MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

The inaugural hosting of Christmas day lunch by us was... well, one of very few options open to us for the celebration of Christmas, but as the day neared and plans came to fruition i think there was a sense of both apprehension and excitement lingering in the air...

Eric & Melodie (from Niverville, Winnipeg) Joined us along with Bex. Bex and Melodie flew in from Norway (where they have been on a YWAM Discipleship Training School), Eric flew in from Thailand where he has been teaching english, aka on holiday for the past few months. All flew in to Heathrow so we went for a quick scoot down the M1 to pick them up... and i do mean quick... 85-90mph the whole way, and made it to heathrow in under 2hrs! Might get up at 5am to go travelling more often!

So Christmas eve was really the first event - I cooked the ham for the next day, and 'managed' the preparation of some exquisitely crafted (if i do say so myself) gourmet pizzas... Chicken and apricot, Chicken avocado with sweet chilli, and chicken, tomato and mushroom, all with cream cheese. Delish-ey-mo!

Christmas Eve we went to a midnight service at the local anglican church, which was not too dissimilar to a catholic service really. Nice.

Pic on the left is Christmas eve dinner, Christmas lunch is on the right... The pic doesn't really do justice to the extensive amount of food, that took the five of us the next few days to get through... Ham was beaut, turkey was also, though typically the breast was a bit dry... plan for next time... butterfly roast turkey maybe... might consult the chef of the family!

then Christmas day we went wandering downtown to check out the lights and the very empty city streets...

This big building with the columns is the Nottingham City council building...

It really struck me that Bex has changed a bit due to this DTS. She is much friendlier than she used to be with complete strangers. Particularly the bronzed variety, as was Melodie. Would have been more amusing if they had attempted to pash live strangers, but i guess that's not taught on DTS...

So, by and by, we all had a grand old time, good chats, went to see Happy Feet on Boxing day, and then farewelled the travellors who disappeared off to London on Wednesday, while we both totted off back to work.

Merry Christmas to all back home. Hope yours was a brill one...