Happy new year!

Hope you’ve been enjoying the holidays

Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash

Hello,

Hope you’re well and had a wonderful week.

I can’t believe it’s only a week since I last emailed you. A lot has happened in that time.

Our Christmas Day was a disaster. We had to cancel it and instead of enjoying turkey with all the trimmings, we tucked into oven chips and cheese sandwiches. It was awful to miss Christmas with my family. I cried and cried and cried a bit more, but now we’re out on the other side, I can look back and not so much laugh, as smile. I’ve even started writing a piece about it, which I will share with you soon.

Thankfully, Christmas Eve and Boxing Day and the in-between days have been lovely. I’ve been reading, writing and relaxing. And when I’ve not been doing those things, I’ve been eating cheese.

I’m usually more of a chocolate fiend, but this year has been all about the cheese board. Doing my online supermarket shop before Christmas, I popped what I thought was a small box of crackers into my virtual basket. But when it arrived, it was the size of a house. The small triangle of cheese we’d bought to go with it just wouldn’t be enough.

So, I bought more cheese, all different types of cheese, and embraced the cheese board.

Photo by Andra C Taylor Jr on Unsplash

Slowly but surely, my husband and I have been munching our way through it. We’ve probably had more cheese this week than we’ve ever had in our lives, and I don’t even want to think about the amount of fat we’ve consumed, but it’s been fun—what I would call a simple pleasure.

And when life doesn’t quite go to plan, it’s often the simple things that get us through.

Tonight, we are celebrating New Year’s Eve with another simple pleasure: a curry out.  

Organisation is never our strong point and as usual, we left it until the last minute to book somewhere. I spent most of yesterday afternoon trying to get a table. Our first choice was fully booked, so was our second choice, and third.

‘All of Barnsley are heading out for a curry,’ I said. ‘Why are people so organised? Why can’t they be like us and leave it to the last minute?’

As always, things came together in the end. We booked a table at our fourth choice, which is only our fourth choice because it’s slightly further away than the others. The food is still delicious.

I’m looking forward to eating my curry and chatting with my husband about 2023, reflecting on the highs and discussing our plans for 2024.

After our Christmas Day disaster, our first goal for the new year is to enjoy a traditional Christmas dinner. We do that tomorrow (on New Year’s Day) with my parents and father-in-law. We’ve bought the food, and we’ve already wrapped the presents, so it’s shaping up to be a good one!

What are your new year plans? I’d love to hear.

Whether you are heading out, or staying in, I hope you have a lovely evening and a great start to the new year.

Wishing you the very best in 2024!

Liz xx

P.S. My normal Substack services will resume next week. I can’t wait to share my new pieces with you.