My Journey to Less Waste #6 - Christmas Gifting

Hi there everyone 😀

Whilst this post may seem a little late to be useful there are obvious reasons why I've had to wait until now to share it with you. Hopefully it may give inspiration for other gifting occasions throughout the year ... or you could always pop back before starting your 2019 Christmas shopping 😀

Before we started our less waste journey I’d already decided that I was doing Christmas gifting a bit different this year. It had gotten a bit like we were all just giving each other shopping lists for what we wanted, taking away the element of thought and surprise. 

To be fair this habit had been borne out of trying to make sure that we didn’t all buy each other stuff that was quickly discarded and not really wanted, but it was just starting to not feel that nice.

Of course, when going off piste there is always the danger of getting it very wrong but I decided I wanted to risk it this year and see how it went.

We’d also been talking with a number of friends and had decided to cut down on the list of people that we buy for. So instead of buying gifts for some friends we decided we would spend spend time together instead ... on a nice meal out over the Christmas period, which we all really enjoyed.

Since starting our journey I came across this infographic on Facebook. I'm afraid I can't remember where I found it or who shared it so am unable to give credit, but it really resonated and did form the basis of some of our shopping.

I thought it might be interesting to just share with you some of the gifts that we bought this year so here we go ...

Bobby - Nephew - Age 2
The difficulty when buying for this little man is just not to go totally crazy as I kept seeing things everywhere that I knew he would love. I also knew that lots of other people would be thinking exactly the same so tried to keep it sensible as he's only 2, he's got loads of stuff already and it can be a bit overwhelming ...

I ended up restricting myself to just four gifts, starting with this Little Town 12 piece grocery set which I bought from Aldi. It came with baked beans, ketchup, yoghurt, cornflakes, butter, cheese, milk, ham, teabags, biscuits, jam and orange juice. He had a kitchen for his birthday and I just knew he would love these extra store cupboard provisions.
It came in a lovely sturdy cardboard box and all the provisions were individually wrapped in white tissue paper, so that was a massive less plastic win on the packaging front ...
David sent me some pictures of him after he'd opened them and I think it's safe to say that he quite likes them ...
My second gift for Bobby also came from Aldi ... you really can't beat them for children's toys. This time a (mainly) wooden percussion set. It wasn't totally plastic free and there was some plastic packaging, but I bought this before we started really thinking about trying to reduce our waste.
Hopefully the little man will have lots of fun making lots of noise ... sorry mum and dad 😏

My third gift for the little man was a matching pairs set that I made myself. I am so pleased with how this has turned out and hope it will last him for a good few years. He's probably a bit young to be playing the game properly but I am sure he will have fun finding the matching patterns.

We managed to find a cheap wooden box on the market which we decorated with some robots cut from some wrapping paper and Martin made me some dividers so we can keep the squares all nice and tidy. A couple of coats of yacht varnish and a few Scrabble letters and we were all done.
My last gift for the little man was one of the very few gifts that I bought from Amazon this year ... I have to say I was quite impressed with the packaging for these Welkom wooden stacking robots ... no plastic in sight at all. Just nine wooden painted robots in a wooden box, delivered in a cardboard envelope.
Again he might be a bit little for stacking them but I know he will love the colours, counting them and lining them all up.
I managed to find some fab robot fabric and made him a little drawstring bag which will be perfect for keeping them all together when out and about.

David and Alison - brother and girlfriend - 30 somethings
I really wanted to find experiences that would go down well for David & Alison and we managed to find a nice local bistro that did vouchers, where they can go either for breakfast, lunch or an afternoon tea. They can take the little man and have a walk round the lake and a sit in the sunshine while enjoying a bit of a treat ...
We also got them tickets to the Giant Miniature Weekend at the Statfold Barn Railway later in the year. With trains, trams and lots to see it’s a fab family day out.

And ... I just have to tell you this. This is the poster they are using to advertise the event on Facebook and the top two photographs are ones that we took when we visited last year. I was pretty excited when they messaged me to ask if I would mind them using them 😮😮😮

We also bought them a few little bits ...

A hemp and bamboo body scrub glove from TKMaxx for David and some of his favourite posh shower gel ... in recyclable aerosals ...
... and a Wrendale diary and a nice room spray for Alison. All useable and then recyclable ...

