Christmas, New Year and all of that

So, here we are then, 2008. Hooray! It's off to a great start so far!

I have to start off by apologising for the lack of updates. December was incredibly busy, and I'm sorry to say that tales of the three Christmas do's I went to this year will go by unrecorded, but suffice to say I enjoyed them all for various different reasons and much fun was had at them all. I was especially pleased to be invited and attend Steve's Hyder do this year, and be able to put some faces to all the names I've heard so much about in the past. It's really good to be able to do these things as partners you know- it's not something we can always take for granted sadly.

Anyway, Christmas was a logistical nightmare this year. Attempting to see everyone was a very tricky piece of organisation, especially as it's impossible now to see Mum and Dad together, and everyone is busy with their various families and new partners and of course trying to see each other too. Somehow we did, but not after a lot of plans tooing and froing, and I think we managed to keep everyone happy at the end of it, which was pretty damn good going to be honest!

Christmas itself was lovely. It began with lunch out with Vic and family, plus Laura and Emiliy and Kevin, which was great, then Wilgilia which passed by in a blur of noise, great food and far too much vodka... not that I'm complaining, as I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Christmas Day begun with our presents at home, and they all went down very well indeed, pleasingly. After this we made the obligatory visit to Vic on the way to Croxley. It was great to see them all, plus Dad and Sue. They all seemed pleased with their presents, and there was a quieter than usual Luke tucked up in the corner with his new Nintendo DS, which seemed to be the most popular present he got for Christmas. Annabel was adorably more animated and excitable, with all her new Ora...sorry... Dora The Explorer toys. Loud and excitable; she's very much like her mum was at the same age!
We left them and headed up to Croxley for Christmas with Steve's family. I have to say a big thank you, once again for making me welcome and part of their family- it's always a pleasure to visit them and they even forgave me for breaking one of the cheap Marks and Spencer glasses into the bread sauce! We helped the rest of the family keep Steve's Gran and Aunty Betty entertained while we opened the presents all afternoon, and settled down for Doctor Who once they'd returned home. It was very enjoyable too- probably the best of the Christmas Specials so far, and we rushed out afterwards to Steve's cousin's place for the evening, most of which was taken up with a game of Monopoly. It almost, but didn't quite end in tears!

Boxing day, I was beginning to feel a bit under the weather, so we had a quiet trip to the sales, where I was pleased to pick up the whole of One Foot In the Grave on DVD for £30. Bargain! We headed back home late afternoon with our pile of presents to sort out and find new homes for. There were plans to put up some shelves and stuff, but that didn't quite work out, as the next day we both came down with the nasty stomach bug that is doing the rounds. Not good. I managed to go into work for the day, but only just made it back home in time... not good. An unpleasant evening was spent at home, with the two of us suffering at the same time, and the next day was quiet and not much fun. Ah well, maybe one Christmas we'll get through without being unwell, but at least it wasn't anywhere near as bad as last year's flu...

It was only really yesterday that we both got back to normal, just in time to see in the new year. Sadly some of the friends we'd invited couldn't make it along, but a good time was had by all who was there. It was rather different to the last new year's party we had, as there were less people, more games and it was one of those parties where everyone got on as a group and didn't split off into the separate kitchen party (or upstairs bedroom party!) as has happened in the past. Great!
And best of all, because I wasn't drinking I stayed up to 3am, and woke up this morning without feeling wretched! And I finally tried out Paul's Wii this morning and found myself having a good time too, which was most unexpected. Everyone threw themselves into using it, some of them literally in Jonno's case!

So now we have a clean house, we've rewatched Voyage of the Damned and I've had the time to do an update. Now we look forward to Steve's birthday and of course the not-very-far-away-at-all trip to New Zealand, next month... perhaps we'd better do some planning....

Happy New Year everyone.