And then there was Christmas!

And what an excellent day that was! Christine and Mike (the ones who cruised with us back in late summer) came for a couple of nights, and Eddie's family joined us all on Christmas day. Church in the morning, with the six Distills (including Eddie) lighting the advent candles. Fourteen of us enjoyed dinner together, largely prepared by Naomi and Eddie, with communal present-giving, games, much fun and laughter, and a very late tea, again courtesy of Nome and Ed.

While the kids all went to a New Year's Eve party, Grace and I had a quiet night in. Since then, life's been fairly uneventful. The weather's too awful to contemplate the gardening and other outdoor jobs which need to be done, and dissuaded us from visiting Kantara, too. It looks as if Wednesday might be calmer, so we hope to go and see her then, to check that she's OK. I'm glad we're not out on the waterways. I've seen lots of pictures like this - really quite scarey!

It seems there should be plenty of water in the canals when we start to cruise this year. A Happy New Year to you all!