Driving home for Christmas

This morning I waved goodbye to the boyfriend for four days and I'm now not seeing him until Boxing Day. As he works for one of the emergency services he's working throughout Christmas, and as he works such long shifts I'm going home to my parents' so I'm not on my own.  Will be sad to spend Christmas without him (made worse by the fact that the dog keeps looking all over the house for him!) but I'm looking forward to spending a few days with my family, eating lots of mini foods (I've decided the diet is off until the New Year), playing board games and sitting by the fire in my pajamas.

Luckily I have finished all my Christmas shopping and handmade present making, so all that remains to be done is to pack it all up (along with the dog, the hamster and lots of loungewear) and head over to theirs this afternoon.

Here are some of the handmade goodies I've packaged up for our friends and family over the last few days - maltesers fudge, white chocolate and baileys fudge, teacup candles, mince pies and peppermint bark.

And here are all of the presents that need packing up and ferrying over to my parents' house... (We even have a stocking for Bodhi the puppy and Pancake the hamster).

Yesterday I took the day off work so Tom and I could spend the day together before our time apart.  We took Bodhi for a walk in the nature reserve at Chewton Bunny.  Here is a little long exposure of a waterfall I took whilst on the walk...

We also stopped off at a clifftop cafe and had lunch; here is the view of the cliffs from our table, and Tom's trio of burgers; got major food envy when that arrived!

On Tuesday, Tom went for a job interview for a training position where we both already work. It's a 12 month secondment but would mean a promotion and that he would be based two miles up the road from us rather than having to drive for two hours a day like he does at the moment.  When we arrived back from the walk he got a phone call to let him know he'd got the job! So we went straight back out again and bought a bottle of wine and spent the evening celebrating.

Hope you're all having a lovely time getting ready for Christmas - I am taking my netbook to my parents' so will probably be sharing lots more Christmassy photos over the next few days!