For those of you that have only just joined my blog you won’t know that I  don’t  ‘do’ the commercialism of Christmas any more. But I do still love decorating my house, and whilst, due to our life changing move, I haven’t decorated our house like I would,( also because i cant find half of my decorations!)But as requested by my friends who really know me, I have decorated our artificial tree, and put a garland up this year. (Yes despite decorating for six hours a day!)

So i would liked to dedicate this blog and these photos to my dear friend Mary Low. At a time like this, a sad time amongst all the festivities, I hope they make you smile my friend.

And like.the star  on my Christmas tree there is a star shining down on you tonight, so brightly .

Moisy xx

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The cast:

Richard, my lovely husband

Daisy and Tilly snuggled on their campy on top of the fridge -Tilly is the tiny black cat on the left

Harley the handsome Welshie

Squiggle piglet, the naughty Welshie, don’t be fooled by the photo

When reading the dialogue in this post, for maximum effect, please read with an Eastenders accent or Essex accent, as this is where we originally hail from. For those who are not au fait with these accents please see below for some guidance:

For no think naaaaaaaaaaaaaaw

For Tilly think Tillaaaaaay

For Harley think Harlaaaaay

For what think wot

And so on.

To the story.

So much for my peaceful Christmas, our animals decided to have all out war in our newly renovated kitchen on Christmas day!

I would like like you to the picture the scene, my newly renovated (although not complete) kitchen all cosy, cats on top of the fridge (as you do if you’re an animal lover, and have 2 Welshies)  food laid out  around about, (deep and crisp and even) stock for the gravy, freshly cooked turkey and pork, sparkling wine that we had found and forgotten we had, all was well with the world.

We had had a lovely walk down “Le Rue” where we live, the Welshies had had their toys, and Squiggle Piglet had systematically destroyed the squeak in them all within half an hour! The fire was glowing, we had chilled  and were enjoying a small drink whilst I was cooking the dinner, eating the Brussels cooked in bacon from the pan.  We were so chilled and relaxed that Tilly came down from her fridge castle and had cuddles and loves. In fact she was so relaxed she just jumped down onto the floor (she is the only cat that does battle with the dogs now!) and sauntered over to the cat flap, Squiggle piglet thought she would just have a sniff of the ever elusive cat, and all hell broke loose, Tilly scratched her! Sqiggles then went for Tilly who was pinned in a corner and Harley joined in.

imagine everything in slow motion: Both Welshies now have the cat pinned in the corner I am intervening screaming Harlaaaaaaaaaay, Squiggles Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaw! I stuck my hand into the fray and Tilly ripped parts of it with her claws. This did however giver her time to make a run for it, up onto my open shelving,where my crockery and glasses are, knocking them all off in the process with me screaming Tillaaaaaay naaaaaaaaaaaaw!

Crockery and glasses were now smashing everywhere, falling in the meat, the stock. and everywhere else. Thank God I had put my prawn cocktails in the fridge (there is an irony there given I’m an Essesx girl!).

The Welshies were going mad, the cat made it to the fridge leaving a trail of destruction (not least my hand!) and Rich and I were left amid a sea of broken china and glass totally shell shocked. It was a close thing and we do love all of our animals, so we were more relieved that Tilly had got out alive.

We sort of gave up on Christmas dinner after that, had copious amounts of red wine, I then proceeded to flip my tray of Yorkshire batter over the kitchen, adding to the mess, made some more and burnt them! As I said copious amounts of wine had been consumed to recover from the shock.

A good Christmas was had by all!!! Rich said it was like being in an episode of Eastenders with me shouting Tillaaaaaaaaaay Naaaaaaaaaaaw; and he expected Phil Mitchell to walk in at any moment!

All is well now and later in the day the cats and the dogs enjoyed their turkey!

 I hope that your Christmas was more peaceful.

Happy New Year.

Moisy

Christmas here is very different, not as commercial, and seems to be more focused around food. At Christmas fish is a main theme of festive food and the shops are loaded with oysters, snails of the sea, crayfish, crustaceans galore, there is even small little polystyrene boats that you could fit a child into, the aim being to load them up with shellfish, I kid you not!  I have to say whilst we love shellfish we are not indulging other than to have salmon and prawns for our starter tomorrow.

A couple of weeks ago Rich and I decided to visit  Mayenne and savour the Christmas lights, with two naughty Welshies of course. Although simple the lights were very pretty, reflecting on the water along the Mayenne river.

Earlier this week we found another box of Christmas decorations that had been missing (that is one thing about packing your life away it’s like a treasure trove when you find something you had forgotten you had, or suddenly remember that you had something and wondering where the hell it is now) we found Harley’s Santa’s little helper suit and various Santa hats that we had bought him in the past. We decided to put the little helper suit on Squiggle piglet, as she is now affectionately called, bless her it was a bit snug, and we couldn’t get it done up. She was not happy and as you can see refused to look at the camera, but at least we got her in front of the tree. Harley on the other hand had his Santa hat perfectly situated, but refused to stand in front of the tree and we have a lovely photo of him in front of the bin and the decorations box!!! Welshies wilful little buggers! Squiggle piglet has now spent the last 2 days trying to steal the suit and hat and chew the bobbles off. She is so naughty.

Rich and I have just opened our 2 boxes of chocolates that we both picked, have cracked open our 10€ box of wine and will later be sampling our Irish named bottle of cream liqueur from Aldi and honey whisky from Lidl. We spent 15€ on each other and both said how we enjoyed just buying small gifts, more than we have in these past few years. We’ve spent about the same on the puppies because they give us hours of joy watching them playing. As for the girls (the collective for our cats) we have found the toys that they were brought last year, but didn’t get to play with because of the move, they’re having them again, I’m sure that they won’t remember!

