This month in Home Diaries, we’re wishing a Happy New Year 2026, and as of writing this post we’re a week way from the end of January! It always feels like the longest month of the year following the busyness of Christmas. While it was generally quieter, a lot still happened. A major moment was when we matched with a second surrogate. After my husband and I agreed to a ‘tandem journey’ meaning two babies (minimum) due to my age of 45 this year, we’re now speaking with two incredible women in the first month of 2026. We’re hopeful that with their support, we can fulfil our dream of having a family.
We both finished building the sauna and tried it out and it’s absolutely lovely! The first time we fired it up on a clear night we stood outside cooling off and looked up at the stars. It’s a luxury to have it.
New Years day we went for a short hike up Carrigfadda. The sky was clear, the sun was shining and an early January chill in the air. We both loved it, and an unfortunate reminder to us that we ate too much over Christmas because we were knackered by the time we got down to the car.
We took a lovely walk in Glengarriff a few days following the hike to keep the legs moving, and I have to say our step count is going up as the days get longer, so we’re going to be properly fit again by the summer!
Our screen-time switched from our phones to the TV where we caught the finale of Stranger Things, and binged Heated Rivalry, the gay ice-hockey rom-com from Canada that many were talking about. Both we were good. My #lastfourwatched were Nuremberg, The Post, Sinners (which is great by the way) and I binged the series called ‘The Day of the Jackal’.
Our friends popped down in January to see the house, after they saw it a week after we bought it and were amazed by how much it had changed.
Food-wise, we tried the new fish and chip shop in village close to us and it was a real treat. Our local pizza was also top-notch where we shared the ‘The Hoggie’ – a pizza loaded with fior di latte mozzarella chorizo smoked pancetta pulled ham and hot honey. Delicious!
We were delighted to see the Northern Lights visible outside our house after a significant solar event. We had both never seen the Aurora and even missed it in Iceland a decade ago so this was a special moment.
My new lens arrived in mid-January but I’m still waiting for the weather to improve before I try it out. It’s incredibly small though.
Mabel wore the ‘Cone of Shame’ because of an ingrown claw on her right front paw, and the vet managed to clip it when we brought her in last week. For such a timid cat, she’s ferocious in the presence of veternary staff who are only there to help her.
Here’s a photo of two donkeys from up the road.
With everything happening, we’re looking forward to the rest of the year and the exciting events already lined up for February.
RMx
29th December, 2025 to 25th January, 2026