Westcott Christmas Day

I count myself very lucky to be invited to spend Christmas Day with my younger daughter, son-in-law, Tim, both his parents, and my first grandson, Joshua. Travelling cross-country was even quieter than normal, and the weather was mild.

It was very relaxing as Tim and Lizzy had had a good night, and all the preparations had gone smoothly, and it was not long before John and Sue had arrived which heralded the grand opening of presents, with Joshua following the tradition of all children of his age – enjoying the packaging far more than the contents! Everything has to provide relief from toothing pain or simply be introduced to the mouth: "Mouth, this is Paper"; "Paper, this is Mouth"!

John had a wonderful time introducing a series of ten numbered plastic mugs, ranging from small to large, that could be stacked to form a tower, and even more easily knocked down by small swinging feet and returned individually to the floor! Endless fun, interspersed with ever more paper as presents were opened.

We were all gathered around a log fire in the grate, and this kept the adults busy feeding it with new bits of wood varying from softwood offcuts to true logs via smaller branches, and this provided authentic crackling as well as louder cracks from time to time.

We soon sat down for a splendid lunch, to the opening of the Queen's Speech, at which point Sue chastised us all for not standing to attention during the National Anthem, however I am proud to say I had remained standing till Sue herself had seated. Lunch was a delicious beef joint carefully cooked to three differing degrees from rare to well-done to satisfy each individual's taste. This was followed by a Christmas Pudding that had been purchased at a recent Food Fair at Waddesdon, served with runny custard. Absolutely delicious in every respect.

All too soon, Sue and John were leaving. I then collected my night things from the car, stayed the night, and the following day set off for Burnham to visit my sister- and mother-in-law, and my niece and nephew.

Twins Twelfth Birthday, Peace Pagoda Visit

Saturday found three groups of our extended family head for the Peace Pagoda Car Park in Milton Keynes to celebrate the twelfth birthday of Holly and Poppy. Even though I had never been before, and needed guidance from others, I did manage to preserve my honour by arriving first!

The car park is in woods, with pathways leading off in many directions and once Joshua, our youngest member was ensconced in his buggy, we set off amidst lots of chatter as we caught up with each others’ news and recounted our reasons for taking so long to meet. We soon found ourselves out in the sunshine and in sight of the pagoda.

The setting is superb, and very calming, our birthday girls were soon picking up some of the messages that the winds had scattered beneath the trees, and after cursory reading from some returned them with reverence to the tree from whence they had been blown. In a straggling group we were soon back on a pathway that led us around the Willen Lake, with our groups ever changing their constituents, and Joshua gaining different buggy-handlers. There was also the natural high spirits finding outlet, which did result in Lizzy receiving an accidental elbow blow in her face. Fortunately, the pain subsided, and we continued our walk.

Once the circuit was completed, we then formed a convoy to head for a Sushi bar as a treat for the birthday girls, who love the carousel, and Joshua was not as settled after his feed as we had hoped, and that gave me a great opportunity to take him for a wander outside in the malls, and sing him songs from the repertoire of those whose words I remember and are within my limited range – I cannot claim that it is always works, but I do achieve a reasonable success rate! After a great family reunion, we got back into our cars and returned to Cambridge, Luton and Aylesbury.