Friday's Fave Five - 29/12/23

And it's Friday again!  Time to look back on the blessings of the past week and share them here.  Thanks to our host Susanne for reminding us each week.  We often do need to take a step back and realise how fortunate we are.

1)  Christmas hampers all packed and delivered to the beneficiaries of the Food bank.  I helped out last Saturday with packing the final items into hampers then Hubby and I delivered 3 of them.  I was really pleased to see the amount of food that we were able to provide to people but saddened to see how many people were going to be on their own for Christmas dinner - opting for a Ready Meal rather that any sort of joint.  The hampers also had a lot of treats in them as well though so hopefully they will have given some enjoyment to all our beneficiaries.  It was a lovely atmosphere amongst the volunteers while we were preparing the hampers and I'm glad to have been a part of it.

2)  Christmas with all the family here.  Our eldest son and his family had been here since Thursday 21st but our other son and our daughter and all their families were here for Christmas Day.  14 of us in total.

I was up to midnight the night before getting everything prepped.  And once I'd worked out my timetable I was able to go to bed not feeling stressed.

They all laughed at how detailed my list was - even down to reminders about putting condiments on the table but knowing I'd left nothing to chance made me feel a lot more in control!

We didn't get a decent photo of all of us at the table - and it was hard getting all the grandchildren to sit still for a photo - these were probably the best of a bad lot:

Ella, Rory, Nathan, Noah, Vinny & Miles

3)  Good weather on Boxing Day so that they were able to take the children to the park for some fresh air and to run off some of their energy.  

4) Quiet time today.  My son and his family left for their home in Nottingham this morning and, although I loved having the whole family here for Christmas it was nice to just be able to sit and relax.

5)  I'm thankful that we made the move to this house when we did.  It is a bit crowded when we're all together but there is room for us all to be together and for everyone to sleep over as they did Christmas night.  The layout in our previous house wouldn't have made it possible for us to do that.  Of course as the children get older and bigger it won't be so easy but hopefully we're making lots of happy memories for them to be able to look back on.

And now the New Year approaches.  Hubby and I will probably celebrate it quietly as we usually do.

Happy New Year to you all.