In our house Christmas is about relaxation, red wine, long walks, chocolate, laughter and spending time with the people that you love. After all, when else are you able to drink Merlot and eat Maltesers at 10 in the morning?
For me personally, it is also about quiet contemplation. A chance to gather my thoughts, unravel the ball of wool that was the chaos of the previous year and set my goals for the year ahead. List making. Goal setting. Forward planning. Call it what you will. Paul, my husband, will be rolling his eyes as he knows he will probably end up with a huge ‘to do’ list, he will say “Nic, why can’t you just ‘be’ ”?
But I find this strange little ritual I have quite cathartic. It makes me feel fresh and new, ready for the challenges of the year ahead. Almost like having a good spring clean of my mind, mentally drawing a line underneath bad decisions or goals not met and allowing myself to move onwards and upwards.
I have had an interesting year to say the least (haven’t we all?) lots of highs, a few lows, some regrets, lots of challenges, the odd tear and many big grin moments. What have I learnt? What will I do differently this year?

• Be honest and true to myself
• Give the people I love more of my time
• Act with integrity, passion and self belief
• See more of the world
• Believe that I can make a difference
• Eat more chocolate

And so probably on the 28th December it will begin.
The 5am start, the wide eyed, maniacal woman, list in hand, calendar open, domestic paperwork filed into almost an operations report, holiday brochures at the ready, fitness plan written, also armed with feather duster and rubber gloves for spring clean don’t you know……………
Like I said, my little ritual. A bit like a caterpillar shrugging off her chrysalis, dusting down her new butterfly wings and fluttering off headlong into the spring.
A chance of a whole new start – how great is that?
In the meantime, I have another 10 days to fit in as much cake eating as possible and buy at least one more pair of shoes…