Saturday, December 25th, 2004

Well, there’s no way I can actually remember all the stuff that’s happened to me over the past few days, so I’ll just tell you about our Christmas!

I rolled out of bed on Christmas morning at 10:00 a.m. to find a bit of snow! Nothing heavy, but some nice flakes that covered the roofs and ground and made everything more festive. I joined up with Uncle Ian, his dad Don, Stuart, Victoria and Georgina. We all had mince pies and coffee and opened our stockings. I even had one, and received a good deal of Guinness merchandise as well as some England football socks. We all admired each others stocking stuffers, then climbed into the car and went off to the Kilmington local, the Red Lion. The whole village was there, and the landlord was evening offering the first pint on the house to celebrate the holidays.

After a few tasty pints of Guinness we returned to Merton Cottage. Stuart and I decided to take the family dogs out for a walk. We went to a beautiful valley, whose name escapes me, and did some hiking about while the dogs scurried through rabbit warrens and barked at birds. It was absolutely gorgeous. The hills are just remarkable here. The interesting thing about the valley is that a road runs next to it which has been in use since Roman times! We also found a mile marker from the 1750s, when I think the road served as the main link between London and Exeter. I love the way history is present everywhere you turn.

We came back home and the drinks continued to flow. Oh my. My boozing was perhaps a little overzealous, due to the fact that my tolerance has gone down since living in Turkey. Anyway, I called home (which was lovely) and then continued to happily down my Boddingtons until dinner time. And what a dinner it was! The roast turkey was the main feature, along with roast potatoes, sausages wrapped with bacon, Brussels sprouts, carrots, cheesy cauliflower, Yorkshire pudding… oh man. I can’t even really remember. We also had a great Christmas pudding for desert, which unfortunately landed all over my lap! I think the red wine on top of everything just got me a bit too lively! But all’s well that ends well, and the dogs got to enjoy a nice taste of the dessert as a result of my clumsiness.

We then retired to the living room and sat next to a pleasantly warming fire. I don’t even really remember what happened. I just nursed a beer, sat with a very full tummy, and just enjoyed the Christmas spirit that the room was almost thick with. Mmmm… I really enjoy the British Christmas traditions.