A look back at 2015

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I’ve just watched Mary Portas on Channel 4 looking back at what we bought in 2015. It has made me think how many of these ‘fads’ I’ve joined in with and am pleased to say not many! Her first suggestion is of the fitness video made by Georgie Shaw star, sorry can’t remember her name, but no I haven’t heard about it let alone bought it or indeed used it to lose the astonishing 2 1/2 stone she claims to have lost.

Of course fitness videos are nothing new, I do remember buying  one back in the 90s put out by Jane Fonda, who is probably about 92 now!

The difference now of course is that the Geordie Shaw video has sold so many copies as she has so many followers on social media. They follow her every move and of course want to be her, so buying her video will achieve that! Mary Portas mentions when she did a guest appearance on Daytime TV sales of her video unchanged, but when she posted something on Instagram, sales soared that is the power of social media.

Mary also mentions the spiralizer as being very popular in the early part of the year, now I will confess I have recently considered buying one of these, seeing so many tasty recipes, created by highly talented chefs no doubt, has made my mouth water for one of the gadgets. I’ve never even tasted spiralized food or attempted to cook with any myself so no idea of the outcome . Of course if I do buy one it’ll probably reside in the same kitchen drawer as the apple corer, lemon Juicer and every other must have, can’t live without gadget invented in the last 25 years.

Other must have buys include celebrity endorsed trainers….no, Star Wars figurines….no, athlesuire ware…..no, Christmas jumper hmm maybe….we are certainly considering Christmas onesies for the whole family for Christmas Day next year! Or will I come to my senses?

Family Party

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Sunday 27th December

It’s at Christmas time that extended families really come into their own. I was one of 4 children, hubby one of 3, my family have all gone on to have children of their own who now have babies. At the last count there were 25 close family members starting with my Mum. We make quite an effort to keep the family together as we have a gathering at least 4 times a year where most, if not all of the family will try to go. We go to each of our houses one of the times a year to give everyone a chance to host and more importantly the other 3 “time off” Today was hosted by my youngest sister Emma, who most importantly has the biggest indoor space, giving 25 humans and 3 dogs enough space so everyone is not on top of each other is a challenge at the best of time, but with the weather decidedly chilly no one is going outside!

Oldest sister had a eureka moment a few years ago, having struggled with the many cups of tea our family seem to drink, she suggested we club together and buy a 2nd hand Burco boiler from eBay, several years and many gatherings later, the Burco is a big hit! No more waiting for kettles to boil, no more making 10 cups of tea just because “you’re there so just do me one” each to their own, tea bags and milk are by the boiler and the water is permanently boiling. A must for every family gathering

I value days like today as it’s a time for everyone to catch up, find out what’s been going on and to see all the new babies who grow so very quickly. We have 4,under 5s at the moment and another one on the way…so far!

Boxing day

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Saturday 26th December

Well that’s Christmas Day and Boxing Day over, two of the most eagerly anticipated, well prepared for days of the year, and blink and it’s over.

We try to be fairly traditional in how we spend the two days, now are ‘children’ our adults we see them rarely enough that Christmas is a time to just spend time with them. Christmas Day is spent opening pressies, preparing dinner, and good films. Boxing Day we like a good walk at the very least to try to walk off some of the excess food and drink. We manage to consume about a weeks worth of calories in just the few days.
We see the extended family the day after Boxing Day, now that all the cousins are married and have babies of their own, they all have their own parents and in-laws to satisfy so a completely separate day seemed the best way forward. Of course it also means you extend out what really is a very short festive season when it actually comes down to it. We are such a big family that are approach to presents is probably very similar to lots of families around, the secret Santa thing. Of course it’s a total lottery who you get to buy for, my nightmare is buying for the young adult males, what on earth do you get them that’s meaningful, interesting and useful! No one wants deodorant sets, socks, amusing tshirts or the like! Young adult females though, that’s a different matter, so easy!

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