Blogmas: 7th Dec: Decorating

I live mainly in the back room of our house, the conservatory, which we've made into a nice homely space. It's nice to be surrounded by windows rather than walls. It looks out onto our garden, which is pretty big so it doesn't feel like I'm trapped inside all the time. There's always lots of daylight and I can always see the outside world. We decided that now I'm out of hospital we're going to decorate it earlier than the rest of the house. As we get a real tree we can't put it up too early or it'll start dying before Christmas but I need some Christmas cheer so it's time to liven up the place! My Christmassy feeling has been a little dampened by my recent stay in hospital. It definitely needs rekindling with some Christmas cheer.

So I put on my first Christmas film The Santa Clause, and mum brought in all our new Christmas decorations. I attempted to help at one point but standing up didn't feel very nice so I sat on the sofa and told mum where to put it all. She'd bought me a little Christmas tree, fairy lights and decorations and I stole some of our good old decorations we usually put on the big tree. It looks really festive now and as it gets dark so early these days, it's nice to have some twinkling lights. Fairy lights are pretty posh now. We've used the same old ones for years, the ones where if a bulb goes the whole lot goes and you have to try a new bulb in all 150 plugs to figure out which one it was that blew! I secretly love doing stuff like that. I was that child who spent all day threading tiny beads onto strings just for the fun of it. There's something quite therapeutic about it. 

Now I've just got to write my Christmas cards and order all the presents and I'll be ready for Christmas! We've started getting Christmas cards through the door and I'm very excited. I only have about 6 people to send cards to so I'll have to find a way of longing out that particular activity!

Before all the hospital drama I wrote a little something for friend who's going through the same as me and blogging about it too. She posted some pre and post transplant experiences, including my experience, a couple of days ago, which are really interesting. It's certainly a good point that this festive time of giving is a great opportunity to join the organ donor list. Have a read at http://stacie-lifeisworththefight.blogspot.co.uk/

Blogmas: 5th Dec: Christmas Reads

The Christmas period is a great time to kick back with a good, easy reading book. It's December and everything must be Christmassy so here are my favourite Christmas reads.

The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore
I've mentioned it before and it's a Classic. Every child must have this read to them on Christmas eve. Preferably a lovely old fashioned copy that is full of incredibly detailed pictures. The one I had as a child was illustrated by Douglas Gorsline but Christian Birmingham and Robert Ingpen both do some lovely, detailed modern alternatives. You might think children like cartoon pictures but all the books I loved as a child were beautifully illustrated.

Grimm Tales For Young And Old by Philip Pullman
This is a lovely collection of the classic Grimm tales, which as the title suggests is perfect for any age. The tales include some of the classics we all know and love along with many you will never have heard of. Pullman is one of my favourite children's writers. He has a wonderful gift for storytelling and it is shown perfectly through these short tales. It isn't strictly Christmassy but there are festive stories in there and I always feel like fairy tales have a sort of Christmas magic about them.

(Signed copy!)

The Christmas Tale of Peter Rabbit by Emma Thompson
I can't tell you how much I adore Beatrix Potter, her stories and her beautiful drawings. This new story by Emma Thompson retains the magic of the original tales in this special Christmas story full of beautiful pictures that are quite remarkably similar to Beatrix's own creations.

(Can you tell yet that my favourite module at University was Writing For Young People?)

(The Snowman (1982). Copyright Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)

The Snowman
Again, a classic. You can't have Christmas without the film but the book is beautiful too. I've called this "Christmas Reads" but I think I'm more impressed by artwork than anything else!

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
This is probably the closest we're going to get to adult literature. This story has everything and explores both the light and shade of Christmas. Dickens is famed for brilliant characterisation and storytelling. We loved him back then and we still love him now. If you've never read a Dickens book, read this one this Christmas.

A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas
If you love words, you're going to love this one. It's beyond poetic. "All the Christmases roll down toward the two-tongued sea, like a cold and headlong moon bundling down the sky that was our street; and they stop at the rim of the ice-edged, fish-freezing waves, and I plunge my hand in the snow and bring out whatever I can find." That sentence just makes me melt. It's a beautiful read but the audiobook is lovely too so if you're pushed for time this Christmas and you love a Welsh accent this is one you can listen to. It is actually an illustrated children's book but there's no reason why anyone won't love it, and if you're Welsh, well it'd be rude not to!

