Christmas preparations have me frazzled this year.

Even with our best laid plans, we only just make it to the post office for the UK Christmas postal deadline. Advent just seems to be going so fast. So, I have a day off booked in this week to get in front of the Christmas to do list. However, after a very busy festive weekend the day is absorbed by everyday jobs. Not quite the festive day I had envisaged. Yet, at least the weekly shop, washing and general tidy up get crossed off the ever-growing list.

And by what I am about to write next frazzled might be an understatement!

I finish getting the weekly shop, juggle to unlock the car and go to open the boot – a very clean looking boot on, yes you guessed it, not my car! Only it would have, could have been, only the number plate and contents were very different. Whoops. What are the odds that someone would park next to me with the same car?

So, when a last-minute deal for a massage comes up I give into my body and start relaxing into the Christmas season.

I continue jogging on a morning, I have found jogging a great way to rest my mind, forget the to do lists, and enjoy the surrounding area where I live. So when I get stuck behind a road sweeper on a railed pavement I can’t help but laugh and jog in slow motion. A bit of much needed comedy in my otherwise wedged day.

With Christmas just a week away I chip away in my spare time before work, lunch time and evenings with present wrapping and sorting delivery of gifts. However, I do keep myself fuelled, enjoying Christmas bakes especially warm soft gingerbread.

Yet we cannot escape that we are in a pandemic. Even though life seems busier than normal with the shops, roads and streets bustling with people the risk of transmission and life is very real.

While we may remain in tier 3, suggesting things haven’t got worse in our area, we are not out of the woods.  This week we receive a council online letter urging us to think about our Christmas plans. I quote:

“Just because the law says we can all meet three households over five days, doesn’t mean we should choose to do so.”

I mean I get it, honestly, I do. It was always going to be risky increasing social contact and household mixing. And while I agree that sacrificing seeing others would ensure future Christmases, birthdays and family events can be celebrated, it feels like so long since we were with each other for a good old catch up. Lots to consider.

Our pondering and plans are short lived, Saturday brings another government announcement of tighter Covid restrictions. There are concerns over rising infection rates and a new variant of coronavirus spreading and transmitting quicker. The announcement introduced, Tier 4, which will see some areas of the UK, currently London and South East under tighter restrictions: non-essential retail closed, people urged to work from home if they can, residents are not to leave or enter tier 4 areas, people can meet only one person from outside their house socially distanced.

However, selfishly all I can think about is the U turn on the 5-day Christmas celebrations reduced to one day – Christmas. Not that I am complaining, to be honest I think it is a wise decision to take the choice out of the equation. After some discussion our new plan is formed. While we are naturally disappointed by not being able to stick to our plans, my partner in crime and I are excited to be hosting Christmas dinner at our house for the first time.  And so, another list is started – Christmas dinner!