Happy New Year! Or perhaps I should say, "Feliz Ano Novo!" as I'm firmly back on Portuguese soil again. Either way, the Christmas Holiday in England seems to have flown by and it definitely feels like I'm home again. Especially so this morning. I've now landed at Lisbon airport twice, firstly when I moved out here back in August 2011 and then once again last night, and both times I've been greeted with torrential rain, however this morning the sun was shining brightly and the sky was clear and blue. It feels nice to be home.
So, where was I? That's right, leaving for a seven hour drive to a tiny desolate mid Welsh village to stay at my wife's parent's cottage for Christmas. Over the following days we were treated to bellyfuls of delicious home cooked food and lazy rainy days by a warming fire. On the evening of the 23rd, after the kids were safely tucked up in bed, my wife and I headed out in the dark, armed with a torch and a deep yearning for a proper pint of real ale, down the lane to the local village pub, only to discover that it was closed! Thankfully this situation was rectified the following evening when the place was packed to the rafters for their "Massive Xmas Eve Quiz" which we stumbled in on during the last few questions. If only we'd known, we might have made plans to get there earlier!
On the 27th we headed out on a much shorter journey, to see my family in Leicestershire. The rain actually stopped for most of the way out of Wales, although it didn't hold off for long and had started again by the time we arrived. Two more "Christmas Days" to do, one at my Father's and one at my Brother's, both of which went well. The presents were opened. The kids ecstatic. More delicious food consumed. The Leicestershire leg of the journey was topped off with a day at Nottingham Ice Rink. The two eldest had once previously attempted roller skating in school PE lessons, but all three were complete novices regarding ice skating and I was unsure how they would take to it, especially my youngest. Fortunately the arena had some toys to aid balancing, including a blue plastic zimmer frame, a plastic orange dolphin and a happy colourful penguin, for the little ones to hold or sit on and have fun with. I really didn't expect them to have the stamina to last the entire afternoon on the rink, but bless them, they stuck at it and thoroughly enjoyed the ice.
And now we're home again. It's New Year's Day and we've spent the morning doing our very own Christmas Day IV. Admittedly a much smaller affair than Christmas's I, II and III, but nonetheless still very exciting, especially for the little ones who had yet more presents to open. Christmas Dinner IV was also a little less extravagant too, since we arrived back home to empty cupboards and closed supermarkets. Still, it has been fun today watching the children unwrap more gifts and play with them. It was lovely taking them out to find some good places to drive the new radio controlled car and it was nice to watch them making a complete mess with their new "Paint Your Own Bowls" craft sets. My youngest and I even managed to find some time this afternoon to make some mince pies!
It has indeed been a frantic Christmas and I hope that you too had just as an enjoyable one as I did. It was great to see family again and spend the Christmas season with them. Now I'm looking forward to the sunny summer weather and perhaps a few visitors from England coming over this way....
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