It seems incredible that it has been three weeks since I last posted. The final week of the holiday I spent rewriting the WIP. Three chapters had to be cut, but I made up the word count by padding out some of the characters and their relationships. I'm pleased with how it's going and only wish I had more time to devote to it.

I went back to school on 7^th January and it was busy, busy, busy. Nothing new in that but by the end of the week I’d come down with a sore throat and by last weekend it turned into a heavy cold. So I wasn’t up to much beyond a bit of marking and preparation. I had to take last Tuesday off as I had spent Monday night coughing and woke up with my head pounding. The cough went down into my chest and became a productive cough with a lot of catarrh (yucky!) but I’m feeling much better now. If only the weather would improve: it has been foul for weeks with non stop rain and wind. Very depressing. Hopefully, spring is round the corner and we’ll get some sunshine soon.

I’ve posted the above pic before of blue tits and a robin on a bird feeder. I have bird feeders and coconuts with suet and seed in them hanging on the Japanese maple by our pond and I love to look out on the birds. They’re very clever and only feed when the cats aren’t around. (Our Charlie Cat has been staying indoors a lot recently as he’s a fair weather friend and has developed a winter paunch through lack of activity. It's almost comical!)

As for me and my paunch, I rejoined WeightWatchers and lost five pounds last week, which is a real boost to my morale. I don’t find it hard to lose weight but have never managed to keep it off. This time, I’ve set a more realistic goal which I hope to be able to maintain.

Now I promise I’ll try and be more regular with my posts as I don’t want to lose touch with all of you out there. How have you found the start of 2008?  Do you suffer from the 'winter blues'?

The Nativity scene above is what I was given for Christmas from my hubby, minus the kings and camels. It would have been far too expensive to include them this year so I’ll wait ‘till next. We got them from Christmas Cribs on the internet and each piece is a delight; I’m sure we’ll enjoy them for many years to come. Son gave me some beautiful leather gloves. I gave hubby noise cancelling headphones so that he can listen to his music in peace and quiet and son gave him Ella Fitzgerald CDs.

Son had a “Battlestar Galactica” DVD box set, clothes and money and was very happy. We stopped having stockings some years ago but we gave the cats store bought ones filled with treats and toys. Sophie thought the gift wrap was her special present and she had a lot of fun diving in and out of it, playing with the ribbons and bows. Now she’s decided my nativity scene is worthy of her attention, especially the star and she’s managed to jump up onto the sideboard and knock some of the little sheep off. Far more interesting than the Christmas tree! Good thing they’re unbreakable.

Hubby and I cooked a real feast for the three of us and we had lots of lovely wine. Now I feel as if I’m a great, fat pudding and will definitely be rejoining WeightWatchers in the New Year.

Today I managed to get on with some writing and it’s my plan to do more of the same over the next few days. How are you spending the last week of 2007?

I apologise for not being around the past two and a half weeks. Once more, it’s because I’ve been more than a bit busy. There have been exams and coursework to mark, Christmas cards and letters to write, not to mention shopping and other preparations. The poor old WIP hasn’t had a look in, but family and teaching have to come first. Tomorrow is my last day with the kids in school (half of which will be taken up with carol services) and on Friday we have a training morning (we’re learning “incidental Welsh”), followed by a staff lunch and then home early. I CAN’T WAIT!!!

Actually, I’m well ahead with preparations as it’s only the three of us for Christmas lunch, which will be a joint performance between hubby and me. We’ve decided on duck this year and I thought I’d do butternut squash soup to start. We’ll finish off with traditional Christmas pudding and rum sauce (all home made). Then we’ll probably go for a walk (as we'll have consumed many thousands of calories) before flaking in front of the telly. Christmas Eve we’ll attend the midnight service at the local church in the hopes that the Lord will forgive us for not being regular attendees.

Above is a pic of our Christmas tree, which we put up in some apprehension as it is the first time our cats have had one in their lives. I think we chose a good one as the tree is very bushy low down and they can’t get hold of a trunk to climb up. Also, our decorations are mostly red paste apples, wooden toys and beads – not shiny baubles to catch their eyes. So far, they’ve played hide and seek under the branches when we first brought it indoors, and Sophie has gone under them for a nap as she likes enclosed dark spaces. A couple of the apples have been dislodged and that’s it. Easily fixed!

How about you? What will you be doing on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day? Do you have a Christmas tree and what have you decorated it with?