Christmas 2012!

Our second week was split once again between spending time in Standlake with Will's parents, and spending time in Reading catching up with friends. On the Thursday night we spent a night on our friends Karen and Paul's boat 'Cyanara'. We had a lovely cosy night drinking red wine and port and playing cards until late into the night.

In the morning we went for a wander around the marina and took a few photos before driving back to Standlake.

On the Friday night we had a lovely evening catching up with Will's brother Andy and his family, then we drove back down to Claire and Mike's place for the weekend as Nicola was coming back over. Will made himself scarce on the Saturday night and Mike had his work do so we had a lovely girly evening catching up over lots of wine and a very good indian take-out. Claire and Mike have adopted a rescue greyhound Dylan who is a lovely dog.

On Christmas Eve day Will and I took Ellie, Andy's oldest, out for a spot of shopping in Witney, followed by hot chocolate at Costa Coffee as part of her Christmas present.

Our Christmas Day was very relaxed. Before the main lunchtime meal Will and I worked up an appetite on a walk. There has been a huge amount of rain in the UK and a lot of the paths we came across were badly flooded. In the pic below I'm standing on a main walking track, not a stream as it might appear!

We also stopped to pose for photos at a boat on the bank of one of the gravel pit lakes that was a lot higher than what it usually is...

We had a very nice Christmas lunch, turkey with all the trimmings, followed by Christmas pudding with brandy butter. Hugh wore his 'special occasion' jumper which we got him several years ago in Bolivia.

On Boxing Day Andy and Jo and family came over and we did Christmas all over again. James had a very cool flying UFO which he had been given. It lifts itself up when it senses peoples hands underneath.

We had another lovely day, it was great being able to spend a lot of time with the kids. Katie enjoyed her pink 'Glump' we gave her. Apparently it is a Moshy Monsters baddie, so she spent a fair amount of time beating it up!

Yesterday Claire and Mike, plus Dylan the Greyhound came out our way for a pub lunch followed by a walk. Dylan enjoyed having a gallop around Will's parents very long large garden. Tomorrow we have more of Will's family coming to visit, then on the 30th we fly to Singapore to meet up with my brother Warren and his Singaporean girlfriend Norshidah.