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

We left France on the 30th of December, picked the cats up at 15.45 and we were on our way…RD, myself, two cats, two Welsh Terriers and a van crammed so full of stuff we were afraid to open the doors! RD had come up with the ingenious idea of making the Welshies a little cabin in the van, which was piled up so high with pillows and throws (important to us in making a home) that the Welshies could see over the top of our heads!

On we drove through Normandy and Brittany in driving sleet and rain with the cats meowling in the back and us frantically spraying Feliway to calm them down, I had a distinct case of Deja vu, of our journey into France nearly six years ago. On arrival at the port we had to scan all the animals ourselves, due to Covid restrictions. That moment when we had to open the dog cage into which both the cats were snuggled was terrifying, with the smallest gap I could get my hand in and scan them, as RD blocked any escape route as much as he could. The thought of them getting out and being lost at the port didn’t bear thinking about. But all went well and they remained snuggled, albeit stressed in their ‘cat campy’. Someone said to me that I should leave them behind, it’s expensive moving animals what with jabs and vet approval, but that would never be an option for us. We believe that when you make a commitment to an animal you make a commitment as if it were your child and where we go, they go, even if we have to do without. After that we had the distressing job of locking the puppies into cages in the kennels, Harley was so distressed he ripped his bed apart. Distressing for them, very distressing for us.

We had a cabin arranged for which we were truly grateful. The house I had booked to stay for the ten days from leaving Montaigu and travelling to Ireland was bloody awful. It was dirty and the stairs were the ladder stairs that the small French houses are fond of. They were so dangerous, and Harley fell from top to bottom of them. After that RD manafactured a small barrier from wood and bless him he carried them up and down those stairs every night to stop them being stressed and away from us.

The beds were so small we couldn’t even sleep together, there was no oven (which was fun on Christmas day) and no garden attached as promised. It was a pretty town, but as is the norm in France, nothing was going on and it was such an awful place to stay it helped in our resolution to just get the hell out of France.

So when we finally got into our cabin we were so pleased for the clean and comfortable beds and shower and we slept reasonably well until the little man from the restaurant shouted from the loudspeaker at 8am that breakfast was now being served. Poor RD he was exhausted from everything and was in a deep sleep, so it was hardly any wonder that he called the little man something very rude and very insulting!

We arrived in Ireland at 3.30pm on the 31st of December, a meaningful time given the fact that we were starting a new life.

As we pulled out of the port everyone had to provide proof that they had completed the Covid form about where they were going to stay, and we totally confused the Irish port official when we wound down the window of our French van and proceeded to answer him in English. It was refreshing that he just saw my form on our iPad and waived us on. No bureaucracy, no provide a hundred pieces of paper, just a ‘Oh you’re English go on with ya.’ And that was it, we were on the road to our new life in the pouring rain. ‘Welcome to Ireland.’

Despite our worry about the animals we drove on from County Wexford towards County Donegal, through snow and rain, around Dublin, through Northern Ireland, and onwards for over four hours. We marveled at the beautiful Christmas decorations in nearly every town, and RD was so excited when he spotted a fish and chip shop, and a Kentucky Fry, and an Indian takeaway restaurant. I have never seen him so excited by a Tesco, bless him the man is easily pleased!

I sang the ‘Forty Shades of Green’ with tears in my eyes because it’s a song that my dad would sing to me often. I turned to RD and said ‘My dad used to sing that to me.’ To which he replied ‘What in the voice of Pepper Pig?’ And that was it, despite the stresses of the journey and worry about our animals we were both in tears of laughter, my husband is such a sarcastic bastard at times, but he makes me laugh every day.

But then the sat nav decided to have a dicky fit and off we went up, up and up again into the mountains, not on some main roads but by roads that goats would have difficulty navigating. We were climbing so high that our poor little van, fully loaded to the hilt was chugging away, as we got higher there was ice on the small roads, with snow piled either side of us, and sheer drops behind it. I knew RD was afraid, I was afraid: what if it snowed and we got trapped? What if we crashed in the remote mountains with the animals in the car? I found myself noting any houses we went past as the temperature began to plummet, and counting down the kilometers until the road changed. We were really frightened and it was only after we were at our final destination that RD told me that the tires were slipping underneath us. When we descended back onto normal terrain we both agreed that we would not follow the sat nav if it wanted to take us up such treacherous roads again.

Eventually we reached what we thought was our destination using the post code given. But it was just a caravan park, and nothing else. We drove back into the small town nearby at five minutes to midnight and found a crowd of people (I know forget Covid) gathered to hear the old priest ring in the New Year at the church. As has always been my experience we stopped to ask them the way and they all welcomed us and helped us. They even spoke to our landlords dad to get directions for us and gave us the directions for where we needed to be: two hours away, through the mountain pass! Bless the lady who invited us to get the dogs out and ring in the New Year with them. They all wished us well and asked us to go back to visit them in better times, despite RD smacking his head of the steering wheel several times!

Off we went again with their directions, our sat nav and directions that my sister, Beth and brother in law, Aidan, were sending us as we went. We had no internet connection, despite having paid for it, and were well and truly stuck without their help, and as I rang Beth for directions I found myself saying ‘Beth’ as if I were talking to Alexa, she was our personal Alexa for the night. But in all seriousness I know they were worried, the weather was turning bad and RD had been driving for over nine hours now! Due to this he decided ‘fuck it’ and went for it, but in one of the main towns we took a wrong turning and as we turned round we were passed by the Garda. Now this was after midnight when Ireland had just gone into tier five lockdown, Brexit had taken place so our UK driving license’s were technically no longer valid, and we were two hours away from where we were meant to be! Yep! They came back and stopped us!

The young Garda got out of his van, walked over to the French vehicle and asked ‘Can I ask you where you’re going and what your doing?’ I answered and he immediately said ‘Oh your English?’ That was it! We explained our dilemma and he gave us directions and wished us well, telling us to take it easy through the mountains but assuring us it was a main road we would be taking and it was clear. ‘Only in Ireland’ seems to have been a recurring theme since we have got here, if that had been France we would have been there an hour! We both giggled as we drove away because one of the cats had shit in the van, so when RD opened his window he must have thought ”Jesus, that van stinks of shit!’ We, at this point, had gone ‘nose blind’.

Off we went through the mountain pass with the snow topped mountains all around us, lit up by the full moon. It was truly breathtaking, like being in a scene from ‘Lord of the Rings’ and RD’s breath was truly taken away. All he kept saying was ‘Wow Mois, look at this, Wow Mois I can’t believe it’. On one part there was a sign to say that there had been an oil spill, to which RD replied ‘Of course there has! It’s the only bloody thing I haven’t encountered so far, so there had to be an oil spill!’

Eventually we arrived at our destination right out on a peninsular, down windy little roads with crofts either side of us. We couldn’t see the church landmark we were meant to follow and we were absolutely knackered, but hey ho, we kept going, isn’t that what an adventure is about?

After unloading animals and feeding them and settling them down, we fed ourselves and fell asleep sitting up, finally going to bed at 7.30am. That will be a New Years Day to remember.

As our landlord said ‘Sure this will be a story to tell your grandchildren!’ He’ll get no argument there!

Welcome to Ireland.

Rosie