And then the festivities were upon us…
There were parties to be attended, friends to be fed, family to be hosted, sickness to be endured. Yes, the festivities this year saw the dreaded vomiting bug swathe through the family – attacking each victim in turn (all except Niomi who seemed to be magically protected by her low-level antibiotic). But whilst it inflicted its woe on the victims we did all rally at appropriate moments to do our best to enjoy ourselves. And, looking on the plus side, I am now fully acquainted with the intricacies of our washing machine 😃.
So, as we watched the arrival of the Southern Rookes circling above our garden, we prayed for a miracle cure before bringing them safely to the nest in time for carols and mulled wine at the neighbours. That afternoon was then quickly followed by preparations for the arrival of the Big Man, putting excited children to bed, vegetable prep and catch up. Christmas Day was my least stressful yet as all food was safely cooked and warming by 11.30am, ready for the commencement of Le Grand Repas at precisely 1pm (well, that was according to the plan). It was a tasty affair which also saw the Annual Christmas Star Awards, and the inaugural Duckatella Fluff Conducting competition (full disclosure available on request). All followed by a small libation to the Christmas gods.
And so we moved on through the festivities with food, Mary Poppins Returns, walks, games, laughter, debate and lots of great fun…all interspersed with an occasional ‘man-down’ succumbing to the bug, and the boys allegedly winning the annual Cranium competition due to the girls being unable to field a team. But eventually the Southern Rookes had to sadly depart, kindly taking our bugs back with them to share down south. Sorry, sorry, to everyone!!!!
By now we’d abandoned ambitious plans for New Year and just settled down to a few days of R&R, or at least Tanya did. Having fared the best, I now was in charge of the children. And like any good Dad when flying tout seul, I reached for my wallet and got us out the house with epic walks and ice cream bribery. Eventually though, we did all manage a New Year’s Eve meal together which saw the final crackers pulled and a dodgy rendition of Auld Lang Syne, but by 8.55pm I was left contemplating 2018 all alone. Still I saw in the New Year – and by the following day the troops were starting to rally. A few more days of newly discovered expeditions round and about were had, and then the Gurney’s arrived to top off the celebrations nicely along with our friends Yvonne and Wilf.
And there you have it….Welcome 2019. I hope you bring peace, joy and happiness to everyone (and less vomiting all round).
Wishing all our family and friends near and far a very Happy New Year. Lang may yer lum reek.
Little Miss Christmas
Little Miss Reindeer
The great Rooke gathering
Hat slippage
This year's Christmas Brie
That's me apparently
Inaugural Duckatella Fluff champion
Victory to the boys by default (harsh but fair)
The game of Christmas - its hard to be genuinely beaten by a 3 year old
Christmas angel - Penguin champ
Cherry trees blossoming
Out and about I
Out and about II
Candy cane Christmas
Little and Large
Cousins
Eventually all out together