So here’s to a wonderful Christmas, however you plan to spend it, I would like to say thank you to the many people who made contact to say that they, too, would be having a much more family focused, less consumer led Christmas, from making things for each other to realising that they have enough material things and just need each other. I am sure that they will enjoy it all the more.

I hope that you have enjoyed my blog this year and that you will join me next year. If you have enjoyed it  please share it with others it would be greatly appreciated.

Joyeux Noel

moisy x

Source: A different Christmas

For all those people who believe in a consumer led Christmas, then this will probably not be the article for you, and I would like to take this time to wish you a happy Christmas however you choose to spend it.

For those people who understand that my aim with regard to my blog has always been to encourage people who are open to change to think,  then I hope that you will continue to read this post.

I have always loved Christmas, to add to it my son was born on Christmas Eve. But over the past, probably, three years I have found myself becoming more and more jaded with the consumerism that has gobbled Christmas and it’s real meaning up.

I myself have been caught up in this what can be described as hysteria. Even last year, when I was so disenchanted with what Christmas had become, I still ended up buying more stuff than we needed, it’s two days for Christ’s sake!

People get caught up in the “let’s set a budget for what we are going to spend on each other.” Then off they go spending £20.00 or £30.00 or more on each other, often buying things that people don’t need or want, with money that they often can’t  afford,  and ending up in debt for the next three months of the year.

An air of competition creeps in, do we have enough presents under the tree?  Does all of my wrapping paper match the colour scheme I have picked? Only to find after hours of wrapping gifts that when you exchange presents the other persons colour scheme clashes with yours and looks awful!! What is wrapping paper all about? People spend a good £20.00 if not more on wrapping paper that is torn off and thrown away (in your already overflowing bin) in a matter of seconds.

What happened to the true meaning of Christmas?  The ‘gift’ that God gave to us was his son. So surely the ‘gift’ we should be giving to each other should be time, or perhaps help. A visit to an elderly aunt, or even a phone call to someone who is on their own most of the time would mean so much more. As would patience with so many of our relatives which seems to be lacking in abundance as Christmas comes along.

Rich and I have been giggling at the adverts over the past two months or so. The image they sell to people is amusing on one hand, because it is so ridiculous. it is sold to people that Christmas must be perfect and it won’t be unless you spend “only” (that frequently used word) £300.00, or only £600.00. That you must buy them the newest games console, phone, or television, interestingly things that stop people from speaking to each other – when isn’t that what Christmas is about? And let us not forget that if you don’t buy a new dining table and chairs your Christmas will be ruined because Granny will have to sit on an outside table, or perhaps a small side table. Why has it got to be Granny? Why can’t someone younger sit on the crap chair?

What about your sofa? If you don’t have a decent sofa in case someone ‘pops’ in unexpectedly then that’s it Christmas is ruined!! The underlying cynical message is “what will others think of you if you don’t have enough chairs? What will your peers think if your parents haven’t brought you the latest computer console, tablet or phone? Oh no you must be poor!!!

For Christ’s sake people (because after all this is a holiday to celebrate his birthday) can you not see the con?

The other hand to this sad situation is that people end up in debt, they are consumed by worry that then leads to stress, and at times anger. Christmas gets ruined anyway because people aren’t happy because they have overspent, or people didn’t appreciate what they had bought them, or, and most importantly, everyone is not enjoying themselves in the way the adverts have said they would be!!!

Coming away from the madness has been a Godsend, because it has given me a true gift, the ability to reflect on how I have spent Christmas in the past, and the freedom not to get caught up in the hysteria in the future. I have moved to a country that does celebrate Christmas, but not in the same consumer driven way. In addition I have chosen to live a simpler life, but with a lot less pressure, so I now look at things and think how much? I have come to appreciate the very simple things in life, and am now able to remind myself (because I no longer have that hidden, but all to real, pressure to keep up) that it is for two days. In actual fact it is just two days the same  as the rest we have just named them something else.

So this is how I am going to celebrate Christmas… I am going to put a Christmas tree up. I have an artificial one and I don’t need to buy a real one, which for some reason I have in previous years! We have chosen a box of special chocolates each from Aldi, and bought a stollen, that is enough for two days. I am going to have a go at making a Malteser Christmas pudding cake, and  I will have time to enjoy what I do.

We will be spending 10E  each other and are going to be inventive in what we buy so that we will have a present to open in the morning and a present to open after Christmas dinner. The thought will be what counts not the amount that we have spent.

We are going to buy the dogs a couple of pull toys because they give us hours of pleasure watching them play together, chasing each other (doing zoomies) around the garden. I am only buying a small turkey, not beef and pork because I do not need them. We are going to ask our friends to bring us back some white sliced bread from England, with some pickled onions and red cabbage so that we can have turkey sandwiches and pickles on Christmas night and cold meat and mash for boxing day. We have realised what is important and what is not. Hallelujah!!!

We will get up late on Christmas day, when we want in fact. We are looking forward to taking the dogs for a long wintry walk down the lane where we live, enjoying the wildlife and the peace and solitude; returning to sit in front of our log fire, with a sherry or even a copy of a well known cream and brandy drink that we will buy from Lidl! We will have Christmas dinner when we want and change back into our pyjamas when we want. But most importantly when Christmas is over we won’t have any debt, or that underlying feeling of disappointment because Christmas did not live up to the perfection we had been sold. We will have a meaningful and real “good” life.

My gift to you is that I hope this post will make some people think, and also make them laugh at the madness of it all.

Have a wonderful Christmas I hope it fulfills all of your expectations.

Joyeaux Noel

moisy