Thanks Annabel for your good wishes and concern. I have my last day at work today and we travel late tomorrow -should be enjoying the Christmas treasure hunt at my sister in law's by 7p.m.  Its just a 40min drive for hubby and also our daughter and family so fingers crossed the worst of the wind/rain will have passed according to the forecast this morning.  My brother in law and his wife will get there today with their Huskie pup and our son and girlfriend join us for Christmas Day with their Westie so plenty of family time to enjoy valuable family time.

Do hope you and all the family enjoy the festivities and will look forward to catching up with all my forum friends on our return.  Take care and a very happy Christmas. Jules xx

Hope

Enjoy your family break and thank you for your continued support during such emotional times. Very much appreciated.Look after yourself and chat after the holidays.Jules xx

Hi Jules,

I hope you had a lovely Christmas with your family, I'm sure your grandchildren managed to put smiles on everyone's faces.  Have returned from my Xmas break and it was definitely the right thing to get away this year.  I was still sad but it was the best it could be in the circumstances.  Wishing you a happy and healthy New Year and speak soon.  Hope x

Hi Hope

Glad you enjoyed your break. Me too!!  Feel very relaxed after three days of being spoilt (no cooking/cleaning etc!).  We followed usual Christmas routine, treasure hunt on Christmas Eve, early morning Christmas Day with much excitement with the little ones (they had stockings in their room fromMummy and Daddy) as the 5 yr old helped his baby brother open his new cuddly toys!! We all had stockings from my sister in law (always does them when its her turn at Christmas) so did well on  choccies front and the dog enjoyed the 'xmas paper ripping sessions'.  After late breakfast/brunch my son and girlfriend joined us (plus their dog) so more pressie opening.  We have our main meal around 5.30 and the baby slept through it all. Boxing Day  was a bit quieter as brother in law and his wife went home(he works at HEathrow) and our son and girlfriends moved on to her parents so we had more space to play games including a quiz night for the adults (grandchildren in bed by 7) when great fun and laughter as well as a few glasses of alcohol was had by all (apart from daughter who would be up for the early morning feed!!).  We then went to the park on the 27th, had lunch  and fed baby at 2p.m, before repacking the cars for trip home.

We also had surprising news as hubby's sister, brother and sister in law, are planning to sell up their homes and move to the Isle of Man (sharing a home). Apparently hubby's sister feesl vulnerable with my hubby's illness and they have decided to start a new life (two of them retiring and my brother in law hoping to do part time (he is 57) as she feels we have our children/grandchildren to help in times of crisis!!   Not quite the news were were expecting though hubby has taken it in his stride I was a little suprised to be told this decision was made in May this year and they told their friends and had now decided we should know!! They are due to go house-hunting for 'real' in the Spring having been getting details from the net of places they were interested in (had a whole folder of particulars which they showed us) but of course none of these were still available!!

Now we are back home and I am enjoying a quiet weekend before returning to work on Monday and will also work New Years Day so routine will no doubt resume.

Hope  you and the family are all well.  Take care.Virtual hugs for 2014. Jules xx

Hi Jules,

So glad you enjoyed a lovely family Christmas, sounds fab with your grandchildren.  Well surprising news for you regarding your in-laws, no doubt mixed emotions about their move?  Good that your hubby seems to have taken it in his stride though.  Since I've been home the Christmas emotions seem to have hit me hard, I had to go and check on my parent's house,(as I'm always doing), but seemed to upset me a lot this time of year and hence today has not been a good one.  Confirms that I made the right decision to get away though, and we are off again Monday for New Year so I'm hoping that will help. I hope you continue to enjoy your weekend, and don't work too hard on Monday.  Expect your New Year's Eve will be fairly quiet if you are back at work on New Year's Day, but enjoy whatever you do.  I always feel a little sad at the end of the year so expect this one will be especially hard, but I will be thinking of all my virtual friends and praying that 2014 brings us all some peace.   Hope x

Morning Hope

Well hoping to getmy e-mails sorted before internet fails (again!!). Very frustrating but have hubby on the job now and so far he has isolated the problem to the actual phone line (though supplier says no fault showing!!).Next step will be to get an engineer outwhich could take a bit of time with so many people  affected by yet more windy/rainy weather.  Howling outside here at present!  Its not until you do not have continual access that you actuallly realise how much you depend on the technology.

Well I am pleased we 'managed' Christmas but please don't be too down that you felt low when visiting your parents' home.  This will always be an emotional hotspot as its where most of your memories relating to them are.  When my Dad died, every time I visited Mum afterwards it felt so strange seeing her alone and you had hardly any time at all to get used to that weird feeling before losing yoru Mum too.  In time (different for us all) you will finding coping with memories/reflection a little easier and nearly 6 years on from losing my Dad my thoughts are happy ones (strange how you forget the difficult times/arguments) and me and  the family talk freely without the sadness that was so raw.  Your wise words to so many on this forum are testamount to your strength even though you are dealing with your own heartbreak.  Iam sure that is helped by the loving support you have in your own home.  Do continue to take care of yourself and remember the memories you have inside can never be taken away but can continue to be looked back on (my Dad's words of many years ago are still helping me cope within my life today - an amazing legacy).

