I’m ’in a good place’ at the moment and had a great week last week – high energy, healthy habits – feeling motivated to go out and exercise everyday.

This week, not so much…

Feeling… ill, tired, grumpy…

But… I’m remembering last week, and it’s such a great memory, not a regret… And despite how I feel right now, I’ve kept the healthy habits going – so I’m proud of myself…

But then Christmas is coming and there’s so much to do…

So, those tears of frustration I used to see my mother cry at this time of year, start to spill from my very own eyes…

But, you know what..? I’m giving myself permission NOT to do Christmas ‘chores’ this year. It’s a kind of reverse psychology I like deploy, to take the pressure off…

I choose instead to dance around the kitchen, or wrap a blanket around me and watch a corny Christmas movie…

It’s actually Christmas magic, because somehow still, Yuletide happens.., cos I’m filled up and everything gets accomplished with so much more ease. Yet in the process, I took care of myself first, so then I had the joyous energy to love and cherish everyone else. Basically I decided to enjoy the experience, rather than be overwhelmed by it…

PS: On holiday in the USA, in October, with a friend, we encountered a Christmas shop in Boston. It was a veritable cornucopia of baubles, nick knacks and toys of every Christmassy shape and scale… And in amongst the sparkling, heaving, ho ho ho spectacle of it all, I found my very own Noel holy grail… A secret wish, cherished at my core, for a score of years… A peach shaped Christmas bauble for a Peachey girl! Oh yesssssss..! Hallelujah to me…!!!

PPS: So enjoyment for me HAS to include having fun, so I’ve only gone and tweaked Mariah’s magnificent Christmas classic into an Advent anthem of silliness, self care and love:

🎄🌟⛄️❄️ 🎄🌟⛄️❄️ 🎄🌟⛄️❄️

I just want a lot for Christmas

All the things on which I’d feed…

I really care about the presents,

underneath the Christmas tree.

❄️

I just want me for my own,

More than you could ever know.

I’ll make my wish fat free…

All I want for Christmas is ME.

❄️

I’ll just go hang my stocking,

there upon the fireplace.

Santa Claus can make me happy,

with Tiffany’s, on Christmas Day…

❄️

I just want me for my own,

More than you could ever know…

I’ll make my wish come true,

All I want for Christmas is

fu-el…

❄️

Oh, I will ask for LOTS this Christmas,

I will even wish for snow.

Tho I’m just not gonna be waiting,

underneath the mistletoe…

❄️

‘Cause I just want to be here tonight,

Wrapped in my blankie, oh so tight.

What more can I do…?

Baby, all I want for Christmas is jew-els…

❄️

Oh-whoa, all the lights are shining so brightly everywhere….

And the sound of children’s laughter fills the air…

❄️

And everyone is singing,

I hear those sleigh bells ringing.

Santa, won’t you bring me the fee I really need?

Won’t you please bring my bounty to me…?

❄️

Oh, I do want a lot for Christmas,

This is what I’m asking for…

I just wanna see my beauty,

As I stand in front of the, mir-ror.

❄️

Oh, I just want me to excel,

more than you could ever know…

I made my wish, Chrimble tree….

Baby, all I want for Christmas is ME…

🎄🌟⛄️❄️ 🎄🌟⛄️❄️ 🎄🌟⛄️❄️