Blogmas: 3rd Dec: Christmas Traditions

We all have those little festive things that we do every year without fail. We all want to hold onto the traditions of your childhood because we all know Christmas was so much better then!

The time when Christmas really begins is when Mum and I choose a Christmas tree and put it up together. We've always done it together and only when I was really small do I remember my brother and Dad helping. We're both really particular about everything. You have to have a real tree. You just can't do Christmas without the smell of pine. The baubles go on first and then all the little trinkets go on next. We have a lot of trinkets that don't all really match but they all have a little story behind them. I like my tree to have some character. We have a lot of other decorations too, candles and little nativity sets and angels. Mum always makes a wreath from some of the lower branches of the Christmas tree and we hang live mistletoe over the door. If there are spare fairy lights I'll usually put them in my room so it's all nice and festive in there too.

Since my Gran has lived out in the countryside, going Carol singing around her village has become a bit of a tradition. But obviously this year if I'm feeling unwell it might be difficult to do. I might just have to join in at the end for mulled wine and mince pies!

On the subject of mince pies, mum and I always have a tradition of making mince pies. When I was young I didn't like them so I used to make holly and star shapes from the left over pastry and put a tiny bit of mince meat on the top and then I'd get a nice festive treat without having to eat too much mince meat. I like mince pies now so we just make them but it's a fun tradition to do it together.

More recently going to the Christmas Market in Bath has become a great festive thing to do. They have lots of stalls selling homemade gifts. There's lots of food too, usually things that are a little bit different but still very festive. It's always really busy but it's a great place to get unusual presents and Bath is such a beautiful city, especially at Christmas. My boyfriend and I used to go while we were at university, my brother lives in Bath and my often often goes too so there should be a good chance of getting there this time.

As my mum's remarried we have a few new traditions to add in. Now, we always have at least three nativity scenes around the house and on Christmas Eve before we go to bed we add baby Jesus to the scene. The child in me just loves this and it's such an unusual tradition. The other thing I do every Christmas Eve as my own personal tradition is to read The Night Before Christmas. I know all the words now so it's mostly a case of reciting it and looking at the pictures but I've done it since I was old enough to have it read to me and it's definitely a firm tradition now.

When I was little my brother and I used to open our stockings in our parents' bed but now they both have new partners and we're older that would be a bit weird so we open them by the Christmas tree but always before all the presents under the tree. After presents my Gran, Grampy and Aunty come round for another round of presents and the most amazing lunch. In England our Christmas dinner is similar to American's thanksgiving meal. We eat turkey, cranberry sauce, sprouts, red cabbage, roast potatoes and parsnips, it's basically just the best roast dinner you can imagine. I know it's different in other countries. I met a Swedish girl at uni who said she had meatballs for Christmas dinner!

As I say, the last few years I've spent Boxing Day with my dad so that's a bit of a tradition now. The only year I'd planned to spend Christmas Day there I got glandular fever and ended up going on Boxing Day anyway. We usually have bubble and squeak (which is basically all the leftover potatoes and vegetables mashed up and pan fried. It's eaten with cold left over meat and pickles). It's the only time I have bubble and squeak so I always look forward to it. I open my second stocking (oh the joys of having split parents!) after lunch and then we all just chill out and chat. My other grandparents are usually there too, so I see all of my other half of my family.

And then that's Christmas gone! But we've still got nearly a month of merriment to enjoy first! I can't wait to get through my little traditions, then bring on Christmas Day! 

Happy Christmas!

Sorry I've been rather quiet over the Christmas period. I've been meditating, willing my body not to get ill this year and somehow I managed it! I've actually been so busy leading up to Christmas that a part of me is quite looking forward to the rest. As I think I mentioned I was going off to Swansea to see my boyfriends family as soon as my final assessment was done for university, which was the last of four due in within a week which was not pleasant at all! We pretty much just chilled out in Swansea, as we didn't want to be really busy and get myself ill for Christmas. Unfortunately James ended up with a cold for Christmas - who saw that coming?! 