Despite the horrid weather here today I aim to battle through the wind to go see my Mum.  She really  has never enjoyed the festive season (believe the root of this lays in her own childhood which she rarely talked about but did involve an alcoholic father and witnessing violence towards her mother which no child should have to see ).  Will probably find she refused to join in the activities though do know she enjoyed the various carolling groups that visited before Christmas Day - usually during their meal times.  The staff do so much to make it a good celebration but no one is forced to enjoy themselves.  She did have the GP out onChristmas Eve for a skin complaint but the staff were doing all the right things for her and it was more of an information call for me.  They are going to do all the usual blood/urine tests to keep an eye on her diabetes and re-assess her mental health medication so have things under control which is a relief to know.

Work was very busy yesterday and I am working tomorrow  from  11 - 5 but our Manager (who is off as he worked the Christmas) believes it will be quiet and we will get lots of things done - we will see.

MayI take this opportunity to send peace and hugs and good wishes for you and your family for 2014 and to thank you for being a virtual friend.  Chat soon   Jules xxx

Morning Brian

My your niece really had a very lucky escape and it must have been terrifying at the time.  Do hope she is feeling much  better now.  Also hope that the emotions of visiting your sister's place of rest was offset  by the fact that you were able to do so after so many years of searching.  Your Mother would be very proud that you were able to achieve so much.

We were very busy at work yesterday despite the rotten weather (the wind was picking up the huge wheelie bins in the backyard and throwing them around and some people were really struggling to stay on their feet).  Thankfully by the end of my shift the rain had stopped and I went home in the sunshine though it was still a bit gusty and this morning it is once again rather nasty outside.  There is plenty to do as y ou can imagine with trying to get things back to normal after the Christmas but the Manager does not believe we will be too rushed on New Year'sDay (working 11-5) so hope he is right as Iam working alone in the book department and there is much to achieve!!

Hubby has managed the festive season pretty well and is just getting over a mild cold and trying to get our phone/internet service sorted out (we know its relating to the line itself but we are told there is no fault (strange its so noisy we cannot hear people!!) so it seems we will need to have an engineer to investigate.  He will hopefully try and sort this soon but am sure there are many in the same position with the weather conditions so if I go quiet (impossible I hear you say) it will probably be because the internet is affected again.

I will therefore take this opportunity to wish you,Mrs B and all your family peace, hugs and good wishes for 2014 and thank you for being a virtual friend and for giving so much support to others (including your own family).  Take care  Jules xx

Good morning Jules,

Congratulations, you have now made 2,000 post on here and I have not read a single bad one from you during that time and you have helped so many people with your wise words and well written posts.

Yes it must have been frightening for my niece and she was so lucky. Glad to hear the weather was better when you came home yesterday. Also very glad to hear your hubby managed the holiday okay and that you all enjoyed yourselves.

I have a slight problem with my laptop at the moment; every now and then it just completely freezes up and I have to shut it down.

Jules I would never be so rude with regard to you going quiet. Have just come back from the surgery (Mrs B's weekly check up) and everything okay with just a slight alteration in her medication. She herself altered her insulin as she has had several bad turns in the mornings recently. She has to have five injection a day for her diabetes whereas I only have to take tablets.

Thank you for you kind wishes regarding 2014 and I also wish the same to you, your husband and family. May I just say it has been a pleasure getting to know about you and your family and I also thank you for you virtual friendship which had been so appreciated.

Best wishes, take care, Brian

P.S. I notice you said about your relative TV being broken well you didnt miss much. We were so disgusted by what was on we hardly had it on apart from the news. Nearly everthing was repeats of repeats. Just looking at the program guide is enough to give one a case of bad indegestion

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Good morning Jules,

Sorry I haven't been around much this last week, seem to have been forever cleaning the cottages.

At last all the New Year guests are safely gathered in and I can just get on top of the washing and ironing and it will be back to cleaning them all on Thursday and Friday.LOL.

My other half and I had a really good chilled out Xmas and Boxing day but the weather has been pretty awful overall.

I am glad you didn't have any misshaps yourselves. Weather is wet and windy again today but not as bad as last week.

I was going to reply to you the other day but stopped myself as I was feeling rather put out on your behalf with you husbands siblings news.

I am glad your husband seemed to take it in his stride, I cannot say that I would have been able to, but good for him.

I find it strange when people are so unable to help others even with a little verbal support.

I don't know if you remember that my own father has never said one thing to me in this past year about my cancer, never even asking me how I am, well we are now in ironic rolls reversed, he is being scanned this week for a lump in his breast.!! And no I couldn't treat him as he has treated me, I thought about it but I just couldn't do it. So I know all about his lump who he has seen when he is being scanned and when he is seeing the consultant. Because I am working I cannot take him to the hospital, which I would have done if I could. I find life to be full of ironies at times. He ho.

I hope tomorrows work goes well for you and that your manager is right. I also hope you telephone line gets sorted soon. Can't have Jules off line for too long.

My daughter has put a picture of Ava, sat up with a lovely bright look on her facebook page hugging a bottle of Champagne...!!!! Now I know we nicknamed Charlotte champagne Charie, she's captioned it like mother like daughter . It's a wonderful picture, one to keep. How are you grandsons doing?  Well I hope.

Well I wish you and yours Jules, a Prosperous and happy New Year ,and thank you for your virtual friendship.

Hugs

Annabel. xx