Merry Christmas Everybody!

Santa and entourage
Originally uploaded by d_j_critchley

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niIJ9Yb-xwQ

What could be more American than watching Father Christmas water-skiing with his reindeer and elves on Christmas Eve; unless maybe they drove around in monster trucks, possibly with gun racks, and let's face it that probably did happen somewhere further south. After meeting up with Lynn, Roger and their family we went to a really posh Chinese restaurant and then went home to relax in front of the big screen watching films; "It's a Wonderful Life", what a classic!

On the big day I got up and after making myself presentable, made three cups of tea and Helen and I woke Kitty up and sat on her bed drinking tea and opening stockings. Then, after a brief hiatus, we nibbled Mexican biscuits while opening presents which took a long time considering there were only three of us.

Sybil and Alan rang shortly after we started playing on the Wii and we all picked up phone extensions so we could conference call. Eventually we got round to preparing lunch and I left Helen and Kitty playing with the Wii Fit while I prepared the Festive Terrine, then Helen took over to prepare the Quorn roast and all the trimmings including veggie pigs in blankets.

We had a brief Skype video conference with Sylvie, Gerry, Judy, Paul, Amy and Andrew who were all in St Peter Port slowly recovering from their lunch. Kitty practiced using her waiter's friend by opening a bottle of wine, which she obviously couldn't drink because she was under 21, and then we sat down to lunch at three.

After lunch we watched the Queen's speech on YouTube and watched a few more films before getting the energy and appetite for Christmas pud after six o'clock. Helen and I managed a few light snacks for dinner after that but Kitty was stuffed!

Oh well, it's Boxing Day and all the neighbours have turned off the lighted displays are taking down their decorations. We've done our morning exercises using the Wii Fit and will try and get out of the house for more exercise and have another relaxing day. Well at least lunch will be easy as we've got all the buffet food left and there's always Christmas cake!

Winter Wonderland

All done bar the eating
Originally uploaded by d_j_critchley

Winter Wonderland - Video

Catherine arrived on Saturday and after a delay picking up her luggage we brought her back to the new house for dinner and a quick tour.

Sunday was an early start as we went to the mountains with friends from work. After a long drive and snooze time for some (but not the drivers!) we arrived at Whitetail resort and spent some time sorting out tickets and rental for all the newbies. Unfortunately I didn't get to ride with Catherine or Helen as by the time we had sorted everybody out and given Rhod some tuition Catherine had fallen and twisted her knee :o( The good news is that there was no break and she is hobbling round at a good rate now.

On Monday we went looking for a Christmas tree and pickled onions, the first was a bit of a problem as most places had closed for the season and the second a big challenge as it's not an American thing. Well, we drew a blank with the onions despite going in lots of supermarkets, but we did get brandy and sherry, but the local school tree sale seemed to have gone out of business.

Tuesday was more successful as Catherine and I picked up a cracking tree at half price at a local garden centre, it seems that most Christmas decorations get put up the day after thanksgiving and taken down on Boxing Day (which doesn't exist here). We popped into Crystal City in the afternoon to meet up with Matt Nurse and picked up a good tip which led us to the World Market and two jars of pickled onions (thanks Andrew)!

So yesterday evening we were sipping egg nog and dressing the tree!

Rain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2GtrGnAIRk

The weather has been somewhat variable just when I thought it had settled into "proper" winter weather. It started well with lowering temperatures and more rain than last year which gave the hope of more snow at the local resorts. We've had icy conditions and then a light dusting of snow, but then the temperatures rose into the twenties making it too hot for winter cycling and running gear.

Hopefully the weather has settled back down now but the combination of the rain and some long days at work have meant fun cycling home. This time of year can cause problems with visibility for me as the position of the cycle path means that I get blinded by the lights of oncoming cars and when it is raining the glare and lower visibility makes it even worse. There's little danger of me "interacting" with the oncoming traffic as the path is about ten metres from the road but it can be unnerving when I suddenly can't see and don't know if I am going to go straight off the winding path and hit a tree. So, there is a lot of harsh braking and swearing. To date I haven't hit anybody, but I have noticed that this year's colours for walking and running are black and other dark colours and I did nearly run a cyclist off the path during a heavy downpour as I didn't see him/her/it as they had no lights on.

Helen took time out of her hectic schedule and visited the Ambassador's residence for a Spouses Association coffee morning; although it was very pleasant and there were posh sandwiches I can report that there was no Ferrero Rocher!

We're looking forward to Kitty, who moved home last weekend, arriving on Saturday to spend Christmas with us, the only big job left before she arrives is to put up the house decorations. We've got lots planned for her and I look forward to reporting on the buying of the Christmas Tree and skiing expeditions.

This week at work we hosted a reception for our US colleagues which was a great success if somewhat overwhelming and then yesterday we opened the office Secret Santa presents before heading off for our Christmas lunch. I was lucky enough to get some curling tongs, but now I have to determine whether to use settings 1-5 for "delicate, thin, easy-to-curl hair" or 21-25 for "hard-to-curl hair"; on reflection I think it will have to be the higher setting as there is no way my hair is "easy-to-curl".

Waiting for my man

Porter Lane
Originally uploaded by d_j_critchley

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UpFGoJHwLI

After over a week without TV, phone and internet the installation guys are here setting things up. We had hoped they would be here last week but as we were moving from one supplier to another things weren't that straightforward. The good news though is that the phone number is the same.

The movers arrived early a week last Wednesday but even though we were moving less than a mile it took two trips and we didn't get to start unpacking in anger until late afternoon. We elected to move some of our things, like the bikes, but we also had to move all the food and liquids. After the movers left we were still left with a lot of unpacking and all in all it was a long day.

Thanksgiving saw us cleaning the old house before heading out with Roger and Lynn in the evening to Bilbo Baggins for dinner and some well deserved ale.

Helen is back in the UK now and I'm bimbling round the house doing the odd thing here and there as well as some last bits of Christmas shopping including buying crackers at TJ Max. This is one of the cultural oddities in that the US are, in general, unaware of this Victorian invention so they are difficult to get here. I don't even want to get started on mince pies and how much they cost when you do find them.