Grey Skies and Happy Sighs...: December 2024, Christmas In Shrewsbury.

Happy Monday my lovelies, and happy new week to you all. The first Monday in January is especially Monday-ish, isn't it? For that matter, I feel like the whole month of January is one big Monday, haha! I hope that you are coping better than me with the post-holiday blues though? I do love fresh starts, and the excuse to start new journals and planners and notebooks, and every year I try to convince myself that THIS year I will finally get my life together, ... but the post holiday crash inevitably always hits me hard as well. Right now I'm also dealing with my continuing health concerns, as well as a medication imbalance, which isn't helping my mood. Ah well, here's to trying my best anyway!

On a lighter note, here are some photos from Shrewsbury last month. Gareth and I were abroad from the 20th - 26th December, so these were taken before and after Christmas, but we still managed to fit in a lot of festive fun with family and friends. I'll be sharing lots of photos from Sweden and Norway soon, but each day of that trip deserves its own separate post, so I thought I'd do Shrewsbury first, then focus on sharing our Nordic adventures with you.

As always when I'm back in Shropshire, there were many convivial evenings spent with family, friends, and good food. And as always, I was too busy having fun to remember to take photos during those, so you shall have to make do with a few extra selfies, haha! My Mum's birthday is in December, so I took her out for a lovely meal at a French restaurant in town to celebrate. Another night we were out for a curry and drinks with some of my best friends, complete with sparkly outfits and gift exchanges. One evening, I spent a rainy hour in the Square along with more best friends and hundreds of other people gathered to sing Christmas Carols, which was a lot of fun despite the weather. After, we went back to theirs for a delicious meal, and I got to read the bedtime story to their girls that night.

There was last minute gift shopping in town, as well as last minute pub visits to warm up, and then all the gift and card drops before we set off on our travels. On Thursday 19th Gareth drove us down to London, where first we went to see my brother and drop his gifts off, before going out for a cheeky Nandos, complete with crackers and paper hats, haha! Then we were off to Heathrow airport!

We got back safely on Boxing Day, and spent the next few days seeing family in Shrewsbury and Telford, which was lovely. There was more incredible food, gift exchanges, and lots of laughter. Honestly, it was the best Christmas I can remember since my childhood. It was definitely non-traditional while we were away, but that didn't stop us enjoying every moment. And while we weren't able to see our families on the day itself, we still had good quality time with them before and after. I am so grateful to Gareth's family for all their love and hospitality, it means so much to me, and I am honoured to be a part of his children's lives.