My annual address to the nation and the people of the Commonwealth

If only I was the Queen....
But I'm not.
I do however, know the King of Kings. Not only do I know Him, but I know He loves me, delights in me and 2000 years ago - as a testament to that love for me and all humanity - He came to Earth as a baby. Being fully God, He gave up all the glory and beauty of Heaven to live amongst fallen (but not forsaken) man.
And why is this so great?
For two reasons.

1. Easter.

When Jesus came to Earth, He lived amongst those He had had a part in creating, but He came to die first and foremost. When He gave Himself over to death, He took the sins of the world with Him to the grave and left them there; rising again to raise each of us with Him. Through Him we are free of our sin and all of the problems and suffering it brings - if only we in turn hand over control of our lives to Him.

2. His life on Earth.

The bible tells us that Jesus died in His 30s - He had lived as a human being - the only perfect human being, here on Earth all that time. That means that when we go to Him with our problems, the burdens of our hearts and souls, the temptations and failings, God is no distant or abstract figure. Through Jesus we know that God cares, understands our plight and can help if only we ask Him in to our lives. He has been there. He knows. He cares. He longs for us to care too.

Here's what the bible tells us about the birth of Jesus and how important His life will be:

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned...
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders.
He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the greatness of His government and peace there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne and over His kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.
Isaiah 9: 2 & 6-7

As is traditional, I've tried to look back on 2010 and sum up how it has been significant to my life as a whole...

It hasn't been a great year for relationships; either with Jesus or with people I know. It is always said of being a Christian that relationships require communication and the same is true of any friendship.
It is a sad fact of growing up that old friends lose touch and drift apart as they move onwards and upwards to new things. I often think of those people and recount the old days with a smile.
The same is true of not so old friends too... Tsk tsk.

Here are my other reflections on 2010:

O Money has been a significant issue this year. Lack of. Nevertheless, I've managed to redecorate my room and I love it. It makes me look forward even more to the day I have my own flat and my independance.

O I started work at Helenswood as an invigilator. My experience at Cantell is never far from my mind and nor are the students. Helenswood is different as are the team, but I like it there too.

O Sarah, Tom and I went away, abroad together for a week to Croatia. Sarah and I also went to Bosnia. Two fantastic countries and the holiday is a definate highlight of my...life so far!

O Applied for and got accepted onto the Open University study course for Early Years Professional Status - they only accept 53 students nationwide and they chose me! It took me the entire application process, including a trip to the Open Uni in Camden (love that place), to see that EYPS is not for me. Eventually I turned down the place and haven't looked back since.

O Keswick 2010! Awesome. Met some awesome new people and got reaquainted with some others. Got to hang out with great kids and young people (including a local youth called Dean)

O Didn't go to Momentum which is something I really and truly regret actually. I though I wouldn't mind, but I did. I really want to go next year - must find someone to go with for sure. Its crucial to my walk with Jesus, this week, I find.

O Bee & Matt and Izzie & Chris tied the knot, Emma & James had baby Harry and Isaac & Becky's baby is due in February! Congratulations all round!!

O Claimed a lot of Job Seekers Allowance and (especially in December) worked a lot at Argos!

O In 8 days I'll turn 23 and begin my 24th year on this Earth. What does the year ahead hold I wonder?

Here's a brief rundown of the next few days anyway...

Dec 21st: Argos 2pm-7pm
Dec 22nd: Argos 12pm-8pm
Dec 23rd: Christmas food shopping and decorating/tidying
Christmas Eve: Argos 9am-5pm
CHRISTMAS DAY: rest 8-)
Boxing Day: Argos 9am-5pm
Dec 27th (Bank Hol Mon): Argos 9am-4.15pm
Dec 28th (Bank Hol Tues): ChRiStMaS with Tom and Sarah in New Malden
Dec 29th: Shopping in the sales in Tunbridge Wells with Mum
Dec 30th - Jan 1st: Peaceful relaxing days with (as far as I know) no work! I have my b'day of for the first time in many years. Normal celebrations usually include cinema and eating out.
Jan 2nd: Argos all day (hrs tbc)
Jan 3rd (Bank Hol Mon): Argos 9am-5pm

That's enough to be going on with for sure!

I wish each and every one of you a peaceful, joyful Christmas and all the very best of everything for 2011.

Don't you just hate sad songs?

So yeah, I was (and still am meant to be) tidying up the living room in preparation for Christmas and decided that I would put a CD on to cheer me on my way...
Sound good so far?
Wrong.
I chose David Gray, and that got me thinking...

So of course I couldn't rest until I'd found and listened to James Blunt's "Goodbye My Lover", then I moved on to Bon Jovi's "Always".
Neither of these are songs I would neccessarily listen to on an average day, that's because they have deep and intensely personal meanings to me and certain other people and no-one wants to be reminded of that on a daily basis!

So with 5 days to Christmas Day, I'm listening to sad songs. Might listen to "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol now, just to complete the full set...

For those of you thinking "why", well its cos I couldn't find the Christmas compilation that I had to put a different CD on, and that just happened to be David Gray, which just happened to remind me of James Blunt and it went on from there.
Oh well.

Which happy song should I listen to to counteract all of this?? Darn. I'm too depressed now to think of happy songs...
I'll get back to you on that one.