Sarah and Mark - sister and boyfriend - 50 somethings
This one was a bit of a gamble. Vouchers for a meal and a cinema viewing at a small local cinema. Somewhere we had mentioned going some time ago but never got round to it, so I was really hoping they would enjoy the treat.
I was delighted when my sister opened it and said it was somewhere she'd always wanted to go.

Mum and Dad - 70 somethings
Afternoon tea vouchers for a nice place they’ve never been. It’s on the way to the hospital, which they seem to visit quite a lot so should be easily accessible.
There are also a few little shops and a marina to have a look around so they may be able to make an afternoon of it.

We also got them tickets to the Giant Miniature Weekend at the Statfold Barn Railway, so hopefully it will be a really nice family day out.

I also got mum a wooden hanging heart for the garden. We have one like this and she’s admired it a few times, so when I saw this one I just had to get it. She loves her garden and I knew she would love it and have no trouble finding a spot for it to hang from.
And dad had a bottle of gin ... enough said!

Lesley and Tom - very good friends - 50 & 60 somethings
Afternoon tea vouchers for a lovely little place in town, though they could be used breakfast if preferred and a new oven mitt to match their new kitchen. I was going to make one but just didn’t have the will ... sorry guys ...
I also bought this for Lesley and I’m kind of a bit embarrassed to share this picture as it has to be the biggest less waste and less plastic fail ever. I did buy it before we’d started to be more aware of what we were buying and I won’t be buying jokey presents like this again. I can only hope that it does get used and experiences some sunny holidays before being discarded as a novelty.

Jess and Lauren - Lesley and Tom's girls - 20 somethings
I opted for Boots gift vouchers for the girls. I know the gift cards are plastic and the girls will probably buy something that is not that environmentally friendly ... though you never know. I just wanted them to have something that would be useful and not discarded quickly as being just a gimmicky present.

Rachel and Tom - Goddaughter and boyfriend - 30 somethings
Rachel had also admired the hanging heart we had in the garden when round for a summer BBQ and I’d already bought this one for her before we agreed on a no gift Christmas. They have not long bought their first home together and I just know they will find a good home for this.

Chris and Jenny - 30 somethings
Our good friends Jackie and Phil's eldest and his wife. They all came round for a BBQ in the summer and Jenny admired my tea light holders and I found some more exactly the same which I bought way before we’d decided on a no present Christmas so they will still be wrapped up for them both.

Hannah and Megan - 20 and 16
Jo and Steve’s daughters ... we decided not to buy for each other but I still wanted to get something for the girls.

A while back Hannah had commented on a Facebook post about the scourge of single use coffee cups and funnily enough Megan did too more recently. It was easy to choose reusable coffee cups as gifts for these two, especially when there was a mermaid option as Hannah loves all things mermaid. I only hope Meg is as fond as unicorns, but I don’t think you ever get too old for unicorns.
I also decided to pop in a shampoo bar for them to just have a try with, though both with lots of lovely long hair I’m not sure how they will get in but at least they can say that they tried.
This has really made me smile today. Whilst writing this post I have just received a Whatsapp message and photo from Hannah ...

Martin - The Hubster
We were very reserved on our exchanging of gifts this year. I bought Martin a pair of badly needed new slippers and some undies and he bought me The Little Book of Hygge, which I have been after for ages and a refraction ball for taking photos through, which I am really looking forward to having a play with.

When it came to wrapping, apart from the robot wrap for Bobbys gifts, I didn’t buy anything. I had a stash of wrapping paper which will last for a good few years yet, plenty of tissue paper I’d saved from gifts I’d been given in previous years and a drawer full of gift and bottle bags that I always save ... can’t remember the last time I bought one of those.
When it came to gift tags Bobby's was a Scrabble Christmas decoration I made which can be hung on the tree once he’s unwrapped his pressies.

The others are either from my stash or made from last year’s Christmas cards.

I do have loads of foil ribbon and bows still left in my wrapping stash, but decided against using them this year, so they can all just sit there for a while longer.

It was really interesting looking at this year’s wrapping compared to that of 2015 ...

I fair shocked myself with that comparison I can tell you.

So, as a first Christmas on our journey to less waste how did we do? I know we weren't perfect, but overall I am quite pleased with how we did ... after all it is a journey. We did buy less gifts, I definitely bought less from Amazon and supported lots more independent traders. We definitely bought more experiences than stuff and there was a bit of hand made in there. And ... I wasn't expecting this, but it was quite a painless experience for me from a shopping point of view.