Then as soon as I was back home I had a pacemaker check, which was much better than expected as the technician said that he'd be surprised if my pacemaker didn't last ten years which is awesome as I haven't had any of my pacemakers longer than 6 years and as this one is 6 years old now I was expecting for it to be needing to be changed pretty soon. So that's one worry off my mind because I heard they like to do it under local anaesthetic in adult hospitals and while I'd definitely prefer that to the terrible sickness I get with general anaesthetic, I'm pretty keen to delay my first experience of being awake during surgery, or surgery of any kind come to that! 

After that I was busy catching up with everyone I hadn't seen while I was working on my assessments at uni, including spending some quality time with my mum and enjoying the luxuries of home the biggest of which being the bath! Although obviously my mums cooking is probably the best thing about being home. 

I had a lovely Christmas and I was healthy!! Which is brilliant! I had a lovely Christmas Day with my mum and her side of the family and then I went to my dads on Boxing Day to see his side of the family. It was a good two days and I really enjoyed myself. I love Christmas so much and it's always nice to get together with the family. Even better when they come bearing gifts! I got so many lovely presents and I'm really grateful to all of family and my boyfriend for buying me such lovely things! I got a lovely bag from my mum that's covered in ring pulls from cans, it looks really cool and the proceeds go to good causes. I got the headphones I asked for, a Kurt Geiger bracelet I asked for, a lovely necklace that was a complete surprise and an awesome feather quill from my boyfriend, a little make up bag from my mum that has the exact same pattern on that our family sofa had when I was little, lots of nice warm things like gloves, socks, slippers and woolly tights, the usual ton weight of chocolate and fudge and lots of lovely smelly stuff for the bath and shower and some lush goodies! (On that note: How good does Lush's snow fairy smell? Blimey I've heard people go on about it but boy does it smell good, it's like cotton candy heaven!) And I've got a topshop gift card to enjoy spending in the new year as well which is nice as I don't have much disposable income for new clothes these days.

I had problems with my chest as usual over Christmas but nothing too bad, mostly just because of the lack of sleep from all the excitement! Definitely looking forward to a nice rest. I don't have any plans over the next week other than to relax so I'm going to enjoy that, spend some time with my mum and chill out catching up with all the Christmas television I missed while I was busy being sociable.

I hope everyone had a brilliant Christmas and was healthy too! 

Updates

Well let's just say the morphine patches didn't work out for me. I honestly don't think I've felt that ill in a very long time. I was completely drugged up, but not in a good way, I barely had the patch on 18 hours and I was so dizzy and weak I struggled to stand up. I ended up in A&E because I hadn't eaten or drunk anything for 48hours and anything I had managed to drink I'd thrown up. It really wasn't very nice. It's put me off trying any other kind of slow release morphine. Or anything that takes two days to wear off. I think I'd just rather deal with the pain forever than go through that again.
So I'm just going to deal with the pain for a while and I've got a follow up appointment with palliative care the week before Christmas so I'll discuss any other kinds of pain management then but not surprisingly I'm feeling really put off at the moment.

This past week I've been really busy doing all my work for uni. I had two 2,500 word essays and one 2,500 word portfolio to do for this week. I had a Writing for Young People essay in today, which was a close reading of a couple of children's books and I think I'm going to do pretty well in that. I managed to link in a bit of child psychology so hopefully I'll get some brownie points for good research. The other two things are due in on Wednesday, I've just got a conclusion to do and when I get one of my portfolio pieces back I'll have to do all the corrections before I give it in.

Then on Thursday I'm off to Swansea to see my boyfriend's family, finish up some Christmas shopping and have a nice Christmas present wrapping session as we obviously need to give each other our presents before I go back to my hometown to spend some time with my family. I just can't wait for all my work to be done and submitted so I can relax and enjoy Christmas! I can't really do many Christmassy things at the moment because of all the work I've had to do. So I'm looking forward to the end of this week!
Christmas is my favourite time of year and as I was ill for the last two Christmases, I'm ready for a really good healthy Christmas this year!