A Christmas Like No Other
Not many of us would have predicted, back at the start, that the year would end up like this.
2020 has been challenging to say the least.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who has found it difficult to stay focused this year and thank you, sincerely, to all those who have stuck with me. The ducks will be back with renewed vigour (they’ve promised!) in the new year.
Although it may be a very different kind of Christmas I hope you are able to find a little time to wind down, relax and enjoy the festive season.
Above all, please be careful out there.. stay safe.
Merry Christmas
Jessica x
I always look forward to the ducks turning up in my inbox!
Merry Christmas Jessica; I hope you can relax and enjoy some treats even though things won’t be as we would wish.
Thanks Barbara. I’m hoping it will be just quiet and peaceful. Sometimes those are the best.
I love your robin pic. Happy Christmas Jessica and let’s hope for better things in 2021.
Indeed Chloris. I have never needed spring quite as much as I do this year. But we’re past the shortest day. Only a matter of weeks before the plants start to notice.
Have the best Christmas possible in the current circumstances. I love your blog and am in awe of your restoration projects! I’ve let my blog go quiet over the last year – but who knows how next year will turn out!
Stay safe and have fun. Love the greenhouse!
Thanks Sue. There are a couple more big renovation projects to do but we’ll wait until the pandemic is under better control before we have builders back in. There is quite a bit I can get on with in the interim. And besides, I still haven’t got over the novelty of living in a clean house!
Happy Christmas to you and yours Jessica, a very stange Christmas indeed, but at least the Christmas star has been sent to give us hope for 2021. I took the very hard decision to be on my own this year but with facetime and skype I’m sure it will be a lot of fun being with the family virtually. Next year can only be better.
Far better to have next year to look forward to than risk it for this.
I’m hoping for a quiet Christmas, Storm Bella permitting. Last time I looked we were at 68 mph gusts on the west side of the county on Saturday night. I think you’re safer, outside of the amber warning.
While you are keeping your ducks in a row, may you and yours have a safe and cozy Christmas. And may 2021 bring us all some relief and peace.
Amen to that. We’re certainly all in the thick of it at the moment.
Happy Christmas to you both xxx
I see you’ve opened the bottle already. Me too. Cheers!
Merry Christmas to you too……
Thanks Penny!
Happy Christmas and New Year. Looking forward to the return of the ducks.
Looking forward to seeing more of your rare and interesting plants. Massonia have arrived. And sown.
Happy Christmas and please, a much better new year! Love the picture.
I think we all deserve a better new year! Take care.
Merry Christmas to you both. Best wishes for the new year. As always, appreciate the photos.
I hope you have a peaceful Christmas too Linda. Next year has a lot to live up to, if all our expectations are anything to go by.
A most peaceful and joyous Christmas to both of you Jessica! Thank you for the cheer that you bought this year. Here’s hoping that next year can only be brighter for everyone 🌈
Hear hear. We do need it don’t we.
Your good wishes reciprocated Jessica. As happy a Christmas as you can have for you both
Thanks Derrick. Take care both.
We look forward to seeing the ducks in 2021 and hope it is not too long. Happy Christmas to you both, x
The ducks are quite grateful for their cosy winter quarters tonight. And have you seen the forecast for Saturday? 68mph gusts. Storm Bella. 😰😰
Well, summer’s coming! Perhaps! Yes, had the storm warning – incidentally I joined up with UK South West Storm Chasers and they are pretty spot on! They have an app that flashes up warnings and the usual reports. More recently depressing with the rain and winds – then yippee sun and a good run for Santa. And then there’s Bella. Pfffft! Not again! Strangely we had not had the enormous amounts of flooding out on the road, flood yes, but not halfway up the hill and torrents! We think they may have put another drain in along one of the merging roads further up!
But the chickens are now in the barn while the lady ducks and 3 drakes are in the chicken run. The freezer camp boys (apart from 2) are under netting outside with house and a shelter – do they use the shelter? Nope. Meanwhile in the chicken run, any wet has been turned into a wallow! Chickens meanwhile are enjoying such posh shelter and having the life of Riley! Oh yeah, avian flu – lockdown for them too! And the 28th is supposed to be bringing ice, sleet and snow!
So I will be looking forward to the next lot of pretty photos in the new year. Maybe you can catch the elusive Santa and the reindeer! Meanwhile the cheery little robin is cute! It has been a weird year, I don’t like it! But hoping it will be done and dusted eventually.
Merry Christmas to you all. Thank you for writing the blog – I do enjoy it immensely. And of course a very Happy New Year.
xxx
I thought you were going to say you got a warning and then set off in a flat bed truck up the M5 in pursuit of thunderheads..
The winds have been kindly moderated to a mere 58mph now. But still.