Most pleasing of all was that everything was well received, even though we'd gambled on pretty much everything.

I'm definitely going to be trying to keep on with giving experiences as gifts and my first birthday gift purchased this year has been vouchers for a local beauty salon.

I know there is lots more we could do but for my journey at this time, I'm quite happy 😀

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Joy in the Everyday Ordinary - December, 21-31

Hi there everyone 😀

Welcome to my first post of 2019 ... it's lovely to be back after being 'off air' for a couple of weeks.

I hope you've all had a peaceful Christmas and New Year break. For us, this is the last of Martin's four weeks off work and to say that we've been taking it slow is an understatement.

I think we are starting to fall into a bit of an annual pattern where, after a busy last few months of the year, January and February are becoming our recovery time. Where we sit back, rest up, take stock and start to get geared up for the Spring.

Having really recognised this last year ... this year we are approaching things differently. Instead of moping about and feeling cross with ourselves for not feeling raring to go, we are embracing the time of year and revelling in taking it slow.

We don't have a to do list, we don't have lots of plans, we are eating badly, doing very little exercise and generally taking it as it comes and enjoying just chilling out, interspersed with catching up with friends and family and the very infrequent foray out into the fresh air to blow the cobwebs away.

I know we are late to the party, but we have just watched the latest series of Luther and have now gone back to the start so there is some serious binge watching of TV going on, with plenty of very late nights and shockingly late mornings. With Martin back at work next week, we need to start weaning ourselves off this, but are enjoying it while we can.

So here we are right at the start of another new year and I'm starting off with the last of my everyday ordinarys (or should it be ordinairies?) for 2018 ...

Day 21 - After doing the weekly shop and a treat of fish finger sandwiches for lunch, which we haven't had for a long long time, I managed to make a start on an embroidery project which I bought all of the stuff for about a year ago. It was intended to be completed last winter, ready for Spring 2018, but I never built up the confidence to give it a go, but I really felt like doing something crafty and this was just the job.

Day 22 - The start of the Christmas TV guide and the first of our regular Christmas social excursions. We went to a local Miller & Carter with Jackie & Phil for a fab steak dinner in a twinkly restaurant overlooking the lake. It was back to their's for chilled out drinks lolling on the sofas and putting the world to rights before a short walk home. A lovely way to start the festive season.

Day 23 - Martin spent the best part of the day doing more jet washing, this time in the rain. I, on the other hand, spent the day tucked up in the warm eating toasted crumpets and chocolate log, whilst finishing off my embroidery project, which I am really chuffed with. After Martin came in and got clean and dry we put the fire on and curled up n the sofa watching a film for the rest of the afternoon, before finishing off the day with the kind of picky tea that you only really have at Christmas time.

Day 24 - We finished off our Christmas pressie delivering and had our traditional Christmas Eve meal out at Pizza Express with Jo, Steve, Hannah & Megan. We had a lovely evening and were home in plenty of time to hunker down for a second viewing of The Greatest Showman, which was definitely worth watching again.

Day 25 - We had a lovely day, dropping in to see Lesley, Tom, Lauren & Jess on the way to mum & dad's, where we spent the day with the whole family. We all stayed longer than expected and the 'less waste' presents seemed to go down a treat.

Day 26 - Boxing Day and we went to Lesley & Tom's for our traditional turkey and chip lunch which is always a real treat. We were back home for another flake out on the sofa with a film ... this time Ocean's 8. I did intend on having a look through my new book that Martin bought me for Christmas but other than a very quick flick, this treat is being saved for another time.

Day 27 - Our first day for a while with nothing on the calendar so what to do? Well, other than setting up our new Amazon Echo and seeing what we could get Alexa to do, not very much at all.

Day 28 - Another late get up, braving the supermarkets to do the weekly shop, where we couldn't resist these new wellies for the little man. We ended the day with Chinese and TV. I think we need to try and shake ourselves up a bit ... we seem to have wound right down, which has been lovely, but we are both starting to feel a little sloth like.

