Tag Archives: Christmas

Merry Christmas

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Well, today, in New Zealand and the southern hemisphere at least, it is Christmas, so Merry Christmas to you. I hope that you have a lovely day and are able to celebrate with family and friends.

As I’m writing this on Sunday night, I will have spent the morning with Mr H’s family and then heading over to Wineborough to spend time with my family. I love getting together with my family at this time of year, even if some of them aren’t talking to others.

Christmas is all about spending time with those you love, and today I will be spending time with those I am closest to. I make a lot of the gifts I give, because I want people to know how much I care about them. And I love to give gifts, and often I will give to people without expecting anything in return.

So eat, drink and be merry tomorrow, and enjoy your day, no matter where you are.

Kia kaha

Catherine

In My Happy Place

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I am lucky, I get to work doing what I love, gardening. But this weekend, I got to spend time in my own garden, and I was in my happy place.

It’s been hard to find my happy place lately because of my mental health decline. Being outside is always good, and I was able to get into my vegetable garden and plant tomatoes, basil, sunflowers, beans, peas, corn, pumpkins and squash. It is really nice to have some things to eat in my garden. I even harvested some beetroot and potatoes.

My vegetable garden

My partner even tidied up around the manuka’s and I planted my new kakabeak (aka Ngutukaka, which just won plant of the year in NZ). I love the kakabeak, it’s always been a favourite of mine, with its bright red flowers. Can’t wait for it to start flowering.

Manuka hedge, the Kakabeak is in the middle of the photo.

As we come to the end of another year, I’ve been reflecting on things. I’m happy with where I am at with my writing, I got two books written, two edited and one of them undergoing its second edit before I find an editor for it. I hope to set up a pre-order for it in the New Year.

My home life is good, I’m happy where I live, with my partner Mr H and my son. We have a great dynamic going on, with all of us working full time, and contributing to the household with either cooking or cleaning.

I’m also working through my dental treatments; I have one more appointment to go for fillings before I get a scan for my plate. It’s just incredible how much pain I was suffering before I had my teeth removed. I was whipping through the painkillers like they were going out of fashion. I looked in the drawer the other day, and I have full packets of ibuprofen and paracetamol. Even though I have bigger gaps in my smile, I am less conscious of them as I was with broken teeth.

We are busy as we work our way up to Christmas, it is going to be chaotic, as we are mowing one of the rest homes now, which makes it one less day to garden, and with the temperatues we have in NZ at the moment (high 20s C), it’s a matter of keeping hydrated.

So, what are your plans heading up to Christmas? Hope your week is less busy and more chill.

Kia Kaha

Catherine

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

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Hey! So I’m going to let you in on a secret. I used to hate Christmas. Shocking, I know.

When I was a kid, I loved Christmas, I remember the year I got a bucket of Torro (a precursor to Lego) and I played with that stuff, like forever! It was awesome, and about one of the few Christmases I remember as a kid.

When I married for the first time, his parents, particularly his stepmother, was a nightmare. She didn’t like my Dad, so she didn’t like me. And no matter what I did, I couldn’t make it better. So I didn’t.

When I married for the second time, my Second Ex had two and a half children (2 boys and a foster son). The first Christmas together was pretty epic. I made a heap of toy boxes up with toys from the $2 shops because neither of us had any money. But after that, the Christmas’ got harder and harder. I would make a Christmas dinner, but they wouldn’t eat it. I’d make dessert, but they wouldn’t eat it. They didn’t like the presents I got them, because their mother, that they lived with, got them big presents and spoiled them. And every time I complained to my ex, he’d defended his kids, which is natural, but instead of telling them to be gracious, he told me to act like an adult.

So I did, and I stopped doing Christmas. I got them basic gifts – mostly toiletries, and then sat back and let everyone else sort it out. All I wanted to do was head for the hills and just camp out for a week or two, then come back once everything was sorted.

Unfortunately, mixed up in that, was my own son. It was a real struggle to make Christmas exciting for him when I hated it. I hated the run up to Christmas, the idea of having to give gifts that were unappreciated, and then listening to everyone (except my son) complain about how ungiving and uncaring I was.

It took a while, after I left my ex, to get the Christmas spirit back, but the last two years, I have been getting into the spirit of things again. I’ve been making presents for my family, because I just love to give. I’ve already got most of the presents I’m getting for everyone, because I like to be super organised and no where near the shops closer to Christmas!

There is one thing I still don’t like about Christmas, commercialism. Everything is the best deal you will ever get it, (unlike two weeks ago, at Black Friday, when it was exactly the same price…). That’s why I make a lot of my gifts. To make it more special, and personalised.

So, Merry Christmas everyone, I hope you’re starting to enjoy the festive season too.

Winding down for the Year

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Thank goodness I didn’t do National Novel in a Month Competition, I think I would be pulling my hair out by now.

I got my assignments done and submitted for my organics course, and with a couple of resubmits, I passed. I’ve decided to do the final course in February, it gives me some time to get back into the rhythm of work and stuff like that.

And I should have been editing Secondhand Daughter, but I haven’t. And I am putting it down to a super-secret project that I’ve been working on, and it was such a success, that I’m thinking of extending the super-secret project. I’ll only be able to tell you after Christmas what I’ve done, because they are Christmas pressies. I’m so proud of them.

I did do one chapter of edits, but things are about to go haywire at work. We’ve taken over the mowing at one of the lifestyle villages, and to say I’m rather unenthusiastic is actually an understatement. There was a reason I went to work for my current employer – they contracted out the mowing to my previous employer.

Anyway, enough of that. Now is the time of year that I start getting organised for Christmas. I used to avoid it as much as possible, but having left a relationship that made Christmas hell, and being with someone who loves Christmas and spending time with his family has really made it more enjoyable. Plus, there is less stress, not big fussy meals, no full on ‘visiting everyone in the family’. We’ve got it all sorted now, we have Christmas here, with his kids, then I head over to Wineborough with my son – and sometimes my partner, and have Boxing day with my family, as Mum, my brother and his family, and my Dad and StepMum all live in that area. It means two lots of fun family time (the second one is more funny haha though, watching Mum ignore Dad while Dad is trying to get Mum to talk to him.)

Anyway, I hope your week has been more productive.

Take care, Kia Kaha

Catherine