Family xmas 2012
My eldest brother clearly suffers from living-near-the-aged-parents syndrome. Largely because of this, my sister stayed with him in the week before xmas, then our family stayed over xmas itself.
I originally just raised the idea of visiting Mum & Dad sometime before or after xmas because I hadn't been down for a while. This grew into a suggestion that the three of us visit them over xmas itself. Hugh offered to put us up and cook the xmas dinner for all of us, including his lady friend Carey. We contributed our skills at peeling vegetables and washing up, and I drove Mum & Dad over in the hire car.
It has been a few years since M had experienced a family xmas. Also, he hadn't come to some of the family get-togethers over the last year or so, because of clashes with other commitments. So it was good to see the family and for the family to see him as a fourteen-year-old.
We didn't do much, just chatting, reading and going for walks around the village. It was wet but fortunately the village didn't suffer from the flooding that places further south-west experienced. One minor highlight, for me at least, was being wished "merry xmas" by Michael Eavis.
Hugh's daughters came over on Thursday, Heather accompanied by Chris and Finn, Melanie on her own. We had what was basically a second (and slightly livelier) xmas dinner, albeit with turkey pie instead of turkey. My other brother, Phil, and his wife Sally came in the evening as well.
M pointed out that he doesn't see his cousins on my side of the family very often, so he sometimes forgets who is who. That can't be helped really. Come to think of it, I only see my own cousins once in a blue moon.
One pleasant side effect of the trip was that we had a second session of unwrapping presents when we got home, because we didn't take all our presents down with us. It was like having a second xmas morning.
I originally just raised the idea of visiting Mum & Dad sometime before or after xmas because I hadn't been down for a while. This grew into a suggestion that the three of us visit them over xmas itself. Hugh offered to put us up and cook the xmas dinner for all of us, including his lady friend Carey. We contributed our skills at peeling vegetables and washing up, and I drove Mum & Dad over in the hire car.
It has been a few years since M had experienced a family xmas. Also, he hadn't come to some of the family get-togethers over the last year or so, because of clashes with other commitments. So it was good to see the family and for the family to see him as a fourteen-year-old.
We didn't do much, just chatting, reading and going for walks around the village. It was wet but fortunately the village didn't suffer from the flooding that places further south-west experienced. One minor highlight, for me at least, was being wished "merry xmas" by Michael Eavis.
Hugh's daughters came over on Thursday, Heather accompanied by Chris and Finn, Melanie on her own. We had what was basically a second (and slightly livelier) xmas dinner, albeit with turkey pie instead of turkey. My other brother, Phil, and his wife Sally came in the evening as well.
M pointed out that he doesn't see his cousins on my side of the family very often, so he sometimes forgets who is who. That can't be helped really. Come to think of it, I only see my own cousins once in a blue moon.
One pleasant side effect of the trip was that we had a second session of unwrapping presents when we got home, because we didn't take all our presents down with us. It was like having a second xmas morning.