Day 29 - And yes, another late get up ... we have got soooooo lazy. My blue dimple fleece arrived which is just the job for a blanket project that I will be getting on with in the New Year. Other than nipping out to get some flowers as we were at Jackie & Phil's for a meal this evening, we didn't do much else at all. We had a lovely evening with Jackie & Phil, Chris & Jenny and Rachel & Tom, with lots of good food and good conversation. With the kids now having left home it's not that often we all manage to get together at the same time so it is lovely to try and do this at least once a year over the Christmas period ... another Christmas tradition that is a real favourite.

Days 30 & 31 - Jackie & Phil were coming to us for our traditional New Year's Eve get together, when we are all at home. Sunday was spent getting organised and having a bit of a tidy up, finding homes for all of the random bits and pieces that always accumulate on the dining room table and starting to do a bit of food prep. New Year's Eve was lovely. The food was fab and the conversation even better. We watched the fireworks at midnight, followed by the Madness concert. It was 3am before Jackie & Phil went took the short walk home ... we all impressed ourselves with our staying power!

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So that was us for 2018 

Thank you everyone for following my Life of Pottering for another year

Here's looking forward to seeing what 2019 brings 😀

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Joy in the Everyday Ordinary - December, 11-20

Hi there everyone 😀

I can't quite believe that it will be Christmas Eve on Monday. Whilst all is ready here ... the presents are wrapped, the trimmings are up, cards have been sent, the food shop has been done and plenty of plans have been made ... I can't say I really feel that Christmassy as yet. Maybe it's an age thing, maybe some of the excitement has finally started to dwindle ... does that happen to everyone, or is it just me?

I am looking forward to it, to spending time with friends and family, seeing the little man get excited, to chilling out and watching some good Christmas films, as well as eating lots of stuff that we only have in at this time of year.

We are off out for our first Christmas social engagement tonight, maybe that will kickstart that Christmas feeling ... I'm sure it will.

For now, here's what we've been up to over the last 10 days ...

Day 11 - Well the wrapping is done. How easy it has been this year, with a change in the way that I've decided to approach Christmas gifts. There's been no stressing over what to get people, no shopping to lists, no marathon wrapping sessions and no need to buy any wrap, cards or tags. It's been a breeze this year and I will tell you more about it in a 'Journey to Less Waste' post in the New Year.

Day 12 - We seem to be having a festive postal delivery every day at the moment and it is a real treat to see those handwritten envelopes with real stamps on them 🎄

Day 13 - I had a gentle day of pottering today, whilst Martin had his last day of work until the New Year. I had an unexpected order for a batch of Christmas gift tags and was more than happy to parcel a stack up and send them off with the postie.

Day 14 - It was Friday, which meant shopping but not before heading to our favourite garden centre for lunch. We had a lazy evening cosied up watching TV films off the planner and making a start of the annual chocolate log.

Day 15 - Finally!!! My Christmas print came, which will replace the Hello Autumn print on the mantel in the lounge. I can now start to put away the autumn bits and get the mantel ready for Christmas.

Day 16 - Sunday, and we met up with David, Alison and the little man at Rosliston Forestry Centre, where we had a good old walk looking for birds, insects and other interesting things. We had a lovely couple of hours, including a couple of pitstops in The Hub Cafe curled up by the fire eating big breakfasts and cake 💜💜💜

Day 17 - It may seem a bit dull but I am truly thrilled to have my replacement extractor fitted and ready to go. We have been living with a gap for a good few weeks and the kitchen has looked like a bit of a war zone whilst waiting for this job to be completed. It was lovely to be able to cook this evening being able to see what was going on. Well done Martin!

Day 18 - It was a wet and windy one today. We spent it hunkered down with the Christmas mantel and didn't do much at all.

Day 19 - It was cold but very bright today and we spent the morning in the garden doing some of those 'end of year' jobs that always get worse as time goes on. Martin then had an unexpected afternoon spent jet washing, of which the patio was in desperate need. It was dark before he came in and our TV watching was interrupted by the annual knock on the door by the local Round Table volunteers heralding the arrival of Santa. I can't claim any responsibility for this photo. I did take some but they were rubbish so I've pinched this one from my neighbour, who got a far better shot. 

Day 20 - I've just had to do a before and after picture to show how fab the patio looks following Martin's efforts yesterday. It all just feels so much cleaner out there now. I'm sure it will need doing again in the spring, but, for now ... it is a pleasure to look at again.

