Christmas day 'English Stylie'

The last two years I have had Christmas day in Florida... mainly because my parents were coming for a holiday... and so this Christmas it was time for us to go back to them. Now Christmas over here is super hectic when my parents are here....it goes something like this...

6.30 am Leave for Mother in Laws house to arrive by 8am.... everyone converges (16-18?) for breakfast and present opening... then people go their respective ways...
10.30am... try to be leaving to get back to either 1. start making lunch or 2. get ready to go out for lunch
3pm... people either arriving for Christmas dinner or we are out the door, the four of us, letting a celebrity chef take the strain (last Christmas we went to Emeril Lagasse's in Orlando - you can read about it on my other blog)
8pm...comatose somewhere..

It's draining..... to say the least

Well its all change in England...

6.30am.. still sound asleep, no one peeping, cows gently mooing in the background, mentally challenged cockerel next door's body clock is up the shoot and he thinks dawn is 4pm ...excellent.
10am... Bacon butties all round and lots of hot tea and coffee..
11.30am .. walk to the pub for a Christmas morning drink....(and here is where the plan when a little skewy)

THE PUB WAS CLOSED

shame 'cause it looks like this inside!



Dad disgusted the pub was closed

Fam pic anyway... its -10C outside we might as well celebrate!

 Once over the horror of the pub being closed we remembered that fortunately for us the other pub (phew) was open, and within 10 mins of us arriving and snagging a table it was full.. (see other pub (CROWN, Hallow) you should have opened!). As it was so cold we HAD to have four drinks before we bundled back up and started the long (15 mins!) walk home!

Once back we busied laying the table, getting more drinks and helping Mom get all the dinner together...we sat down at abut 3pm...very civilised!
4.30pm... adjourn to lounge room to open presents ... we have never gone overboard, in fact I was surprised there was no comedy presents this year.. we must be finally growing up!...!
6 pm...a spot of dessert now dinner has gone down sufficiently...
7.30pm Brother & Fiance leave after having a sleep on the sofa..
8pm.. Hubby's niece says her goodnight.. jet lag finally catching up me thinks...
9pm .. Hubby gives up and goes to bed leaving me to watch Peep show with Mom & Dad...
11pm.. I finally haul myself up to bed.. happy and relaxed (that was probably the red wine and brandies though!)

 Tomorrow... London.... and they predict -12C for our 9am start...Brrrrrrr

Colder than Olympics

With the Winter Olympics taking place in Vancouver at the moment you'd expect mounds of snow and freezing temps.. well here in Florida it's been colder at night than at the Olympics! They've even had to airlift snow onto the mountains!

(Ask Washington, they can lend you some !) Mild temperatures are expected to continue for the rest of the week... just to illustrate the fact look at the comparison temps for here, Florida and Vancouver...

Brrrrrr... I think I'll make a trip up there... Apparent 'El-Nino' is to blame... there's me I thought he was a South American footballer playing in Italy!

It wouldn't be the 1st time I'd been to the Olympics. You see my brother was an Olympic athlete.. ok.. you think I'm making this up don't you! Well I'm not.. I went to Atlanta in 1996 to watch him (he was a badminton player for Great Britain) where he lost in the quarter finals ... and then a whole posse of us went to Sydney to watch him (and all the other sports) in 2000.

Me dressed up in my Great Britain hat and flag after coming out of the Olympic stadium late one evening

They will forever be the best Olympic games. Sunny and warm, great venues and wonderful friendly people...oh and I forget to mention my brother won a bronze medal...

My brother, Simon, and his partner Jo

I'll always be proud of how he played that day, bought tears to all our eyes, he and Jo, his mixed doubles partner, won the 1st ever medal for a British team in badminton, a sport dominated by the Asian nations.

So you'll understand now why I'm a bit of an Olympic nut. I love all sports and having them all in one place in a three week period is like heaven for me. Hubbie and I are already planning our London 2012 trip... I can't wait!

Winter comeths...sort of!

I know I promised that I would write about last weeks trip to Disney today, but I can't bring myself to look at pictures of Rat Kingdom, so instead I ask you to feel sorry for me. I sadly report that today, for the first time since February (I think) I have not worn flip flops at least once during the day. In fact my feet have been safely contained in thick socks, and to make things worse, I had to hunt for a long sleeved top to go out in this morning to walk Gary..it's cold.
I thought about wearing my socks with my flip flops but I didn't think this was good look..

Then, when looking for pictures, I found that you could actually buy socks without toes so you could wear your flip flops with them..sort of stupid if you ask me because it's your toes that get cold first.

And further hunting led me to a woman who actually knits some socks that you can wear with flip flops..seriously..she KNITS socks...weird..but each to their own..

Anyway, no flip flops today. I've realised how quiet the apartment is too (no airconditioning)...so how cold is this artic chill I describe....hmmm Google page says 63F, but weather channel says 59F..all I know is that it's bitter. I've made a hearty stew for dinner this evening and might burn some junk mail in the barbeque to simulate a fireplace later... I was thinking of going out and buying some warm clothes in case it snows..maybe I should check the weather forecast 1st...

Ok...don't worry, I'll be ok, no need to send me care packages of gloves, handwarmers and thermal knickers..It will be high 70's again over the weekend and I can wear my flip flops to the beach.. Phew