Hectic

Oh things have been hectic round here. I seem to be either working the late shift or else out catching up with friends before we all disappear into a string of office parties. I have four this year - crazy I know but it's something to do with being part of a small unit that is part of a slightly larger team that is part of a bigger department...I also was also just informed today that instead of doing something sensible like a Secret Santa, everyone in my office apparently buys everyone else presents, something I was not aware of having only been in this job since May. There are only five of us in my immediate team admittedly, but that is four more people onto a present list that I am only vaguely on top of as it is.

I tried to do some Christmas shopping on Saturday when myself and a couple of friends returned to our beloved Cambridge for the day, but it turned into a saunter round the charity shops (very fruitful - but only if, like me, you are in the market for retro, bow-tie wearing, china zebra ornaments, old sets of scrabble or framed cross-stitch pictures depicting thatched cottages) followed by lunch with more friends who are still studying in the city, followed by an unplanned diversion into a church Christmas fete (again, plenty of brilliant finds for us all; vintage Laura Ashley suits, floral cotton dressing gowns, illustrated secondhand wildlife books, even the odd raffle ticket, but nothing that would constitute as an actual gift for a family member or respected colleague per se - though I would love to see my modern-design-loving father's face as he unwrapped a kitsch, Bambi lookalike, china zebra).

This weekend is going to be a mad baking session in preparation for Sunday's WI fete, flyering for the fete at Saturday's Bust Craftacular, with a friend's Christmas party on the Saturday night thrown in for good measure. Yikes.

There are a million and one things I want to post about but haven't had time to yet, including the amazing Wildlife Photographer Awards that I went to see a couple of Fridays ago with Anna during a late night opening of the Natural History museum, and the film 'An Education' that I saw even longer ago. Two weekends ago I was able to sit down with a mug of hot spiced berry cordial with a dash of port, light a few candles and flick through the many postcards I'd bought at the exhibition (see photo above), this weekend I was too busy even to pick up my camera.

I am looking forward to going home for Christmas in two weeks' time, to having time to sit down with a good book or favorite film, to pottering around the kitchen and filling the house with the smell of orange and cinnamon.

In the meantime though I am secretly enjoying the packed-fullness of this time of year, the squeezing in of people and parties and present buying around the day job, making purchases on etsy and Amazon in the lunchbreak and then dashing to the toilets for a flick of mascara and a change of shoes at the end of the day.

At this rate my colleagues may find themselves with only a box of Quality Street and a smile to send them on their way this Christmas.