The period between Christmas Day and New Years Eve appears to have a new name (new for me, anyway): Betwixtmas.  These few days at the end of December can feel like a strange little lull.  Christmas Day is such a climax of social interaction, celebration, eating and drinking.  Then, although we no longer stay up to see the New Year in, the advent of a New Year is another cause for celebration and new hope.  The days in between often feel calm but can also feel like filler.

Until quite late in my career, I usually drifted into work or ‘worked from home’ to get peripheral tasks done without using up precious holiday allowances.  Because so many colleagues were out of the office for the holiday period, I could often get a surprising amount done.  Later, I tended to take time off to chill out after Christmas away from London.  Now I’m retired, there are even more options to relax into Betwixtmas.

This year we were lucky enough to be able to spend Betwixtmas in Belfast with Youngest Son (YS) and his wife.  For us this year, Betwixtmas was busy and bright – certainly not ‘filler’.  Our Belfast trip followed our first Boxing Day for nearly 40 years without any offspring.  The uniqueness of that was tempered by a sunny walk, a very good lunch at a local and recently expanded pub (The Old Fleece), a brief visit to nearby friends and then an early night.

The weather in Belfast was very good for the time of year and the logistics of travel to get there worked.  Once we were in Belfast, we had a really relaxed and great time. 

^{Views From The Metropolitan Arts Centre, Belfast}

YS and his wife are a brilliant team.  They are currently setting up a new osteopathy and Pilates business called Nellie Studio.  This will be on a floor of a Victorian warehouse in East Belfast that they are renovating.  They have grappled with the treacle of having to obtain planning permission and building regulations control for the listed building and are now pressing the letting agent and builders to get the space ready for income generating osteopathy treatments and Pilates workouts.  Observing the way they are working together to achieve all of this was inspiring.

^{Billie Studio’s Osteopathy Treatment Room Taking Shape}

In between dashing across Belfast to source curtain poles and extra wood flooring, while we babysat their dog, YS and his wife entertained us with films and sport in their cosy lounge, trips to excellent restaurants and walks in surprisingly sunny weather.  For me, the only blemish to Betwixtmas was that Forest Green Rovers (the football team I support rather too obsessively) failed to win either of the televised games in the period.

Belfast is a significantly smaller city than Bristol or Edinburgh where our other sons live.  However, it is developing quickly as the Northern Ireland Troubles gradually recede into history.  Young entrepreneurs appear to be establishing new independent businesses and there is already a busy and excellent café, restaurant and bar scene.  There are far fewer of these than in, say, Edinburgh; but how many does one need?  Belfast has enough and is developing further between each of our visits.

Breakfasts are particularly well done.  Cultura again stood out for me as the most outstanding breakfast but we also had a great brunch at DRIP and the best coffee was at Established which has long been one of our favourite breakfast haunts. 

On an outing to the south of Belfast, we visited Fodder in the Woods for a burger lunch and then wandered around the associated gift and food shops and Finnebrogue Woods.  It seems that, well beyond Belfast, young businesses are starting up everywhere.

We also had a treat of a dinner at the new Capparelli at the Mill restaurant that has been established by one of Yotam Ottolenghi’s ex-chefs.  It is in a lovely building that has been expanded imaginatively and lovingly.  The service and food were outstanding and I can’t wait to go again.

We ate very well throughout our stay.  YS, his wife and her mother all produced great home cooking for us on successive evenings.  We also visited a couple of pubs that we hadn’t been to before (The Jeggy Nettle, which had a lovely open fire, and Northern Lights, which had a range of twenty craft beers of the type I like).  YS also gave us the first margaritas we could recall drinking – complete with salt around the top of the glass – all very innovative and special for us!

We squeezed some culture and some walks into the schedule.  As on previous Belfast visits we strolled through the Botanic Gardens to the Ulster Museum. 

Here, the exhibition on the origin and history of The Troubles is well put together and informative.  We had seen this before but there is too much to absorb in any one visit and this time I focused on the videos spelling out origins of The Troubles.  We have seen the excellent, recent TV series Say Nothing, Trespasses and (most of) Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland and the Ulster Museum provided another dimension to our understanding of the issues and the way they have been, at least partially, resolved.

On our last morning, we popped into the Metropolitan Arts Centre (MAC) where there were exhibitions by William McKeown, Niamh Seana Meehan, Marie Hanlon & Rhona Clarke.  Each one was diverting in their diverse ways and the building itself is interesting.  I’m sure we will visit the Ulster Museum and the MAC again during future Belfast trips.

So, Betwixtmas was very successful for us this year.  It came following a wonderful Christmas Day with Second Grandchild (SG), Middle Son (MS), his fiancée and her mother in Bristol.  MS treated us to not only brunch but then a very tasty Christmas dinner of chicken, ham, pigs in blankets, stuffing and about six vegetable side dishes – my plate near overfloweth! 

Betwixtmas ends with New Year’s Eve.  As we move past New Years Day and into the early days of the new year, there is a chance to think about hopes and resolutions for 2026.  Maybe I’ll write about those New Year Resolutions later this month if I can sustain actually doing them for that long.  Meanwhile, Happy New Year to all!