I..am....in.....need......

Yep, it's official. I'm fat. I have not been able to sit at the computer for two days due to over-eating and now I am in need of an ergonomic kneely chair to keep myself upright. Yet, against difficult odds I'm going to produce a last minute anniversary blog and a happy birthday Kate in the process.

Mum and Dad came over to us in the late afternoon of Christmas eve. We all spent a nice evening in front of the telly enjoying an audience with Ken Dodd while snipping Boddington's and snowballs (those beingfortheladiesofcorzzz)...hic! The Christmas Day morning was chaotic with small child number three up and about fairly early and the bigguns wanting to have their presents open before the traditional morning trip to church. We had a super breakfast though and got the turkey in the oven before setting off to Chinnor and enjoying a few carols there. On our return dinner preparations got into full drive while Mum sat and sipped a sherry with Dad before a frenzy of present opening and snack eating set the dinner back at least an hour.

I think I overdid it with the bird. It looked about the right size for a Merrow-Smith family of 7 but with mum and Amy being able to share a sparrow, 16 lbs goes a long way between two old boys and three girlies. We'll be eating it for a few weeks yet, what with all the trappings and the gammon. Needless to say we skipped pud and went straight onto cheese and cake in the early evening, when Judy and Stan came over. Dad managed to hook up with Cathy using his mobile and we exchanged a few shouts of happy Christmas across the air miles. By late that evening we managed to polish off the first tin of Quality Street and most of the beer in the fridge while watching a Shakespeare adaptation of the Taming of the Shrew.

Today we enjoyed more turkey (surprise, surprise) - or should I have said 'turkey surprise' (surprise, surprise)! We have yet to eat the Christmas pudding. Mum and Dad had a nice anniversary though, and a lovely day for it. We went on a short amble down the lane to give us all a bit of fresh air and to let Amy try out her new scooter. We bumped into the Enfields and the Austins and ended up having a mince pie and coffee at the latter's.

Mum and Dad stayed in this afternoon by the fire while Jan and I went over to meet up with Pam and Steve at Jan's folks' place in Chinnor. When we got back we got out the Christmas log and the Christmas cake and cheese but we are running out of eating steam! Tonight we got a game of Uno going but surprisingly our Mum didn't get her usual beginners luck and her granddaughter Jess stole the limelight. Mum and Dad have gone up now and to be fair, it's time for us all to turn in..... but with only one bathroom there's not much point in all going up together...which leaves me to wish you all well and best wishes for the Christmas season. Happy birthday to Kate in a few minutes...I hope that what you didn't get at Christmas will turn up today.

Nice kitty Julian and Ruth. The girls will 'oooo' and 'aahhh' when they see the photo in the morning. They miss our cat madly. Glad you managed to hook up with Nic and Steve. I'll email you contact numbers for here, but I suspect mum and dad will wish to go back tomorrow. I hope they will stay at least another night but I know mum is feeling a little away from the familiarity of home. I'll probably go back with them and set them to rights as they'll be tired, but maybe they will stay another night...who knows. There's plenty of turkey, after all.

Jess is off to the Phantom of the Opera tomorrow evening to help a girlie friend celebrate her birthday. To our amazement she informed us that it will be her first visit to London ever...and she's right of course! She's visited a few capital cities, but neither she nor Beth (nor Amy come to that) have ever visited London so we'll have to try to get up there sometime. The last time I was there the London Eye had not yet been built!

Enjoy the new year celebrations where ever you may be, and Nic, I'll try again to Skype you in the morning.

Love to all

Pete