Still here, still coughing

Well, Christmas wasn't too bad after all.

It wasn't quite a 'chestnuts roasting on an open fire' affair though. More of a 'shivering under a blanket on the sofa' experience really. Poor hubby had to cope with a less than ideal Christmas Day enduring my sniffy, coughy, grumpy alter ego, and he did so wonderfully. Thankfully, he seems to be immune to whatever this bug has been!

He made a very special breakfast for us on Christmas morning, and a very healthy one too. It was 'paximadi' (double-baked rye bread from Crete) with hot goat milk (semi-skimmed, of course). Delicious and warming and very, very filling.

And to carry on a Cretan theme we had roast leg of lamb for Christmas dinner, with the most scrumptious sprouts and red cabbage. Roast potatoes and parsnips and a bottle of good red wine completed the menu and it was sheer heaven!

Exercise took a back seat for most of the time, but we did venture out on Boxing Day to the races. Only for a short time though as, even bundled up in numerous layers of clothing, it was perishingly cold with a bitter easterly wind. We didn't stay for all the races but seeing those proud, beautifully turned-out horses eager to get going and set off around the track was fabulous. A real pick-me-up, which is more than I can say for the 'speciality sausage in a bun' we had to eat there.

Foodwise, things haven't been too horrific. Yes, we've eaten a few things we shouldn't have (and drunk more alcohol than we would normally consider!) but it hasn't been too bad. The scales reported 73.5kg yesterday which I'm pretty happy to accept.

One good thing to come out of this whole weight-loss journey is that I'm now absolutely convinced that full-cream milk in porridge is just not to be contemplated - it makes lovely oatmeal claggy and yucky. Looks like my fellow Celts over the border to the north had it right all along!

New Year's Eve is still to come but we don't plan anything more exotic than a quiet evening and a nice meaty oxtail casserole so it shouldn't present us with too many obstacles.

By the time this week is over, we should have started 2009 on a reasonable footing and in a good state to get back to a decent healthy lifestyle. After all, I'm still looking forward to my 'more love per square inch'!