It’s December so it’s time for me to write up what I did in the penultimate month of 2023.

What I have read

I carried on with a few witchy-themed titles I had left over from Halloween, and then decided to start with the first of the Christmas-themed books.

What I have read:

• The Wake-Up Call – Beth O’Leary
• The Secret Island – review parts one, two, three, four, five, six and seven.
• The Burnout – Sophie Kinsella
• Sorcery & Stories (Library Witch Mystery #3) Elle Adams
• Hex and the City – Kate Johnson
• Big Witch Energy (Starfall Point #2) – Molly Harper
• The Marlow Murder Club (Marlow Murder Club #1) – Robert Thorogood
• Five on Kirrin Island Again
• Little Donkey (Frogmorton Farm #1.5) – Jodi Taylor
• Proof of Murder (Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery #4) – Lauren Elliott
• Carry On (Simon Snow #1) – Rainbow Rowell
• Five Go Off to Camp
• Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop (Christmas Bookshop #2) – Jenny Colgan
• No-one Ever Has Sex on Christmas Day (No-one Ever Has Sex #3) – Tracy Bloom

And I’m still working on:

• Thank You for Listening – Julia Whelan
• Five Get Into Trouble 

What I have watched

• We have continued watching The Simpsons (we’ve reached season 12 now), but we’ve also started ER from the beginning again.
• We decided it was time to start with the Christmas movies on Tuesday nights so we watched Christmas With You (it has Freddie Prinze Jr in it) and Holidate, which turned out to not be that Christmassy at all.
• Brodie had another sleepover, at his grandparents’ this time, so we were able to watch Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King extended edition, which comes in at four hours not including the credits.
• We also managed to watch Only Connect and Taskmaster weekly.

What I have done

• Ewan, Brodie and I went back over to St Andrews to collect as many of the Scottie dogs as we could, I think we ended up only having 4 we didn’t see, and one of those had been taken away for repair. While there we visited the Christmas Shop and Brodie persuaded us that we needed another decoration for our tree, a red caravan.
• Brodie and I went with my parents and sister into town after school one afternoon to visit the Waterstone’s Wishing Tree, where local young carers are able to leave wishes for shoppers to fulfil. We’ve done it most years lately but this was Brodie’s first time choosing something, after a hot chocolate and cake, of course. The five of us also had an after school trip to a local garden centre to visit their Christmas Shop – they always go all out on decorating it. There was also hot chocolate and cake on this trip too.
• We took Brodie ice skating a couple of times – for lessons, there’s no way I’d be getting on the ice! The second time we went to McDonald’s for breakfast first.
• I had a buffet breakfast another morning, when I met a friend for a catch-up. Definitely took a little too much, but it was very good.
• Brodie and I went into town with my sister for the Hooley – a celebration for St Andrew’s day – and watched the parade go past before having tea at Toni Macaroni.
• We put up our Christmas tree the last weekend of November.

How was your November?