Happy New Year, Everyone!
Since we returned to the UK we've spent every Christmas in Nuneaton with John's sister, Joy, and her family. As usual, we set off for Nuneaton on Christmas eve; this time we were leaving frozen pipes, a dodgy central heating system and a leaking dishwasher! For the first time, though, we stayed with Betty, (Joy's mother-in-law) who lives around the corner. This change being necessitated by the arrival of Oscar (Joy's grandchild), his parents and a car full of baby accoutrements.
The snowman on the right is Mr. Pickles, now sadly departed! Our nephew, Nick, built him, but by the time we arrived, he had become a shadow of his former self. As you can see, his carroty nose is shrivelled and dark, his chestnut buttons and eyes have sunk into his flesh and he must have been suffering from osteoporosis - he'd lost several inches in height in a matter of days!
Mr. Pickles was fun, but he wasn't the centre of attention. Oh no! That honour went to Oscar the newest arrival in the family. Oscar is the son of Nick and Sam and the grandson of Joy. The hard part is realising that he's our great nephew - boy that makes us sound really old! I suppose we're getting there - I turned 65 in mid-December and John will be 66 on January 2nd.
Here are a couple of pictures of Nick, Sam and Oscar as they opened Oscar's presents. Nick is the one with the Tea Cosy on his head (note there's a Santa hat under that!). Sam's the lovely motherly one, and Oscar is the one who hasn't a clue what all the fuss is about!
Once presents were openend on Christmas day, we proceded to the main event - dinner! As you can seen, John was the only one allowed in the kitchen with his sister, and from the looks of him, she didn't have much choice!
It was a smashing dinner with a starter of smoked salmon, followed by a multibird roast (goose, stuffed with chicken, stuffed with pheasant, stuffed with sausage stuffing) from Shropshire and all the trimmings. Amazingly, we all found room for a small portion of rich chocolate torte for dessert! That's John F. carving the roast!
For our U.S. friends; you need to understand about the wearing of hats at Christmas. Although you can see that we wear Santa Hats and Tea Cosies, the more usual hat is the paper one as found in Christmas crackers. In the first picture you can see that Joy has just pulled her cracker and is now inspecting the contents. There is always a hat, a really stupid joke (called a motto for some unfathomable reason) and a toy. Everyone puts on their hat, reads out their joke (accompanied by groans from the assembled multitude) and tries to work out why they got the dumb toy.
This year the toys included a pencil sharpener, a plastic thingy with holes in that you could use to draw simple shapes, a springy hair clip, a set of cards printed like dominos, a spinning top (that was the best because it really worked) and a giant paper clip!
The prize for best looking lady in a hat goes to Betty, don't you think?
On Boxing Day we did it all again. Eating lots more food, baby sitting for Oscar while his parents had a well-deserved night off (they went out with friends, and wisely chose to spend the night with Sam's parents), putting away a fair amount of wine and watching lots of really dozey stuff on telly.
We did take a walk on Boxing Day. It was very cold, but still and partly sunny and we enjoyed exploring the woods at Hartshill Hayes. Here's a picture of John A., with Joy and her husband John F. The funniest sight of the walk was seeing a grown man get
into a big plastic bag, convince his dog to sit on top of him and then set off to slide down the hill. The dog jumped off at first opportunity and then there was lots of yelling and laughter as the man lost control and rolled and slid helplessly into the next field! We don't see much snow around here, you know.
Thankfully, the snow has melted now. The traffic chaos is at an end. Burst pipes are slowly being mended and we've just tipped over from 2010 to 2011.
Mr. Pickles was fun, but he wasn't the centre of attention. Oh no! That honour went to Oscar the newest arrival in the family. Oscar is the son of Nick and Sam and the grandson of Joy. The hard part is realising that he's our great nephew - boy that makes us sound really old! I suppose we're getting there - I turned 65 in mid-December and John will be 66 on January 2nd.
Once presents were openend on Christmas day, we proceded to the main event - dinner! As you can seen, John was the only one allowed in the kitchen with his sister, and from the looks of him, she didn't have much choice!
The prize for best looking lady in a hat goes to Betty, don't you think?
We're past the equinox, the nights are drawing in and it's definitely feeling fallish now. Most of the leaves are still on the trees, but it's chilly and windy. But, just before we sink into the depths of Autumn here are a couple of pictures taken in September:
Later in the month, the Crabbs came to visit from Edmonton, Alberta. The picture on the left shows them with John getting ready to have a smashing dinner at the Wenlock Edge Inn after a long day exploring the delights of our nearby Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site. I've written about Ironbridge before, so I won't do it again. You can follow this link if you're interested in the site. 
Earlier, our smashing lunch at Ye Olde Robin Hood pub in the gorge was enlivened by the sight of this lovely, friendly dog, who not only visited everyone to say "Hello", but also sat very politely at the table while his master finished his pint!
Afterwards we celebrated by going to the site of the Battle of Shrewsbury - made famous by Shakespeare in Henry IV pt.1. This is where Henry IV and his son Hal defeated Hotspur and established the power of the Plantagenet kings in 1403. It was a bloody battle and many were killed on both sides. You can read about it here.
A Royal memorial chapel was built near the battlefield, probably over the burial pit for the men killed in the battle. It was replaced by this church in 1460. The church has been renovated a couple of times since then and it's beautiful inside. There's a lovely hammerbeam roof, superb stained glass windows and a little exhibition about the battle. We got the key from the shop and had a good look round. The pictures were taken in and around the church.
Later we wandered through malls and arcades, lunching in "YO!", a sushi restaurant where the plates are colour coded according to price and are on a belt that moves past the end of the table. You just grab whatever looks good and they bill you by counting the plates.
This is the best news, because the mammogram is probably the most thorough test I will have this year. I have one more visit with the oncologist in August and if everything is still OK I'll be given the go-ahead to come off the dreaded Arimidex. Then, maybe, my hair will thicken up again, some of the other side effects will go away and I'll get back to a normal life.
This time 6 years ago we were just starting to get hints that I might have breast cancer. It wasn't definite yet, but I was in the middle of tests and more tests. It was to be another few days before we cancelled our flight home and then found out the bad news. We went to Matt and Karlyn's wedding and then sold our house to them! Happy Anniversary, you two!!!!!
