The Christmas whirl

This is about the first time I have sat down and had a little time to myself for a week. Rosie is catching up with some sleep by going to bed at 6.30pm, for an hour or so. Jennie is in the bath relaxing and I am typing my blog. We have had a great Christmas, much of it with Chris Jackson of the Welsh Mountain Zoo and his two sons, Rob and Ben and Rob's girlfriend, Claire. There is not news on this front, but that can wait.

We had Christmas dinner at Chris' house and he gave us an excellent and delicious spread of pork with wonderful crackling - even if he did forget the stuffing, about which he was ribbed for much of the evening.

The day before yesterday Rosie's brother, Andy, and his wife, Joan, arrived from near Bolton with their two daughters Gemma (the one in the Royal Navy) and Kitty (the one living at home and trying to select a university). We had a great time with them, including going to the pantomime to see Jennie acting as one of the seven dwarves. We took Chris and Ben with us for this too. Good fun and not too long.

Last night Rosie's sister, Elspeth, joined everybody else at our house with her two offspring, Hannah and Alex. Her husband, Neil, was ill in bed. We all feasted on a buffet at home and the younger generation went to the pub. The YG got back sometime after 11.30pm and retreated to bed and the older generation stayed up to about 3.30am putting the world to rights, as you do.

Kitty's boyfriend, James, joined us yesterday too. He had been galavanting around, sharing his time between various parts of his family elsewhere.

Today was our turkey dinner, which I cooked for about 4.00pm. Success. Now everyone is replete and has gone home and Chris has phoned complaining of a sore throat and saying that Rosie gave it to him. Ah, well, what would we do without family and friends?