{"id":47426,"date":"2025-12-01T08:31:42","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T08:31:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/?p=47426"},"modified":"2025-12-01T08:31:49","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T08:31:49","slug":"an-early-start-to-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/12\/an-early-start-to-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"An Early Start to Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>It\u2019s December, just, but we kicked off the Christmas events slightly early this year with a pre-Christmas trip to family in Bristol. Logistics meant going a week or so earlier than usual, so we weren\u2019t quite in full festive flow yet, but it turned out to be a good way to get things started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was also our first longer drive in the new car. It\u2019s very similar to the old one, so nothing too exciting there\u2014except for the faster charging when we needed it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First stop was lunch on Friday in a very congested Builth Wells, followed by a very wet drive to Bristol. Then came The Mall at Cribbs Causeway, where all the Tesla chargers were full, so we skipped charging and went shopping instead. \u201cShopping\u201d might be a stretch, as we didn\u2019t really buy much. As usual we just walked past most shops, went into the few that we normally frequent, and bought very little.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We did, however, get collared by an Octopus Energy salesperson who, like most salespeople, was very annoying, didn\u2019t listen, and didn\u2019t adjust his patter even though it was obvious we knew what we were talking about. We\u2019re planning to move to Octopus anyway, and still will, but honestly, he was lucky he didn\u2019t put us off altogether!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We had planned to go to the MFG charging station, but by the time we were done, the Tesla chargers were free again and had dropped to a cheaper rate, so we grabbed a quick top-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After that it was off through the darkness to my parents\u2019 house, where we had a nice roast dinner and settled in for the evening. I\u2019d brought an old iMac down for my dad, so I spent some time setting that up with him\u2014although, typically, it didn\u2019t quite do what he wanted it to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Saturday was plan-free, so we headed to Ikea for a wander around the maze. We did buy a few things this time, including a new duvet and some Swedish Fish, but nothing too exciting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then it was back to my parents\u2019 house for a festive garden gathering with about 22 of us\u2014just the immediate family, and even then some were missing due to being in hospital. I don\u2019t know Jennie, appendicitis seems to be a bit of an extreme length to go to in order to avoid seeing us!!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There was a treasure hunt, Christmas lights, sparklers, glow sticks, a soup kitchen, sausages, snacks, cakes, fires, marshmallows for toasting, and of course plenty of mayhem from the children. Trudi\u2019s garden looked good with all the inflatables, lights, and the cosy pergola too. We could never dream of setting something like this up in our garden\u2014it would all blow away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-jetpack-tiled-gallery aligncenter is-style-rectangular\"><div class=\"has-rounded-corners-10\"><div class=\"tiled-gallery__gallery\"><div class=\"tiled-gallery__row\"><div class=\"tiled-gallery__col\" style=\"flex-basis:66.77051%\"><figure class=\"tiled-gallery__item\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Christmas-Garden.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Christmas-Garden.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=600&#038;ssl=1 600w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Christmas-Garden.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=900&#038;ssl=1 900w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Christmas-Garden.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=1000&#038;ssl=1 1000w\" alt=\"Christmas Garden\" data-height=\"750\" data-id=\"47427\" data-link=\"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/?attachment_id=47427\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Christmas-Garden.jpg\" data-width=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Christmas-Garden.jpg?ssl=1\" data-amp-layout=\"responsive\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"tiled-gallery__col\" style=\"flex-basis:33.22949%\"><figure class=\"tiled-gallery__item\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Toasting-marshmallows.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Toasting-marshmallows.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=600&#038;ssl=1 600w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Toasting-marshmallows.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=900&#038;ssl=1 900w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Toasting-marshmallows.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=1000&#038;ssl=1 1000w\" alt=\"\" data-height=\"750\" data-id=\"47429\" data-link=\"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/?attachment_id=47429\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Toasting-marshmallows.jpg\" data-width=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Toasting-marshmallows.jpg?ssl=1\" data-amp-layout=\"responsive\"\/><\/a><\/figure><figure class=\"tiled-gallery__item\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Xmas-inflatables.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Xmas-inflatables.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=600&#038;ssl=1 600w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Xmas-inflatables.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=900&#038;ssl=1 900w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Xmas-inflatables.jpg?strip=info&#038;w=1000&#038;ssl=1 1000w\" alt=\"Xmas inflatables\" data-height=\"750\" data-id=\"47428\" data-link=\"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/?attachment_id=47428\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Xmas-inflatables.jpg\" data-width=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Xmas-inflatables.jpg?ssl=1\" data-amp-layout=\"responsive\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The gathering didn\u2019t run particularly late, so we headed inside to warm up with hot chocolate before bed. Suddenly it was Sunday morning and time to head home again. At least the weather was better for the drive back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now Monday has arrived along with December, lights are going up everywhere\u2014and there are advent calendars to open too. Christmas is coming!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s December, just, but we kicked off the Christmas events slightly early this year with a pre-Christmas trip to family in Bristol. Logistics meant going a week or so earlier than usual, so we weren\u2019t quite in full festive flow yet, but it turned out to be a good way to get things started. It&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1312,"featured_media":47428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[374],"class_list":["post-47426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family","tag-christmas"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>An Early Start to Christmas - A Simple Life of Luxury<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2025\/12\/an-early-start-to-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An Early Start to Christmas - A Simple Life of Luxury\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s December, just, but we kicked off the Christmas events slightly early this year with a pre-Christmas trip to family in Bristol. 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