Productive
The next couple of weekends are busy for us. Next weekend we're off down south to see Liz's family (and possibly some other friends, if we have any spare time). The weekend after that we have other friends coming to stay with us and we may be out shopping with them in Birmingham. The weekend after that (the last before Christmas), we may be having our good friends David and Michelle (and their daughters, Mabel and Daisy) coming to stay.
Often, as it gets closer to Christmas, I'll use some holiday at work to take a day off in early December during the week to do some Christmas shopping. That isn't really an option this year - the double-whammy of holidays and many weddings this year has left me with few days left to take off, so I'll be using them for Christmas week.
We decided it would be wise, therefore, to try and get a lot of Christmas shopping done this morning, as early as possible before the crowds converged on Solihull. We made it into town quite early and after some coffee and breakfast, we got stuck in quickly. After a good walk around town we came away with quite a haul - Christmas shopping is done for my Mum and both of Liz's parents, as well as our niece and sister-in-law as well as a few others. We were home by 1 pm; earlier than we would be on a standard Saturday, in fact.
Since then we've done some Christmas shopping online and relaxed a little. I think we deserve it; it's been a productive morning.
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In other news, we had our first snow of the season overnight/this morning. It's been a bit of a cold snap in the UK in the last week or so, and Scotland, Wales, and Northern England have already been "blessed" with lots of snow in the last few days. Our level was more or less perfect, nothing to foul up the roads but just enough to render everything picturesque. Not quite "Painter of Light" but that's probably best for everyone, isn't it?
So even though it's not yet December I started listening to some Christmas music this morning (Phil Spector's "A Christmas Gift To You", distorted in the car due to the cold). I'd already broken our self-imposed policy on Mince Pies (not to tuck into any before the 1st December). What the hell. Tis the season.
Often, as it gets closer to Christmas, I'll use some holiday at work to take a day off in early December during the week to do some Christmas shopping. That isn't really an option this year - the double-whammy of holidays and many weddings this year has left me with few days left to take off, so I'll be using them for Christmas week.
We decided it would be wise, therefore, to try and get a lot of Christmas shopping done this morning, as early as possible before the crowds converged on Solihull. We made it into town quite early and after some coffee and breakfast, we got stuck in quickly. After a good walk around town we came away with quite a haul - Christmas shopping is done for my Mum and both of Liz's parents, as well as our niece and sister-in-law as well as a few others. We were home by 1 pm; earlier than we would be on a standard Saturday, in fact.
Since then we've done some Christmas shopping online and relaxed a little. I think we deserve it; it's been a productive morning.
-
In other news, we had our first snow of the season overnight/this morning. It's been a bit of a cold snap in the UK in the last week or so, and Scotland, Wales, and Northern England have already been "blessed" with lots of snow in the last few days. Our level was more or less perfect, nothing to foul up the roads but just enough to render everything picturesque. Not quite "Painter of Light" but that's probably best for everyone, isn't it?
So even though it's not yet December I started listening to some Christmas music this morning (Phil Spector's "A Christmas Gift To You", distorted in the car due to the cold). I'd already broken our self-imposed policy on Mince Pies (not to tuck into any before the 1st December). What the hell. Tis the season.