Well that's Christmas 2006 over with! Stu and I had our own lovely little Christmas together on Sunday morning, hauling all our presents into bed and opening them in there, strewing paper and delight from one end of the room to the other. Poor Stu had tripped down stairs at work on Friday afternoon, turning his foot and ankle quite an attractive shade of purple and puffing everything up to twice it's normal size. So, presnts in bed were both practical as it meant he didn't have to walk anywhere, and decadent! We certainly had 'fun' trying to get a 14-pound (7 kg) turkey across London and out into Sussex with two huge bags of presents plus our own stuff! Neither Stu nor I could carry much so we had a precariously balanced pile of bags on my wheely suitcase. We made it to Iain's in the end, and stayed there Christmas Eve and Christmas night. Christmas day was a bit of a blur, in the kitchen most of the day until half three/four helping Iain, coming up with a Plan B after the oven heating element pretty much gave up the ghost (you'd be surprised how much of a Christmas dinner you can cook in steamers, frypans and pots!), opening my presents long after the rest of the Bells had opened all of theirs while we were in the kitchen cooking, it was a bit of a weird day. When I finally sat down to eat I didn't have much energy left for conversation, which was a good thing as Thomas and Arthur were still so excited they did most of the chattering! On the other side of the world the Wood clan appear to have had a great family day - Lauren was apparently beside herself with excitement and both she and Ethan were thoroughly spoiled! Christmas lunch was spent in the airconditioning and followed by a swim. Ethan is looking so grown up! He is platinum blonde, though in all the photos I see he looks strawberry blonde (sorry Ros!). What a real little cutie pie he is - same eyes as his big sister! New Years I think will be spent at home, because we are getting old and boring. Maybe we'll do something exciting next year! Happy New Year to you all.

Merry Christmas! Hope it's a happy one for you...

We spent a relaxing entertaining weekend with Steph, Thomas, Arthur and full-of-smiles beautiful little baby girl Amelia. We even had an unexpected evening with Hamish as well, whose flight was delayed until the early hours of Sunday morning. Thomas is getting so tall and sweet, and Arthur is as huggable and lovely as ever. As for Amelia, I could have kidnapped her and kept her forever - she even melted Stu's heart! She is a bundle of smiles and contentment, rarely cries, and sleeps like a little angel. I put her down on Sunday afternoon and she was asleep within seconds without so much as a peep. Amazing! She's currently 8 months old but is the tiniest delicate little thing. Just adorable!

Babcia, 81, with Ethan 4.5 months. Who looks like he's growing well!

Found in Berlin - 'Jumpys' - mini kangaroo shaped paprika flavoured crisps/chips! And yes they were yum!