It's been a funny month! Insanely busy for 3 weeks. Then firstly I was rushed to hospital with a life-threatening acute condition, then rushed from there to a SECOND hospital to their Acute Care Unit. Released after only one night but I was unwell for a good week afterwards and am still not 100% recovered mentally!

2 days after coming out of hospital I was back at the doctor’s for an abscess on the base of my spine! After a week that had to be cut out, and there followed ten days of poor old Rud having to look after me. Kneeling on the bed crying with pain, with my bottom stuck up in the air while Rud changed my dressing and re-packed my wound with a drain/wick, it suddenly struck me this wasn’t quite what he had in mind when he said “I’ll always look after you…”

I guess you know you’ve been burning the proverbial candle at both ends (not to mention in the middle) when you’ve actually got a wick sticking out of your backside!

The past week has been hectic as I realised that when planning a big Christmas party for friends/co-workers/family I had neglected to either predict or bear in mind having to have cards written, presents wrapped and house and tree decorated before it. But Saturday was a lovely day – starting at 930 with bacon sandwiches with my Dad, then Father Christmas and Jack Frost steam train ride, which was magic for all the little kids.

Then mountains of food and drink and a big party all day. By 630 everyone had gone home, leaving Rud and I with all the leftovers to eat and the evening to ourselves to rest and unwind! Magic!

And the best bit is that now I’m totally ready for Christmas! The cards were all exchanged yesterday (at one stage it looked like the Post Office with a line of ladies at the dining table sorting cards into piles!), presents wrapped and under the tree, everything’s done! I even had time to take the dogs out into the Forest for a couple of hours today – this is what the runup to Christmas is SUPPOSED to be like! (But I won’t deny Rud had a hard time with me last week being overwrought at times getting it all done!)