Blogmas Day Twelve - Minimal Christmas Deliveries This Year

Usually at Christmas time I am enticed into ordering things online.  Feeling festive always used to loosen my purse strings somewhat, especially after a year of the Challenges that I used to do.  

This year, however, the Christmas deliveries have been minimal, in fact there have been just two up to now ... although I am expecting Ella Woodward's latest book to arrive in a few days.  I pre-ordered it a long time ago and I can't even remember what it's called!!  😄

The first thing to arrive last week was my regular three monthly smol order.  I've been using their washing pods for years now and really love the simplicity of the deliveries.   They come through the letterbox, so there's no need to wait in for the postman, I get an email a week before the order is sent to me in case I want to delay it for a while, something I have rarely had to do actually as I seem to find that two boxes of 24 pods does me easily for three months.  This month I do have quite a few left, but not enough for me to want to delay the order.

They still have an offer on for a trial pack for just £6 if anyone wants to try them out for themselves. In the pack you get:

• 1 non-bio trial pack 1 dishwash trial pack 1 multi purpose spray trial pack (bottle, trigger, band and 1 tablet) 1 washing up liquid starter pack (bottle, pump, band and 1 500ml carton) 1 fabric conditioner starter pack (bottle, pump, band and 1 500ml carton) 1 stain gel starter pack (bottle, pump, band and 1 500ml carton)

Not a bad start for just £6.  It's really easy to cancel the subscription too if you decide that it's not for you.  I did cancel everything but the laundry pods after I had the initial pack, but I have stayed with them ever since.

You can use this smol link to get the offer.  

The only edible delivery that I have had up to now has been two boxes of absolutely delicious crisps ... well I had to try them didn't I, even though they were supposed to be for Christmas so I know they are delicious. 

I used to always buy Ten Acre crisps, and then they disappeared off all the supermarket shelves, I was really sad as there aren't many really tasty dairy-free cheese and onion flavoured crisps, and those had always been my favourite.  Anyway a bit of research led me to the original makers of Ten Acre, now selling their own crisps direct from the farm under a new name.  I immediately thought what a great way to support an independent farm family and have the crisps that I love.

So I ordered a mixed box, as you can build your own 24 mixed flavours box with all your favourite flavours.  They are 40g bags at just £1 each, and you can also buy their larger sharing bags in a box of ten of the same flavour, or a mixed box of eight of your choice, for £1.90 for 150g bags.  I got the mixed box of small packs choosing lots of cheese and onion crisps, and a box of the limited edition Honey Roasted Chestnut and Sage flavour sharing bags.

I am currently trying with all my might to resist eating all the Chestnut and Sage ones before Christmas  as they are delicious. 😄

They come with free delivery to any UK address direct from the Fairfields Farm.

I'm definitely trying to support the smaller and family run businesses whenever I can as we head into a new year.  It's easy to do when their products are also superior to those that I can find in the shops.

Sue xx

Blogmas Day Eleven - Changing Traditions, Making Memories

 

This meme is so very true, we don't have to do any of the above.

Every year without fail for I don't know how long, I have bought one new decoration or ornament for the tree, a symbol in it's way of another year gone by, another year survived in this mad at times world.  This year we have been to lots of places with many, many decorations to choose between and I have held back.  Picking up things that I have liked and even momentarily thinking of purchasing them.  But I have always put them down and come away empty handed ... and happy.

I had no need to purchase one, and my brain told me that this was better.  The other day we were clearing the garden for Winter, I had left lots of the dead heads and dried twigs in the garden for the insects and small creatures to use as cover while they needed them.  But now after all the non-stop rain and hard frosts, it was starting to look very neglected and soggy, not the sort of cover any self-respecting creatures would choose for a hidey-hole for the Winter.  

I have left some things though, so any little critters that might have gone for an away-day will be able to find alternative accommodation on their return.  😄 

Amongst my prunings were some of the tall, twiggy things that I have growing in the tin bath at the front door, it had really shot up this year.  They started as the twiggy offerings in a large bouquet of flowers that Alan had bought me for our anniversary a couple of years ago, and someone told me that they rooted easily.  So always being one to experiment I pushed them into the soil at the back of the tin bath, and lo and behold whoever it was that told me that was completely right, within months I had growth, greenery and then more bobbly things.

