An English Christmas

This year for Xmas we were along way from home, but that didn't stop us from having a family Xmas. Down at Goring by Sea (its about 40 minutes out of Brighton) we were staying with my Auntie Anne, who lives with her friend Alison and her fiance Dan. We were also joined at Xmas by Willow (Annes dog), Piper (a visiting Springer Spaniel), Dharma (an elderly lady Cocker Spaniel) and adorable Waffle, a 4 month old female tri-colour Cocker Spaniel). They were all so lovely and they all got more presents than us, mainly because they got gifts from Alison, Anne, their owners as well as from the cat next door!

On our first night we went to see the Worthing Theatre's production of Peter Pan, which was actually quite funny and there were even circus performaers in it, with a ribbon climbing girl, who was Tinkerbell and another girl who performed with hulla hoops. Not quite what you would expect but its what actors and performers do in the off season. Oh and Neighbours star Patrick Harvey was in it too, not that I would have noticed if the program hadn't have said.

Christmas eve allowed us to have a big sleep in, squeeze in a bit of last minute food shopping, though we had enough to feed 10 armys, but you can never be sure. That night we caught up with Annes friends Ruth and Kenan, then headed in to Brighton with them to a comedy show at Komedia. There was only one guy that was really funny and he was a New Zealander, so much for English comics!!
Kenan, Ruth, Lisa and Mark outside the Brighton Pavillion.
Mark and I in Brigton after the Comedy Show







Anne - Master Chef at work















On Xmas, bright and early (well lets just go for early, because it certainly was not bright) we "skyped" home and called home in funny xmas hats - a reindeer and a turkey hat (no pics....just far to embarassing!).

Then we had a champagne breaky, with "bucks fizz" - champagne with OJ - smoked salmon and scambled eggs. We opened our pressies gradually over the day, watched Xmas televison, then had our full lamb roast lunch with all the trimmings, including yorkshire puddings and mint sauce around 3pm. Plus there was more champagne and cider.

Xmas cake and puddings came out about 6pm, and we were well and truly stuffed after all that food. I tried to stay awake, but fell asleep watching Harry Potter on telly (at about 7pm that is), so Anne got a game out. It's a traditional Stratton Xmas thing to do though and it was mainly to keep us awake. The game was called Double Quick and its basically Scrabble on steriods - lots of fun.

The next day after discovering that the shops (well some of them) are open on boxing day, we headed into Brighton for some post Xmas sales shopping. We didn't go silly, but we had a great day, which was finished off nicely with a visit from Ruth and Kenan who came over to help us finish off all the Xmas food and drink winter Pimms (hot with apple juice).

"The Xmas Dinner"
Mark and Waffle (with Piper)
Xmas aftermath

The puppy dogs;
Piper (the tough boy dog)
Waffle (note she hardly sat still so it was a miracle that I even got this pic)
Willow being attacked by the evil (ha) Waffle