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So ... that's it for now. Whilst I don't feel that Christmassy there is lots of Christmas stuff going on, along with those 'end of the year' jobs that we always try and squeeze in so that we feel like we are finishing the year in a good place.

I will be back in the new Year to let you know how the rest of our festive season went, along with a little bit more from Cornwall, plenty from our Somerset holiday back in November and a look at how our 'less waste' Christmas gift giving went down.

Merry Christmas everyone ... See you in 2019 🎄🎆🎇🎈🎉

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A Fortnight in Cornwall #7 - Simply Bude ... Simply Lovely

Hi there everyone 😀

It was the Tuesday of our second week and the sunshine and blue skies had returned and were forecast to stay until we headed for home on Friday 🌞🌞🌞

We had a nice steady day, staying local, planned and we started off with another walk out to the point at Widemouth Bay where we were dropping off an Isla Stone before heading to The Weir for a family lunch.

We did not expect to see this ...
It's not everyday you get to see someone taking their tortoise out for a walk. Seriously ... and this was one of Zola's favourite spots and, to be fair, it is easy to see why. Pretty much made our day I can tell you.

From here it was just a short drive to The Weir, where we were meeting Mum, Dad, David, Alison and Bobby for a family lunch.

After lunch there was plenty of time for a bit of exploring with grandad ...

... trying out the slide ...

... before just have a bit of a chill time with dad ...

 Well ... maybe not total chill out ...

Eventually we dragged ourselves away from the playground at The Weir and took a drive to Crooklets Beach where we had a sit in the sun with a drink at the cafe, which we'd never visited before. We very soon agreed that it could very easily become a favourite.

It is a beautiful beach, with plenty of sand and lots of rock pools for hunting in.
The beach huts at Crooklets are particularly photogenic too ...

We caught up with David, Alison and Bobby on the beach and spent a lovely couple of hours just mooching about, looking for shells and watching the little man play ...

All too soon it was time to pack up camp and head off the beach ...

And we waved good bye to the little man and the beach as the sun began to drop ...

Wednesday was another glorious day and we spent it just pottering around our favourite places. We managed to find a sneaky free parking spot alongside the canal ...
The tide was out and our first port of call was our final wander out to the breakwater ...

We even managed to climb up to the lookout point today ...

We found these at the top ... not sure what they're all about but just had to capture them for posterity ...
As it was such a glorious day the beach was a bit busier than it had been and there was plenty going on ...
... and, as always, the views were amazing ...

As it was so glorious, we hadn't really seen the beach pool yet and we were wanting to squeeze every last ounce from our last couple of days, we decided to walk across Summerleaze Beach to Crooklets, where we were planning on having lunch at the beach cafe overlooking the sea.
We headed back along the breakwater, over the canal and onto the beach heading for the bathing pool. The views looking back across the beach to the breakwater were just beautiful and something I just know I could never tire of ...
We headed up the steps to the bathing pool and made our way around the path around the pool towards Crooklets Beach ...

Great minds must really think alike because, as we rounded the cliff to head for the cafe we found David, Alison and Bobby having set up camp in the rocks.

Of course there was time for a bit of a play on the beach and a wander down to the sea before walking back holding the little man's hand ... wading through every single pool of water, no matter how deep. We spotted tiny fish and a baby crab scuttling across the sand before burying himself down deep in the cool and safety of the sand.

Mum and dad turned up too and we headed up to the cafe for lunch with the most spectacular view. We just sat, soaking up the autumn sunshine, looking out over the sea, trying to spot the pied wagtails as they hopped amongst the pebbles on the beach. Just trying to capture this moment in time ... to drink it all in and be able to bring it back on the cold dark days of winter back home ... I really can't believe in all the years we've been coming to Bude, we've never eaten here before ...

After lunch the tide was still low so we headed back on to the beach to say good bye to the family, who were all heading for home tomorrow. I really had forgotten just how many interesting things there are to have fun with on the beach ...

The pure joy that this little man finds in the most simplest of things really does make you see in a different light.

We walked back to Summerleaze along the beach this time, past the bathing pool ...
... and the half tide cross ...

... back up on to the canal, where I had a sneaky ice cream before making our way back to West Holm, along the coast road.

As we curved the road coming on to Widemouth Bay we saw the sweep of the bay, sparkling in the afternoon sunshine and it fair took our breath away ...

It really had been the most perfect of days 💜💜💜

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