I can’t quite believe that December is just days away. It doesn’t seem five minutes since we were revelling in the glory of an Indian summer, strutting around in t-shirts as though we lived on balmy Mediterranean shores. Now, as Christmas looms heavily, along with the weather, it feelslike a different sort of ‘chilling’ all together. Brrrr. Everybody’s footsteps are that little bit quicker. There’s too much to do and not enough time!
In our house we’re mid-way through decorating the children’s bedrooms and deciding which furniture to sample next so basically it’s chaos. A trip upstairs requires several deep breaths and the balancing skills of an acrobat as you attempt to negotiate your way through the mayhem. What with this and the thought of Christmas shopping, I feel a little overwhelmed!
To help ease our stress, we decided to get up early on Sunday morning and make some progress in…. well, something. We weren’t sure what. However, after about 20 minutes and a quick scan of the forecast, we agreed that life’s too short not to make the most of a sunny Sunday no matter how much Christmas shopping you’ve got to do. We piled in the car, winterwoollied up and were off to beautiful Yorkshire.
Our first stop was Brimham Rocks where the children had so much fun. The air was crisp and fresh as they laughed and giggled running over, under, through and around the weird and wonderful rock formations.
After an hour or so there we devoured our picnic then headed over to Gordale Scar. As we approached, the last of the clouds melted away to reveal a beautiful cobalt sky. A world apart from shopping centres and nasty half-decorated bedrooms. Bliss! This is such a breathtaking place and was lovely and quiet on this particular day – thanks to everyone charging to the shops no doubt. I could have stayed here for hours taking photos of the trees and the sunset and more trees…The mess and ridiculously long shopping list never (well hardly) entered my head. Twas a real tonic.
Coming home I felt refreshed and ready for the onslaught of December. Bring on the shopping! Bring on the pine needles all over the floor! Bring on the mountains of food that won’t fit in the cupboards! Bring on the wrapping of really awkward shaped presents, then as you hold your finger on the paper, realise you’ve run out of sellotape! Bring on the rest of the decorating!…Bring on the rest of the decorating? Ok maybe not, but never underestimate time out from the chaos. Those presents can wait, your sanity can’t!