It is so wet. What worries me is all the tall and spindly trees here with their roots in sodden ground. We already have one tree fallen across the drive. I haven’t dared look as far as the 28th. Enough already.
Hope you’ve had a lovely day.
LOL! I watch storms from indoors – if I’m outside I will leg it in as fast as my chubby legs will go! Love the clouds though! A couple of guys actually do go on road trips to see lightening – I’ll leave it to them! Um, I do have a Warrior pick up though, I lug bales of straw around usually! My mum (when we have gone on joy rides BC) leaps up into the passenger seat! She loves it!
Thank you – it wasn’t a bad day at all – super sunrise and sunset with a little sleet in the form of little ice balls in the afternoon. Quiet but nice and the sunshine makes all the difference.
Fingers crossed your trees fare well with the winds and no more damage done. I do hope you also had a lovely day and was able to have a nice long trip around the garden. Batten the hatches! xxx
Mike said the sunrise was a stunner, like the woods were on fire.
It’s been a very lazy day here. I didn’t even make it out to the greenhouse. Tomorrow I shall be out tying down anything that might move! Hope the birds will be OK. Lucky for them you have the new barn.
At the moment the chickens are in the barn living the life of Riley! The ducks are now in the chicken run so that is pretty secure. The boys destined for freezer camp (and my future 2 boys I want to breed from) are outside the run, but within the electric fencing, where they have their house and just recently we made a shelter for them – it’s pretty cosy and dry – do they shelter in there? Nope! Silly birds! They just hunker down and sleep!
They might change their minds tonight.. and yes, it does look cold next week. Mike will be complaining (again) that the electric meter light is flashing like a disco ball, the greenhouse heater takes a lot of juice.
LOL! Maybe solar eventually will reduce his blood pressure!
🙂
Fingers crossed for all tonight, feathers or no. Still 58mph..
What a wonderful photo! Earlier this year I’d remarked to friends that 2020 was on my list of one of the top 3 worst years of my life but, as we’re nearing its end, it’s most definitely has taken first place. I’m hoping for better things for all of us in 2021, although the US still has to manage a peaceful transition of power in January and, given the behavior of the reprehensible person currently fomenting conspiracy theories in order to line his coffers and pardoning his cronies right and left, that’s not entirely certain.
Best wishes for a happy Christmas, Jessica, and fingers crossed for a smoother ride in 2021.
Every day for the last four and a bit years has been more incredulous than the last. I guess it was never going to end quietly. We all deserve a smoother 2021 so my fingers are firmly crossed.
Lovely picture Jessica, and the close up in your header of the cyclamen shows their details beautifully. Best wishes to you both, for now and next year
Thanks Cathy. I noticed today the wild snowdrops in the sunnier parts of the garden are showing signs of white. That I take as the true start of the gardening season. And so it begins..
Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones, Jessica. We’re all hoping that next year will be a much happier year for all of us.
For you in the US especially so, with the combined horrors of Covid and political chaos. Stay safe Dorothy.
I have found it difficult to focus this year. I try to do my best to keep people around me safe when others around me have lesser standards leading me to feel a little depressed at times.
Interestingly I have seen many people posting spring flowers blooming in December and some of my summer plants are still flowering.
Happy Christmas to you and your family.
Raising a glass for a brighter New Year.
It’s been a horribly unsettling year and it seems to be getting worse rather than better. I am pinning my hopes for freedom on the vaccine and just pray that it comes quickly enough and above all that it works.
The garden is very confused, many plants are early here too and yet roses are still blooming away! They are suffering in all the rain but it doesn’t stop them trying!
Happy New Year Cherie.
I hope your Christmas was safe and as happy as it could be.
Thanks Sue. We usually have a quiet Christmas at home so, for us, it wasn’t that different really. Home is the safest place to be at the moment.
Yes, what a year! Here’s to a better 2020! Stay safe a have a wonderful Christmas and new year.xxx
It will be quite a novelty to get back to something approaching normal next year, I hope there are no hiccups. Having been at home for nearly ten months it’ll be a tough call as to where to go first. A garden most likely!!
Cheers to the returning light and 2021.
I can already feel the energy rising having got past the shortest day. 🙂
Sending good wishes your way too Jessica, especially for the year to come x
You too Gina. I hope you are fully recovered now, all ready for the New Year and hopefully the return of some freedom!
That bird photo is beautiful. Yes, let’s hope 2021 is better. Here in California( northern) it’s been cold but mostly clear. A few storms have blown thru but nothing too bad. Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Thanks. Our little robins, and their antics in the snow, are one of the (few) highlights of winter. Up to now this year it has been all rain but there are snow showers forecast tonight, brrrrr!
All best wishes for the New Year Christina.