruit and veg that I will get on the 23rd.

Lots of tasty food laid on to destroy my diet for 2 days, a bottle of wine and a bottle of Amarula (a slightly exotic version of Bailys) should do me on my Lord of The Rings movie marathon.

No people, no presents, no obligations - bliss!

I've now got everything I think -very last minute this year, last things arrived today (though need to pick up some bath bombs for the kids). Need to get wrapping now! We are planning our food too! I always try to make some cranberry sauce ahead of time, got some jars saved.