of Christmas... in Changes and the Same

This photo shows how long it's been since I last updated!

Though actually it's been ever longer!

Anyway... The above photo was taken on Boxing Day at Jesica's house. The Christmas crackers clearly had special powers that day because Jesica wore a red outfit and got a red hat in her cracker whereas I wore a pink outfit and got a pink hat in mine! My own personal tradition is to keep my cracker hat on for as long into the day as I can (preferably until after everyone else has grown tired of wearing them... at which point I then declare myself the winner in a game in which, it has been argued by others, I am the only player).

Christmas was absolutely lovely. I spent 24th-27th December in Hull with Jesica. It was our first Christmas spent together. Not, of course, our first Christmas as a couple but the first one upon which we were together for Christmas Day itself.

I set out for Hull on 24th with a bag full of presents... Not everything that ought to have been in the bag was in the bag though. There's a long saga about the present I bought on Amazon for Jesica's mum getting lost in the post. They sent a replacement after Christmas though.

Christmas Day itself began early. Jesica's family tradition is to get up at 6am on Christmas morning to open presents. So that's what we did. I got a lot of lovely stuff from Jesica...

The fluffy hot water bottle has certainly seen a lot of use over the past month. :D The lovely heart-shaped photo frame with the picture of us is in pride of place on the centre of my mantlepiece. The more Doctor Who familiar among you might notice a few fun items that are familiar... the straws... the mini-figures (from Jesica's cats)... (and the braces really) and isn't that retro Peter Davison lunch box brilliant? Also there's my cute cuddly sock cow and some sherbert lemons (now all eaten up).

(The presents I bought Jesica included earrings, a DVD, a hat, and a cat poetry book. )

A little later on a chatted to my parents on the phone and wished them a Merry Christmas. I was a bit disappointed to learn that a post-Christmas visit from my brother, his wife and my little nephew looked to be in doubt due to Alban (my nephew) being unwell. That did happen later though... more in another entry, I'm sure.

Christmas dinner was delicious. Actually I had two delicious Christmas dinners because we had a second Christmas dinner on Boxing Day (hence the photo at the top of the entry) when Jesica's brother and his family came over for the day. On Christmas Day dinner we started like this...

Mini fishcakes with beetroot and salad. Very yummy... then we had a traditional main course followed by Jesica's homemade Mexican lime cheesecake. And then we were very nicely full indeed. LOL

In the evening we watched a few Christmas TV shows - in particular the Doctor Who Christmas episode in which Matt Smith's run as the Doctor came to an end. Actually, both Jesica and I were somewhat underwhelmed by the episode. It seemed a pretty weak one really - but I suspect I was comparing it with the amazing 3D spectacular that we'd seen just a month before at the cinema. Nothing could've followed that without looking a bit lame I suppose. Still, I have very high hopes for the next Doctor...

As I mentioned earlier, we were joined on Boxing Day by Jesica's brother and his family. After another delicious lunch we sat and chatted and then played Cluedo... Before we began I had to announce that I'd never actually played the game before. So they all explained the basics to me and I picked it up as we went on. It was fun and I enjoyed it but I don't think I really held my own against the 4 more experienced players... LOL I was still nowhere near to solving anything at all by the time that Karl (Jesica's brother) won the game. The only certainty for me during the game was that Jesica's chilli chocolate truffles pack a tasty kick. Mmmmmmmmm :D

I returned home the day after Boxing Day and awaited news on when/if my brother and his family were going to make it to my parents' house at Market Rasen. Oh, I should mention that I'd spent a few days with my parents before going to Hull - my grandad was staying with them at the time. I went to Doncaster with them the day they collected him and we had a meal at Whitby's with my aunt and uncle.

Anyway... this had been a very truncated account of Christmas - due to me being so late writing it... :D