After the Christmas Decorations

1. Try to be more organized next Christmas and don't send Christmas Cards to certain people twice. This wasn't because I couldn't remember writing the first ones but because my other half took it into his head to write some himself and deliver them in person when I'd already posted mine. Maybe this resolution should be 'Communicate More with Other Half'. This wasn't as bad though as several of our friends (who shall remain nameless but they know who they are) who sent us Christmas Cards without stamps on them so we had to pay the 1.27 handling fee for each one to have them delivered from the Post Office.

2. Get fit. I began putting this one into practice on Friday 2 January, when I went for a two hour walk over the snow covered fells of Blanchland with its noisy grouse and spectacular icicles.

Blanchland is actually in Northumberland but has two roads leading into County Durham and is situated within the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The ancient medieval village, reputedly haunted, with its honey coloured cottages and shops (including Get Ahead Hats) clusters around a village square and sprang up from a monastery established in 1175. The monks wore white habits hence the name.

Okay, so we defeated the object slightly by having a fabulous meal and a glass of wine sitting in the fireplace at the Lord Crewe Arms, formerly part of the Abbey of Blanchland and dating back 800 years. (There was only one tiny speck of soot on the white tablecloth).

However, today I went for a power walk in my lunch hour. It was great fun although hard work walking on the snow, however, my colleague in crime tells me this is very good for the leg muscles. Apparently the secret of power walking is to clench your bum and walk briskly. So we are going to do power walking three lunchtimes a week.

3. Eat less chocolate
This one is the most difficult of the lot. Especially when I received a parcel in the post today which contained a battered Cadburys Chocolate Advent Calendar I had sent to my son at University at the beginning of December. (I know, how sad.) He had never got around to collecting it from the Post Office (it was too big for his letter box) so eventually it was Returned to Sender. Such a shame. Can't let it go to waste even though the chocolates have all fallen out of the little windows and stuck together... That's one resolution broken already.

4. Be nicer to everyone especially the family. (This one will probably be a lot easier to keep if I keep breaking Resolution No. 3 above).

Anyhow the bird now feels it is safe to venture out of her cage without swinging from a streamer, setting off a musical Santa or getting tangled in tinsel. Everything looks very tidy and bare. Never mind, only 352 days until next Christmas...