Hello there! I’ve been a bit missing in action recently, but I make no apologies – I have been busy enjoying the festive season and indulging in far too many mice pies! So a belated Happy New Year to you all, and I hope you also enjoyed Christmas?

I recently wrote a post about how this might be my favourite Christmas of all, and do you know what – it turned out to be everything I wished it would!

For the first time in about 5 years we weren’t all sniffling and sneezing our way through the Christmas dinner. That in itself was a bonus! More importantly I got to spend lots of time with my lovely wee family. In fact, I was so caught up with enjoying the moment there was barely even a photo taken on Christmas Day!

All my close family came round on Christmas Eve for their dinner. This was the first time I have hosted for my whole family so I was really pleased that everyone appeared to enjoy themselves, and all the little kids were so excited about Santa’s imminent arrival, it was lovely to see the excitement in their eyes!

Christmas Day itself was a quieter affair, we choose to have it all to ourselves this year, just the four of us. And after hosting for fifteen the previous evening, Christmas dinner for four was a piece of a cake – not literally a piece of cake you understand – we still had turkey with all the trimmings. I should have taken a picture, but alas, I was halfway through eating before I thought of that!

After a couple of days chilling out we packed our bags and headed over to Nottingham to spend the New Year period with my husband’s family. With the young kids and the paraphernalia we insist on trailing around with us, we tend to choose to drive. This involves a 10 hour boat journey and (according to the SatNav) a two and a half hour drive. Last year the drive took 8 hours, but thankfully this year the weather was kinder, and there were not numerous road accidents, and so we made good time.

A road trip across England on New Year’s Day. Looking forward to whatever other adventures 2015 brings!

We travelled with Stena Line, overnight on the way there, and on the day time sailing for the return journey.  Sleeping your way through the journey absolutely makes it go faster, and the beds are actually pretty comfortable. They do have a cinema and softplay so that helped keep the kids entertained during the day.

I’m feeling pretty optimistic about 2015. I have so many things I would like to do. I know I won’t achieve them all, but for me that is what life is all about. Dreams and ambitions. A desire to live in the moment, look forward with anticipation to the future, and reflect and learn from the past. So I raise a glass to you all. And as they would say in Scotland – Lang may your lum reek!