So it came to me in an inspired flash, the twigs were so willow-like I decided to make three tiny wreaths for the Christmas tree.  Two I slightly decorated, but the tiniest which is barely an inch across, was left as it was.

Now they are on my tree and this years decorations have been sourced ... at absolutely no cost in money to either of us, but absolutely filled with memories of Christmas' gone by.

Sue xx

Blogmas Day Ten - My YouTube Year

I've been a pretty regular Blogger for over seventeen years now, but unlike some bloggers I have never felt the urge to move myself over to YouTube.  It's a completely different medium and while I am happy with the written word, I am less so with filming my day to day.  So blogging suits me so much better.

I have used YouTube for my own devices when I have wanted to show something in a film format for my blog, but that is the extent of my involvement.

I am, however, a regular viewer, indeed some evenings I prefer to watch some of my favourite YouTubers on my television while I relax.  Television is not always that great these days, although of course we should have some good Christmassy content coming up, and sometimes it's nice to dip into lots of little fifteen or thirty minutes bits of entertainment if you have something else on the go, rather than commit to a full length film.

While I am not all that mathematical I do enjoy a good statistic every now and then, so it was interesting when I went on my YouTube page on the computer and found that this year there is a 2025 recap of what my most watched channels were.  The are not what I expected, but that's maybe because I tend to watch a lot of one thing and then move over onto a different channel and binge watch their content.

It will be interesting to compare this years viewing figures with those at the end of next year, so I have decided to share some of the information screens on this Blogmas post so that I have a record of them.

And that is the beauty of blogging ... I have all my history at my fingertips.  💖

Sue xx

Blogmas Day Nine - Fish, Wine ... and Stocking Fillers

 

 

My shopping from Saturday, we went to Booths as Alan fancied a cooked breakfast for a change, it's usually just a bacon bun.  I just had a toasted teacake, well half of one actually I just wasn't in the mood. I think I have reached saturation point for eating out, although I did enjoy my coffee.

My total was a £39.05, which seems quite steep for me, but then there are two bottles of wine for Christmas, two boxes of fish to consume during December, two packs of batteries as we have run out completely ... and four items for Alan's Christmas stocking.  We set ourselves a little fun challenge, buy one or more small items from the middle aisles.  We don't go mad for presents for each other, just one main one, a couple of things that we need and some surprises in our Christmas stockings.

The eagle eyed among you will notice that there are no bananas on the receipt, that's because Alan bought four and gave me two.  There are two packs of batteries one for him and one for me which I paid for.

To balance costs out Alan paid for the biscuits and a book off the charity book table in Booths café ... yes we have an upstairs and a downstairs version of the charity book table now.  They are currently raising money for our local Foodbank to restock them after the Christmas holidays, so I had to support them didn't I.  😁

The biscuits are to be used as a crumble topping for a couple of little 'Oddly Good dessert pots that I have, one for each of us in lemon and caramel flavours.  It's a much cheaper alternative to buying ready made cheesecakes.  Just one biscuit crumbled on each little pot.

It might be Christmas, but I can still watch the pennies.  🎄

Sue xx

Blogmas Day Eight - Know Yourself

Art by Lisa Aisato

Know yourself they say

and don’t be led astray

but how can I know who I am

when I’m different every day?

Some days I’m the smart one

with the answers people need

and some days I’m the strong one

standing up to take the lead.

On other days I’m sure

that if the wind blew me too hard

I would shatter like a glass

into a million tiny shards.

And on those days I cower

and I hide out from the world

waiting on my inner child

to blossom and unfurl.

And each day I’m surprised

by the newness that I see

the things I’m finding out

the complexity of me.

So how to know yourself

when you’re all things rolled in one?

you simply must decide

to love whatever you become.

Donna Ashworth

From ‘I Wish I Knew’

Sue xx