Catch-Up Part III: Christmas

At some point in the run up to Christmas, not on one of the days when the snow brought the country to a standstill of course because we didn't get any post then, I came home to find a parcel on the doorstep. When I opened it, I found a whole selection of gifts of all shapes and sizes wrapped in gorgeous bright red paper:at first I admit I was a bit confused as to where these had come from but then I opened the accompanying card and discovered they were from my Secret Santa!!! How exciting!!! I don't know if anyone else finds this, but I find it quite rare now that I'm older to get a gift for Christmas or birthday that is a true surprise, but I knew these gifts would be, especially because I had no idea who they were from. My Secret Santa gave me the opportunity to find out who they were, but I decided not to find out until after I'd opened the pressies (which meant waiting til after Christmas - ie, ages!)

So, we left the last catch-up when hubby had finally managed to get home after a Planes, Trains and Automobiles-type nightmare. Our original plan had been to travel up to hubby's parents in Wigan for Christmas on the Thursday but we were a little nervous of what on earth could still happen with the weather so we decided to leave on the Wednesday instead. The snow in Reading was pretty much gone by the time we left, but as we travelled further north the snow on the ground grew thicker and thicker until in Wigan it was about a foot deep and showed no sign of melting. This made for plenty of sledging fun for the family over the following few days!

On Thursday my mum, who was joining us for Christmas, caught the train from Bristol to Manchester. I travelled in to Manchester to meet her and was able to enjoy a couple of hours before her train arrived having a look round the shops and savouring a Starbucks Peppermint Mocha - yum!

On Friday (Christmas Eve) hubby & I popped into Wigan and had a little time to ourselves while three grandparents kept an ear out while DC had his lunchtime nap.

In the evening DC got to put on his new pyjamas.

And then the big day itself arrived and there were gifts galore, food and drink a-plenty (I couldn't get enough of the Advocaat Snowballs!) and much time spent sitting in front of the TV. A typical Christmas, really!