The Final Few Months Of The Year – October 2026 Overview

As I sit writing this I’ve just made a list of party food for our annual family get together and my toes are frozen. That basically means it’s Christmas right?! Like every other month this year October 2026 seems to have disappeared in a blink of my eye.

I’ve been trying to tick off as many Christmas related things as possible. We’ve gotten the decorations out of the loft so I can slowly decorate and see how Scarlett reacts to them. Fingers crossed there’s no breakages or accidents. I’ve started buying presents but November is the big month for that.

But let’s not think about how close Christmas is and instead look back on October 2026.

Things I got up

Our biggest thing in October was our first family holiday. We picked to do a week long cruise with P&O who we’d never cruised with before. I really loved P&O, keep your eyes open for a post all about them. Overall it was a really fun and relaxing week.

We didn’t get off the boat much as we were only in ports 3 days, and 2 were in the same place. But we got to relax, we got to do some activities and we had some very yummy food. Scarlett wasn’t confidently walking so it was a little tricky as she just wanted to crawl everywhere which wasn’t as practical on a ship. But of course within four days of getting home she’s confidently walking everywhere.

We had a family day celebrating my nan’s birthday which was nice. Then the following week I put together an indulgent afternoon tea for all us girls.

I had a few Christmas shopping days out (more definitely needed), and we did do one Autumnal activity going to a pumpkin patch. But this didn’t go quite to plan. Scarlett was sick on the car ride over so we had to change her, then I didn’t realise how cold it was and definitely didn’t have the right weather appropriate clothing. So we managed 45 minutes then had to retreat into the warm car.

What I watched and read in October 2026

I had two live shows in October within two days of each other. On a Thursday evening I went to see Liam Cromby who used to be in one of my favourite bands We Are The Ocean. The show was a mixture of his excellent solo stuff and WATO songs. And I had the best time.

Then two days later I headed to the O2 with one of my oldest friends (known the longest not age!) to see Westlife. And we had the best time. I forgot how many Westlife songs I know and love.

TV and movies

October 2026 was a great month for TV. We had celebrity traitors which I really enjoyed, although not quite as much as season 1. But it’s an addictive show. Then Bake off has been going on all month which I also love. These shows always feel like the lead up to Christmas for me.

I headed to see Verity at the cinema and I think they did a really good translating the book. There were definitely some creepy parts and Anne Hathaway nailed it for a role with minimal dialogue/ movement. At the end of the month I headed to see Wicker and again I really enjoyed it. Olivia Coleman is excellent is everything she does, and the movie was funnier than I was expected.

All things books

Due to some extra time on holiday I had my best reading month in a while finishing eight books.

My standouts from the month were:

• The goal by Elle Kennedy. This is Tucker’s story within the Off Campus series and I loved it. I don’t think I’d ever read the accidental pregnancy trope before but I think it was handled really well.
• Threshing day by Rebecca Yarros. I don’t usually gel with short stories as much but I loved reading the perspectives of some of the people and how they bonded with their dragons.
• A stage set for Villains by Shannon J Spann. It took me a little bit to get into this book but when I did I loved it. There’s magic, there’s quite a dark undertone, and there’s a little romance too.

House updates for October 2026

We’ve made a little progress with the extension planning. Our architect has put in our planning permission so hopefully we should get this by the end of the year. We’ve also had our first quote with the builders we’re likely to use, and it’s around the pricing we were expecting which is great.

Next week I’m meeting the mortgage advisor to run through that so hopefully I can then plan what our new payments are going to be. I am a little nervous, but in my mind I think I know what it should be, so fingers crossed.

How was your October 2026? What did you get up to?