home on the range

Yiha - home again, it is nice to go travelling but also nice to get home ..
We had a great time in Dorset -- but sad to say, not a SINGLE useable photo on my camera which has set itself onto auto-smudge-mode and will not take an in-focus shot... *roll-eyes*

The image I would most have wanted to capture was Toby and Joe opening the presents that they had individually bought for each other .. out of all the shops and all the toys in Dorchester town they had both found themselves drawn to the same place and the same night-light lamp with moving fishes in them.

So as Toby opened his box from Joe and Joe openend his box from Toby they suddenly realised that they had chosen the exact same thing for each other ... Magical .... (it's a twin thing)

The food was also marvellous, partly provided by Julie - with a great feast for Christmas Day and partly "bought in" ready-cooked by their catering-chum Merry. This was a great plan and we all ate very well without Julie having to be permenantly at the stove. ... (any festival goers out there who've ever seen Henry's Beard will have seen Merry at work, cos that is her most regular catering outlet..... )

Picking out other highlights:
there was so much .. it was great just relaxing and doing a jigsaw with mum, one day while B had a happy few hours in the shed with dad, learning to be a D+T teacher ...
Playing Mousetrap and "cheat" with the boys was also very entertaining ...

I went swimming most days - tho Brigid was laid up proper-poorly with a throat infection so she didn's swim at all, she enjoyed walks in the woods most days.

best pressie? the big statue of a laughing god from Julie and John is extra special, but so are all the other practical things like nighties, bed sock, face-refreshing spray and other lovely toiletries are also very appreciated .. and the biscuits! hehe ...

and this is what I got for B - white gold and diamonds -- cos it represents me and her:



Please add your own Christmas Highlight in the comments: