Here we are again! January has come around once more, bringing fog and frost (no real snow in this part of Suffolk, as yet) while Ade and I cosy-up indoors, drawing up plans, choosing seeds and stuffing ourselves with the leftover goodies from Christmas.

How are you doing? I hope you managed to enjoy the festive period, even if it was a little more subdued than usual. Like so many people, we were forced to change our plans at the last minute. Here in the UK, the five day Christmas ‘holiday’ that our government initially promised us, turned into a one day slackening of restrictions as Coronavirus cases began to soar, and Suffolk then moved into Tier 4 (which has the toughest regulations) on Boxing Day. There are friends and family we haven’t been able to see, places we can’t go and things we can’t do, but these are teeny-tiny hardships in the great scheme of things, and Ade and I are counting our blessings just now; there is so much that we’re grateful for.

We had a lovely Christmas. There was plenty of homegrown veg (of course!), and on Boxing Day, we cracked open the jars of pickles that we’d diligently made over the summer (yum!). Ade flew into his usual festive baking frenzy and made some delicious sweet treats, and I brewed up some traditional Swedish Glögg which was a complete game-changer; there’s no going back to mulled wine spice sachets now! I was also happy to give away tins of my homemade calendula balm which made a perfect stocking filler!

As for the Christmas tree…. hm. Do you remember Radish from 2019? The little pot-grown fir that we re-potted and popped in the garden in January, hoping he’d grow bigger and stronger and be back with us for Christmas 2020? Well, sadly he didn’t make it. I mean, he’s still hanging in there, he’s just not looking very well, something I first noted over the summer. Maybe we can nurture him back to full health for Christmas 2021. We couldn’t bring him inside this Christmas, but Ade did come up with the perfect solution to our Christmas tree conundrum.

When we moved here a little over two years ago, we noticed a couple of fir trees squeezed into a tiny strip of our garden between the driveway and the fence. I’m not sure how they ended up there; they looked so carelessly wedged into such a nondescript area. So, Ade cut one down and bought it inside! It was a necessary job anyway, as we’re hoping to reconfigure the driveway and the adjacent section of the garden this year, and had realised that the fir trees would have to be removed at some point, so Ade got around to it a little earlier than planned, solving our Christmas tree dilemma in the process! We named him Lars and he’s done a fabulous job (sorry, Radish.)

So all in all, it was the most self-sufficient Christmas we’ve had yet! But now we’re looking forward, and hoping 2021 will be a brighter year… for all of us. ❤️