thames views near putney bridge

angelic

boxing day

This morning after another sleep in we woke to a beautifully sunny day and then the five of us headed out for a walk along the Thames,through Bishops Park and then for coffee at a little coffee shop close by where we sat and chatted for hours.

Back at home tonight Woz and I are sitting by the fire, bellies very full from the last few days of indulgence (and I dare say a few pounds heavier) and yet we continue to eat - a chocolate orange which was just begging to be eaten. I have a feeling we may be making a few New Year's resolutions next week, but until then, we're going to eat and be merry!

and so this is christmas

Woz, Nate and I spent Christmas in Putney this year, staying with friends from Christmas Eve through to Boxing Day.

On Christmas Eve we were invited to drinks at Linda and Sanjay's house where we devoured mince pies, mulled wine and ....... curry! (Sanjay is Indian and over the years his very English wife Linda has mastered the art of traditional Indian cooking passed on by her mother-in-law). Nate absolutely loved the party as most of the people there had kids and brought them along. The adults gathered in the kitchen where we chatted over traditional Christmas music with lashings of Bollywood, and the kids ran riot in the rest of the house. We had a great night!

After the party we travelled home with Bec and Andrew (Dobs) who we were staying with for Christmas. With Nate being the only child in the house and being totally unaware of the excitement of the day, we all slept in until quite late, had a leisurely breakfast, exchanged presents and then got to work preparing a traditional Christmas dinner, led by Dobs.

It was mouthwatering. A huge turkey, covered with rashers of bacon, baked with pigs in a blanket (sausages wrapped in bacon) and stuffing balls (it's not as common to stuff the bird with stuffing here as it is to simply serve balls of stuffing, cooked in the roasting pan with the meat). We had parsnips roasted in honey, carrots soaked in ginger beer, brussel sprouts served with red onion and chestnuts, Yorkshire puddings and potatoes roasted in semolina and goose fat. To top it off was a gravy made from scratch with ham, vegetables and cloves of all sorts of things!

Dobs did an incredible job cooking the elaborate feast for eight, co-ordinating the timing of each dish and cooking each one to perfection - hard to believe it was his first attempt.

merry christmas to all and to all goodnight!

Christmas Eve, you've got to love it. All the anticipation of the day ahead, Christmas Carols playing (or Christmas Songs as they have here), baking, wrapping, the pitter patter of tiny feet totally unaware of what is to come, and food glorious food!

We'd like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas from Woz, Nate and myself and hope that it brings all the joy and laughter it should.

Here's a little Christmas wish especially from us, we've been practising for a while, so we hope you like it ... (and special thanks go to the little elf who put us on to it!).

Merry Christmas!

thank you

A big thank you to those who sent presents over for Nate from Australia. If we haven't already been able to speak with you we hope to be able to call over the next few days.

christmas day

Our first Christmas Day as a family was fantastic! We had a very relaxed, sleepy morning before opening presents. It was fun watching Nate rip the paper apart. He was of course too young to understand any of it but just having him there made it all the more exciting.

After breakfast we headed over to Vicki and Andrew's to spend the day with them and their four day old baby son! Looking at him next to Nate it was hard to believe that just six months ago he was that small! It was such a lovely relaxed day with a big roast dinner followed by walk to the park, pudding and then a nap. It was very special for us to be able to spend our first Christmas as a new family with another new family. It hadn't quite sunk in for Vicki and Andrew and it still hasn't for us (six months later!) and so we spent most of the day shaking our heads and saying 'Who'd have thought?'

too many toys to choose from

i'll have that thanks!

first christmas

chrismas eve

We spent a good part of our Christmas Eve calling family in Australia as it was Christmas morning for them. My parents were given a webcam for Christmas so we tried that out and got to see and talk to the whole family.

christmas in the west end

happy holidays

Woz finished work last night for ten days. I'm not sure who was more excited, him or me. As usual he has big plans for the next ten days so today we've got all of the work out of the way; first our water pump needed fixing, followed by a huge clean out/clean up, followed by lots of wood chopping, food shopping, Christmas baking and finally some present wrapping
for the little 'un.


We decided not to go away this Christmas to allow Woz to concentrate on his Masters research, so he'll be busily working away at that over his break but it will be nice to be able to see him each day and for him to have some time with Nate.

christmas is coming

Our tiny little boat now has a tiny little tree. I picked one up yesterday at a stall on the side of the street about a fifteen minute walk from home. To qualify it had to be small enough for me to carry with one hand whilst pushing the buggy with the other.

My favourite part of Christmas as I was growing up was finding a tree and decorating it. Those were the good old days when we would chop one down from the bush surrounding our house and cart it inside. The thrill of seeing the box which held all the Christmas decorations retrieved from the depths of the linen press would always hark the start of the festivities for me.

The trees here are absolutely beautiful. Perfectly conical, bushy and green ... but they just don't smell like Christmas. The smell of the pine needles was the one thing that helped me hold on to the magic of Christmas as I grew up - that and Christmas carols. So I feel a little like a fish out of water here; it's cold, the trees don't smell as they should and it's dark but suddenly all those 'Winter wonderland' songs are beginning to make sense in a way they just couldn't when it was 30 degrees!