This seems to be becoming a Christmas Tradition.

I started to feel a bit yuck Christmas Eve, then woke up with a sore throat on Christmas Day, then sniffles on Boxing Day, then the whole lot this morning.

It’s ok though, hasn’t affected the festive celebrations! Christmas Eve was busy getting everything done and visiting my nan in Braintree, then Christmas Day was Church in the morning and Sarah, Matt, Emi and Maddie came round for dinner and the afternoon. Boxing Day we went to see my nan in Ongar and today we’ve been to London to see the lights.

It’s been a good few days spending time with family. I quite enjoy the kind of days that only happen round Christmas…where it’s perfectly ok to sit down in the afternoon and watch TV and it’s fine to just eat all day long!

The next few days will be a bit busier, and then it’s up to Lowestoft on New Year’s Eve for a party and for Dan and Jen’s Wedding on the 2nd Jan. I can’t wait!

So I’ve been pretty rubbish at blogging lately…I hope to fill in the gaps as and when I have time!

Its Christmas Eve Eve…I’ve made gift tags but have run out of enthusiasm to wrap presents. Me and mum made mince pies and sausage rolls this morning, a true Christmas tradition. I then had an opticians appointment and am hopefully back on monthly lenses, but this is unlikely to be straightforward. Where my eyes are concerned it very rarely is! I spent the afternoon at my sisters. She went out to Freeport while Maddie and I made snowflakes and covered them in stickers, pom poms and glitter and stuck them on the windows. Emi was asleep and when she woke up she had some lunch and then we played together. It was Maddie’s birthday on Saturday (3!!) and I bought her a till from the Early Learning Centre. It’s actually amazing!! Properly calculates the cost and has chip and pin! We spent some time playing shops…I loved it!!

Christmas this year will be at home with Sarah, Matt, Maddie, Emi and bump coming round for dinner. We’ll see Russell, Becci, Chloe and Sam on the 30th. I’m looking forward to seeing people, watching Christmas TV and eating the sausage rolls I have made.

Was thinking today about the panic that leads up to Christmas. Braintree town centre today was packed and ridiculous. There’s just so much stuff that has to be done, traditions, presents to be bought and the pressure to have a good time. What is it that makes Christmas a good time? Why do we do it? What are we celebrating?

I’m remembering the incredible birth of Jesus. We all know the story, but it’s not just a story. It happened. And Jesus didn’t stay a baby. He grew into a man, transformed lives then, and now 2010ish years on is still transforming lives. Wow. That’s what I’m celebrating. And while all the frills that come with Christmas are nice and fun and I will enjoy it…it’s not the be all and end all. Maybe that takes the pressure off a bit.

I hope you all have a really lovely Christmas and enjoy spending time with the people that are important to you. Here’s to a fabulous 2010.

I now have a week off and it’s very strange! It’s great, but strange. Having spent 13 days with the team, being crazy busy it’s kind of an anticlimax feeling to then be without them!

Saturday was a lazy day, unpacking and sorting out my room. Went to the cinema with Lewis to see Up (it’s brilliant…totally recommend it!) and then caught a lift back to Braintree with him. Sunday I woke up at 12.30pm. I NEVER sleep that long! 13hours sleep! Clearly I was tired! Spent the day with Matt, Sarah, Maddie and Emi which was lovely. Monday morning I spent sorting out my stuff and then went to Sainsbury’s in Stanway with Mum. I bought a grey cardigan and a black jumper and introduced Mum to Vanilla Lattes. Had roast gammon for dinner, apple pie and custard….wonderful! Today I looked after Maddie and Emi while Sarah went for an ante-natal appointment; Jasmine, Joseph and Samuel came round - was so lovely to see them. Can’t leave it so long next time! Went to Pram Service with Sarah, Emi and Maddie in the afternoon. This is a Mums & Toddlers group at St Michael’s Church in Braintree. I used to go there when I was little and it still smells the same!! Amazing. It was really cute – they sing songs off an OHP and everything! Me and Mum made Toad in the Hole for dinner tonight and then watched Holby City…oh my goodness! Got to watch the second part tomorrow now!

I’m going back to Wickford on Thursday.

The idea was that I was arranging a team trip to the cinema to see Fame. One of those occasions where you mention it and everyone’s like ‘Yeah!!’ and then the excuses come in when it actually comes to it. (I’m totally usually one of those people!) So Saturday Me and Keel went to Chelmsford. It was crazy!! I forgot how much I hate town centres on a Saturday anyway, but there were loads of weird and wonderful things going on. Photos here: Street Diversions show a little bit of some of the things. There were some builders performing outside the old Woolworths which was quite good fun. So we wandered round a bit, I went to O2 to try and get my phone sorted, got a coffee from Costa (poor girl wasn’t having a good day!) and spent much of the afternoon in the park watching a sculpture which breathed fire and water! Went to see Fame at the cinema in the evening…hmmm. I was so excited, but actually left disappointed. I really enjoyed the film while it was happening…but when it finished I realised that nothing had actually happened, and they didn’t even do the song!

Sunday I went to LWCC again with Tricia, and really enjoyed it. They have custard creams at the end of the service…always a good thing! We had roast dinner and plum crumble…can’t remember the last time I had a roast and crumble, good times! By this point I had spent much of my time texting round people to try and organise some sort of gathering. So i headed off to Lake Meadows in Billericay, met Keel, Becca and Ben and we spent a couple of hours in the park. Ben climbed a tree…that was about the height of excitement. Then he went home and the three of us went for cranberry juice/J2O/Orange and Lemonade/Chips/Chocolate Fudge Cake/Pepsi/Coffee at Wetherspoons!

So overall I enjoyed my weekend. Now for rehearsals and preparations for Grantham. And we’re off bowling on Tuesday night.

www.85design.co.uk is now up and running. Very exciting!

I’m stuck in bed. Everytime I get out of bed I throw up. Its very frustrating! So I’m listening to Radio 1, where they play basically the same songs every 3 hours and you hear the same plugs. Pretty boring. Feeling ok enough to be on my laptop for a bit, but basically I’ve been snuggling under the duvet and snoozing a little bit. The last time I threw up was about 3.15pm and I used the 5mins of feeling betterness to shower and change into some clean pjs. My sister is poorly too so we’ve been comparing notes!

Here’s the irony…
Yesterday I was chatting to Andy and Joy and said ‘on day 4 of the first week last year I was really ill. Kept throwing up and had to go home’. Then a bit later on I was chatting to Becca, Jack and Ben about illness on tour and being sensible and how you will end up being ill on your days off because you can’t afford to be ill when you’re working.

So Tricia is looking after me, she’s a nurse, making sure I’m drinking lots (apparently real Coca Cola is good, has the right balance of sugar and salt) and forcing me to eat some dry toast.

About time to get a chick flick out i think.

Thank you to the wonderful people who have been texting and ringing me to keep me smiley: Mum, Sarah, Lewis, La Roche, Becca and Keel. You have kept me from going insane! x