Merry Christmas!
¡Feliz Navidad! Joyeux Anniversaire! ¡Bon Nadal!
Seasons greetings all around. I hope everyone is having a great festive period this year. I'd like to share with you my Christmas experience.
Christmas was a funny one this year. As I lay in bed in the early hours of Christmas morning, having finished a previous blogpost, the usual excitement for the day to come simply wasn't there. Had I finally outgrown Christmas? One thing was for certain, I just wasn't really feeling Christmas this year. Why? It just wasn't the same.
Well, to start with, we were missing some people. Each year, we spend Christmas together as a family with my grandparents however after Gramps passed away last month and with Imogen away on her Year Abroad spending Christmas with her boyfriend in Dubai (alright for some eh), the first time I'd spent Christmas without her, we were down on numbers. Second thing was the venue. In years gone-by we alternated having Christmas at home in Stockport one year then Christmas at my grandparents' home in Norwich. The past three years we had gone to Norfolk due to Gramps' ill health but this year we were back home instead and Dad brought Gran up to join us on the 22nd. It was a shame for me because I have always considered Norfolk sinonimos with Christmas. It is a truly magical place at this time of the year and one of my first memories of coming to England and of Christmas in general is when Imogen and I toddled around in the snow on Christmas day when I was about 3 or 4. Christmas at home in the North West has never really felt like a proper Christmas for me. Thirdly, there was no real build up to Christmas what with being in Mallorca. No carol concerts to prepare for, no advent calendars, no Christmas TV specials, no cold weather, it just didn't feel right.
Anyway, despite all my moaning/worrying/discomfort whatever you want to call it, Christmas 2013 was a pleasing one.
On Christmas Eve, Gran, Mum and I attended a carol service in which Ethan did a reading in front of the congregation as part of his drama group. He read very loudly and confidently which was great to witness as Ethan is not always the clearest speaker in general conversation. The few carols we sung at the service served as a warm up for mine and Ethan's next activity. When we are at home, it is a tradition on Christmas eve to go carol singing as members of the Marple Scouting group and deliver hampers to lonely elderly folk around Marple who don't necessarily have a lot of company. There were at least 40 of us, the biggest group I'd ever been part of, and we spent the best part of 2 hours visiting all the designated houses on our tour around the town followed by Mince Pies, Biscuits and
warm Vimto back at Scout HQ. Always nice to do a good Christmas deed.
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| Carol singing |
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| Ethan's reading |
Onto Christmas Day itself. Unlike previous years, I woke up at a sensible time- 11AM cos I'm getting old and that- before donning my Christmas jumper and joining the rest of the family in a late Christmas breakfast. We had planned to skype with Imogen at 11 however it turns out that skype is banned in Dubai so we had to settle for a good ol' fashioned telephone call, passing the phone around the table for our 5 minutes or so conversation with her. A nice touch and it was great to hear how she was experiencing her much warmer Christmas in the Emirates. When it got down to presents time, I wasn't expecting too much because my main present was to be my air travel tickets for the rest of my gap year but I was pretty pleased with my small collection of gifts. I got some new clothes including new running gear, woolly hat and a t-shirt, the latest Arctic Monkeys' album 'AM', money, an iTunes voucher, chocolate, a Brussels guide book (that will come in handy soon) and a set of paper airplanes-a symbol of my main present. Other notable presents include Dad's garish fluorescent high-vis running cap and Ethan received a PS4, it's safe to say he has barely left the living room since!
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| Roxy opening one of her presents |
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| AM, didn't rated when it was first released but after a few listening I can now see why everyone is raving about it. Top album |
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| My main present...Kind of. Plane tickets to a yet to be confirmed destination ooooh |
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| Mum with her new scarf |
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| Gran |
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| Dad and his new hat |
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| Ethan and his PS4, a long lasting partnership I expect |
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| Our Christmas tree |
After all the present giving, I took Roxy (our dog) on a Christmas day run to Woodley and back to test out my new running top (it works, for the avoidance of doubt) before tucking into the sumptuous Christmas lunch, always one of my favourite parts of the day. The crackers we bought this year each contained a small whistle inside which when played in a certain order following some numbers on a piece of paper would make famous christmas tunes. This was a calamitous yet entertaining activity as we all tried to work together to play 'Jingle Bells', 'Silent Night' and such like but instead sounding like a group of referees doing a sound check-nothing resembling of a tune. The day finished with watching a bit of Christmas telly including the Doctor Who Christmas special as per (Malcolm Tucker is now the Doctor, win win) whilst playing a bit of Scrabble which Mum won convincingly, no change there! It was by no means a perfect Christmas day but there are certain aspects of the day that always make it special and this year was no exception.
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| Christmas dinner |
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| Safe to say Dad likes carving the turkey... |
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| Whistles |
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| Dad conducting us |
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| FOOD OF THE WEEK: New York Cheesecake. Because I don't like ANY of the traditional Christmas desserts, this is my go-to. One of the many reasons why I long to visit NYC |
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| Chocolate log |
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| Good start to Scrabble |
Boxing day was another slow starter before we took a walk up nearby Werneth Low finishing with a pint in the Hare & Hounds pub at the top. No matter what time of year you go, you always get to see great views overlooking Manchester and the surrounding area; even the North Welsh Coast on a clear day. The following day, we drove down to the Midlands to visit my Uncle Len and Auntie Pauline at their new home in Shipston on-Stour having moved from London this year. They were very pleased to see us as it had been a while since our previous meeting back in April and we had what was our second helping of post-christmas lunch, turkey and cranberry sauce sandwiches and all.
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| View of Manchester from the top of Werneth Low |
Dad brought Gran back to Norfolk yesterday to pretty much end the festivities and as I told her before she left "It's not Christmas without you" which very true considering how little time we have the pleasure of seeing her throughout a year.
Our attentions now turn to New Year and it's just dawned on me that it is now officially a week until I set off for the next leg of my gap year in Brussels, woah that's soon!
In the words of the late and great John Lennon:
'A Very Merry Christmas, and a happy new year, let's hope it's a good one, without any fear'
I'm hoping.
#FraserOnTour
FP
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| Say hello to Ethan, the Christmas Reindeer |
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