It’s been a while since I have posted and I feel bad about that. I thought I would try something a little different for this post: a look at my week just been.
It’s especially exciting given the time of year we find ourselves in – the run up to Christmas! Always full of festive meetings with family and friends this time of year is one of my favourites – probably not a favourite of my bank account though!
This week I wrapped all of my Christmas presents to be given out over the next couple of weeks in the lead up to the big day. As I’d imagine most people find when wrapping presents you always realise you forgot someone! Whilst sorted now it was a bit of an annoyance given how long ago I did the majority of the shopping. I thought I had it all done and dusted. Still it is better just to have to get one more gift than the whole lot!
I’m happy that at last I am more on top of the presents side of things. No last minute rushes, no hemorrhaging of my bank accounts, no worry about people having to go without. Perhaps what I am most proud of is actually saving up over the year for the expense of Christmas. Not all people are fortunate enough to be able to do this but I was lucky I could and it has taken a huge worry off of my shoulders. Last year this was not the case as I practically ran out of money trying to buy gifts for everyone. For anyone who is able to and also struggles around Christmas time I would thoroughly recommend saving a little each month in order to buy presents and to use for other Christmas related activities – such as the work Christmas party!
This week I also had the opportunity to see the comedy performance of one of my old friends. She actually co-runs her own comedy night at a local(ish) craft beer pub. This bi-monthly event seems to be quite popular and features a couple of the organisers doing stand-up before a more well-known comedian takes the stage. The majority of the ticket revenue they receive goes to paying for this act to perform.
Truly I am impressed by all of the organisers for putting this ongoing event together and doing what they love as their (admittedly part-time) job! The shows themselves are always enjoyable and hilarious and this week was no exception. I went with a small group to support our friend who was also celebrating their birthday on the day. I hope they had a fantastic day!
Yesterday we had the family Christmas party. I do not often see family members outside of my immediate family so it was nice to get to see everyone and catch up. It was a smaller event than usual as some people could not make it but it was still very enjoyable! I must admit that after a long and wet day at work I was very tired and ended up retreating to my bed at half 10, before people had even left! Kudos to my mother for hosting the event for another year.
Tonight is the Christmas meal with friends. We are going to a relatively new Fish & Chip Restaurant located at the end of the pier which I have been to before with my family and really enjoyed. The location itself, and indeed the date of the meal as well, we voted on with our Facebook group to try and maximise the amount of people that could come and were happy with the venue. We have ended up with what should be a decent turnout.
Whilst these are people that I regularly see it will still be good to catch up over the busier than usual Christmas period. I know I am booked for almost every day from now until the day itself so finding time to spend with the regulars is difficult but important. Hopefully I will manage to write some cards before I leave tonight so that I can hand them out there. Otherwise I might have to run around a bit to catch them before the 25th!
Thanks for reading,
Michael