Currently on the sofa nursing a roast dinner food baby (alongside an actual human baby) with a Christmas tree twinkling in the background and a Yankee Christmas cookie candle burning next to me. Truly content with this set-up. It's been a busy few months prepping for baby, prepping to finish work, trying to squeeze as much out of my favourite time of year and trying not to freak out about becoming first-time parents in the very near future. Everything is a combination of excitement and WHOA on an almost-daily basis right now, and yet I also feel weirdly calm? All the emotions.
But anyway, here’s some of the magic stuff from the last couple of months:
Autumnal scenes. Oh how those golden views and crunchy leaves under foot make my heart happy.
Chocolate scones. Recently discovered that one of our local cafes does rich, warm, chocolatey scones with clotted cream and they are so good.
Long overdue catch-up with my friend Susie. We met in such a cute pub, face-planted a baked camembert and debriefed the last two years. It was a joy.
A final trip up north before bubba arrives. I managed to time it just as the weather was getting colder and the cats were curling up in front of the fire; is there anything cosier?
The Netflix fire. Sadly, our house is not set-up for a real fire, or even a fake fire, so the next best thing is the Netflix fire on the telly and yes, okay, there is no heat but the crackling sounds and the flickering flames are still really very cosy.
Taylor’s Red album. Those tracks from the vault though! Never have I been more indignant about a gal being stood up on her birthday (if you know, you know…).
A visit from my gal Beth and her baby boy who is less of a baby these days and more of a sassy toddler who has absolutely no fear of enormous slides. On a side note, toddlers are excellent when heavily pregnant because you can walk at their pace and no one need know this is the pace you now actually walk at.
Sparkly winter wedding in the Cotswolds. Bonfire night weekend, the gorgeous Cotswolds, catching up with old friends, incredible food, SPARKLERS and witnessing some of the best people getting married. What joy.
My sister came to stay and wandering around autumnal fields & eating Indian food with her and the fam the same weekend I finished work felt like a mini celebration.
Date night. To celebrate me finishing for maternity leave, Gary and I went for a little date night at a local Italian where there was great mocktails and a cookie-dough themed pudding. The staff were also super lovely and chatty about our bubba, including one woman who said she could guess the sex based on the shape of my bump. I don’t really buy into that kinda thing but in fairness, she was correct!
Christmas market. This came to Ely at the end of November and I really was in my element with the sparkly lights, Christmas music, bratwurst and sugar-covered churros. So festive.
I’m a celebrity. Starting the day with trash telly on the sofa has felt like the ultimate indulgence whilst on maternity leave and I’m really here for it.
Putting the Christmas tree up. I used our imminent arrival as a way to persuade Gary to put our tree up early this year and I cannot tell you how happy a twinkling tree in the living room makes me. I’m convinced the room is made at Christmas time.
Tony’s chocolonely advent calendar. I think I might have bought this back in October because the moment I saw that my favourite chocolate company had made a huge advent calendar, I knew I had to get my hands on it. Finally have been able to crack it open and am thrilled to discover it includes some of the flavours not available in the UK.
A festive lunch with my friend Lizzie when she came to visit for the day. We had turkey sandwiches, mulled wine (sadly not for me) and Christmas pudding in a cosy café decorated for Christmas and it was bloody lovely.
Nigel Slater’s The Christmas Chronicles. I am a sucker for some seasonal reading at this time of year and just 40 pages into this book, I am in love. I identify hard with Nigel’s love and appreciation for midwinter and Christmas, particularly a sentence about how he feels like he can breathe again when the cooler air comes along. I would recommend if you also love the winter, but also if you don’t because this book will encourage you to find the little joys in it.
I hope you are enjoying the season dear reader. I may not be posting for a little while as we wait for and enjoy our new arrival so I hope you have a lovely Christmas (certainly a better one than last year!) and I will see you soon!
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