LATER

I've found the song!! Its called "Affirmation" by Savage Garden. Its the kind of song that you can boogie around the room whilst singing along and dusting down the ornaments in preparation for decorating!

We've got the Christmas chocolates out in their special festive bowl (a mixture of Roses, Celebrations and Terry's Chocolate Orange Segsations) and now we're just about ready to start on the tree!!

A Very Busy Christmassy Week

16 DAYS TIL CHIRSTMAS

23 DAY TIL MY 23rd

Whoop whoop!!

All in all it has been a very busy week, what with one thing and another - and another and another! Let me start at the beginning...

Monday was a lazy day where we did nothing, so I'll just ignore that.

Tuesday I had the dreaded dentist in the morning!! Once a year is way, way enough to be going. Unfortunately I have to go back next week and have a liitle hole filled in. So I didn't get away that lightly :-(
In the afternoon I was invigilating and it was very, very cold in the hall for the hour and a half RE exam that I had to endure.

Wednesday I had Argos work and I ws running around like a mentalist trying to get out of the door in time to get my bus. I was meant to have half an hour for shopping, but the bus got delayed by a break down truck that blocked the road for ages. Tsk tsk.
Although my shift finished at 5.30, I stayed on at work to get a lift to the Argos Christmas Party which was at the White Hart - 3 course meal for £5!! There were 28 of us, including 3 who've moved onwards and upwards to new things since their Argos days.

Thursday (today) Mum had a hospital appointment at 10.25 - thus we didn't get out of the hospital until gone midday!
We popped home, had a quick whizz around doing the bits and pieces we needed to and then headed off to town. It was the RBL Women's Section Christmas Party and we had lots of Christmas cards and party food to take. There was lots of food, crackers, merriment and giving of cards. So all in all that was a pleasent afternoon!
We had some errands to run in town, so that came next and we were late getting home so KFC came to the rescue for dinner!

Friday is to be Christmas decorating day.
I'm invigilating between 8.30 and 3.30, so when I get home, Mum should have cleared up the living room and Dad should've gor the decs down from the loft. Then we can have much fun putting them up!!
Roll on the weekend...

Saturday and Sunday are both Argos days pretty much so the weekend will pass in the blink of an eye and the blur of the till queue.

Then that brings us around to next week and, by then, only 11 days til Christmas and 18 til my b'day!

Apart from work, the highlight of that week is the Age UK Christmas Party on Wednesday at St Clements Restaurant in Mercatoria and, even better, we get a 2 course Christmassy meal for free!

Got plenty more work lined up over that week too, so no rest for me. No more exams until after the New Year though, so invigilation will be on hold until then.
Argos will be stepping up their efforts though and in Christmas week I've got such desirable shifts as 12pm-8pm on Wed 22nd. Don't you wish you worked at Argos???

So happy times for all! Well I'm happy anyway, got all the Christmas shopping done, just waiting for one more item to arrive in the post and then I'll be happy.

Hope your countdown to Christmas is a happy one too!

The Advent of the White Stuff!

Morning all! I won't risk saying "Good morning" incase you're stuck on a train still trying to get home from work yesterday, or you've fallen over in the ice!!

So, yeah, we have snow. That's the major news. Current measurements are 13" or 33cm in my back garden and its still sporadically falling. Yesterday and today have been snow days at Helenswood where I was meant to be invigilating. I went in to Argos for a 3hr shift yesterday and also got in to school for the Maths exam on Tuesday. Today we're venturing only as far as Sainsbury's (directly across the road from us) and the back garden to take amusing videos of the dogs like this one:



The snow began over the weekend and hasn't really let up since. So now we're on snow day no 2, most of the country is on snow days actually, so there's been plenty of kids roaming the streets with sledges and throwing snow balls etc. Speaking of sledges, we had to put a sign up at work to say that we didn't have any sledges available for sale cos the 18 we had in stock were reserved for other customers - that's if they could get out and down to Argos to collect them!!

Very excitingly I now know what I'm buying everyone for Christmas! Parents are all done and dusted - apart from one thing for my Mum which is in the post (and therefore may take a lil while to come!). Sarah and Tom's presents are also available but getting hold of them is weather-dependant!

So we have 23 days til Christmas now. I had every intention of getting myself an advent calendar but it never happened :-( Nevertheless, Mum and I have already opened the Christmas chocolates, snack mix and, last night, the parents got started on the Christmas booze! Very festive.

As I hinted at in the title, we're also now in Advent! Advent Sunday was last Sunday and now we're looking forward to Christmas Day, marking the day when the Light of the World came into it as a baby. Remember the words of John 1: 1-12 that reminds us that "The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it" (v5) and "Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God" (v12).

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Well we've been out in to the wintery wilderness - I wore my wellies and the snow wasn't far off of the tops! People were parking everywhere; you couldn't tell kerb from road or distinguish any parking spaces. Sainsbury's is completely out of bread and milk:


The dogs certainly seem to enjoy the snow and I have too, but I have to admit with a great deal of reluctance, that, after a while, the novelty value wears off and you realise that its going to have cost you pretty much a week's wages! Also the temperature is due to drop to -6C tonight, so I should freeze my bum off tonight in bed!

That's about all to report at the mo. I'll be back to report as significant events unfold (should there actually be any - since the whole country is at a standstill!)
Dress sensibly and wrap up warm - have fun while the white stuff lasts!