Seasons of Joy: A look Back Over Lockdown

Apologies this has taken so long to get to. We all had a cold last week and decided to take it easy…

The lockdown for us was a mixture of high stress and wonderful peace in equal measures. The high stress came from situations that were completely out of our control and mainly to do with people outside our immediate family – as such I shan’t be talking too much about those times.

Obviously, the biggest news was that as soon as our two previous guests left after staying a couple of months recuperating, Charlotte’s boyfriend moved in. At first it was only for a few days to gather his thoughts but by July he decided to move in indefinitely. He is a lovely boy and treats Charlotte like a princess!

However, he moved in the day before lockdown, and this meant that during lockdown there were eight of us in a fairly small house 24 hours a day. Never have I been so grateful for the fact we all get on so well. Of course there were moments when everybody wanted to pull their own and everyone elses’ hair out, but they were few and far between. For the most part, we all did the best we could.

Gary was blessed to be able to go to work each day, something we do not take for granted. He works on a nearby golf course and his boss said that we could walk the golf course (it wasn’t open to the public), so each day we walked in the most lovely of settings.

Charlotte was going through a major relapse at the beginning of lock down and was using a cane to walk – she would often walk for a small amount of time and then sit with Ads whilst we walked the whole way.

I kept everything casual and easy. We sat in front of the TV each night, eating dinner as a family, first watching Harry Potter, then Lord of the Rings, then Pirates of the Caribbean and finally White Collar. We were all glad to get back to family dinners but not eating at the table meant that the children could all leave their schooling out on the table which was particularly useful for Ads and Charlotte.

Each night we did a fun activity until they weren’t fun anymore and then we tended to seek out time on our own. I was happy with either. My goal throughout was that we made the most of being at home without killing each other! – Which we managed fairly well. I mean… everyone IS still alive!

Anyway, here are some photos behind the scenes:

I am going to have to do one more post because we finally completed our shed project over lockdown. We are now the owners of a music room, art studio and teen hangout. We also decorated the younger girls room, Thomas’ new room, created a writing nook for Charlotte and decorated the spare room for Ads. Oh and we managed to spruce up the kitchen a bit with a new counter top and the living room with a new u-shaped sofa, which believe it or not, somehow manages to fit all eight of us on!

Until next time…