Monday 30th December

My how time flies when you're enjoying yourself , and it certainly has flown in the last 10 days. AB is off home tomorrow, much to her relief ( she needs a rest from the daily chores, dog walking and tennis matches) , but we will be bereft of her companionship, humour and general battiness . Steve will miss being slaughtered at Canasta, and the homemade macaroons. The boys will miss the board games/crossword puzzles and ironed shirts. Bex will miss the hugs and girlie talks.

Boxing Day we went for a lovely stroll on St Aubins beach, the sun was out and there were lots of dogs for Jessie to play with, we did get a heavy shower of rain but battled through it. However on our return the tide was coming in and as we neared the steps to come off the beach we had to make a decision whether to back track and get off the beach earlier or risk it and make for the closer steps. Foolishly as it turned out we followed the man, who repeatedly assured us that we had plenty of time to get up the steps before the tide was up.......
Need I go on? A chap ahead of us executed his departure from the beach perfectly, we on the other hand got well and truly caught. I just managed to hop up on to the lip of the wall as the surge washed over not only his boots and trousers but those of my aunt. Needless to say she ( and I ) were not impressed, and berated ourselves for following ' he who knew everything' !


Photo of the beautiful trophy that I won in tennis doubles, #wellchuffed





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Thursday 26th December

Super duper fun and frivolities was had by one and all over the last two days, despite the fact the fireman has a heavy cold, and the business man had celebrated early and was feeling a little 'worse for wear'!!!

The females of the house thoroughly enjoyed the crib service at church on Christmas Eve, the church was packed, and we were lucky to get a seat on the last pew. During the service Mary and Joseph walked around the aisles before settling in the 'stable' whereupon they scooped a small baby out from its carrycot and put 'her' in the manager next to them! Such a well behaved and gorgeous 'Jesus' it made the whole service.

As I was the first up on Christmas Day I gave Jessie her present, of which only a small part now resembles Father Christmas...........





It was a beautiful morning with the sun shinning, so after breakfast and before the general hurly burly of preparing the lunch AB and i enjoyed a long dog walk. i had noticed on the table before we left the service sheet for midnight mass and wondered which family member had gone.... when we arrived back home we found out it was our youngest son. Apparently him and a few good friends had been enjoying the refreshments at a local establishment and one of their group suggested that it would be a good idea to go along to midnight mass. Nobody had eaten supper and they thought that there would be mince pies and at the very least a chunk of bread and a slurp of wine!! However it quickly became obvious that not only was the church full (so little hope of escape once they'd entered) but it was a long service with communion. Furthermore Dan discovered that the bread that he had been eagerly awaiting, was nothing more than a dry wafer and certainly the wine wasn't quite what he expected!! Actually I'm not sure what he was doing anyway as he hasn't been confirmed so shouldn't have been there in the first place!
By the end of the service (think they struggled to stay awake during the prayers) they were 'rewriting' the carols and making up verses. I apologise to the Rector and the wardens, and i really hope they weren't too shameless at ogling the 'fit ' girls in the choir.....

Christmas Day lunch, with the table settings lovingly laid by AB ;-)







We started the first Christmas cake, beautifully iced by the dweeb!



Our Boxing Day exploits will now have to wait until a later blog.....





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Monday 23rd December

News from the Luce household so far .... AB arrived last Friday and has got stuck into the hurley burley of the festivities straight away, although the weather isn't very festive. We have taken to asking Bex to view the hourly weather forecast and try and time the dog walking In between the heavier showers of rain!
Fortunately being the smart aunt that she is, she packed all her wet weather gear, this includes her boots. However when she went to collect her footwear from the utility room and discovered the muddy damp condition they were in she had the audacity to blame a member of the family, accusing one of the boys of wearing them! Considering her feet are size 8 and the boys range from 10 to 12, it would be difficult, and anyway why would they want too!!




The boots are now drying by the aga, being ' guarded' by the cat.....

Moving swiftly on from boots to trainers, tennis trainers, and mine were a winning pair last week. I was delighted to win the SB-S memorial tennis trophy with my partner last week, I couldn't quite believe I got as far as the final and then going on to win it, I was made up. MrB-S presented the beautiful rose bowl and also an engraved wine glass to keep.






We were lucky enough to have a couple of games of tennis on Sunday , and actually saw a bit of blue sky, and also pleased to have two hours playing inside today at les Ormes with great friends AH and SC.

I think hubby has had the last official meeting this morning, and while he has plenty to do (?) at least no more ' town' visits, Tom is still working although slightly shorter days, the fireman is safely back from his skiing holiday but feeling rough with a heavy cold and cough....too much burning the candle at both ends me thinks.

Two Christmas cakes have been made and the minion has put marzipan on and iced both of them today, they do look lovely, just hope they taste as good as they look.

We are accumulating lots of presents under the tree, virtually all of which have been wrapped by Bex, which is fine except as we haven't been wrapping our own presents, some of us have forgotten what we've bought whom! Especially so as Jack went out on a shopping mission today and realised halfway round that actually he already had a gift for that person.... A fact his sister kindly pointed out ( he does have a cold...)

We have decided not to attempt the three bells walk tomorrow, it was a possibility but thought better of it , not because 6 miles is too far, more the bad weather forecast.
This was a smiley albeit wet aunt on Grouville beach yesterday, and the little bit of double rainbow.....




In case this is the last blog before the big day, Happy Christmas to you all, and wishing everyone a Happy & Healthy New Year


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Wednesday 18th December

A festive Yuletide 'log' (non edible) !! Made by Becky and I last week....






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A beautiful sunset viewed from The Grand Hotel

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Sunday 16th December

I'm hoping to avert a fairly major crisis on Christmas Day, it will be tricky and require on my part a good deal of skill and forward planning, but it is achievable. You see son no 3 has an ongoing worry that come the big day, and looking forward to his Christmas Day lunch( although let's be realistic, it'll be his breakfast ) he may, whilst happily munching his roast potatoes which incidentally he loves, he will inadvertently bite into a roast parsnip! Shock, horror the very thought of this happening has filled him with foreboding.

In order to calm his frayed nerves, I have sworn that I will separately cook the vegetables to prevent this happening, and make a point of not putting a parsnip anywhere near his plate, on the other hand I have son no 2 requesting the aforementioned vegetable baked in honey, believe me it's not easy!

Super exciting news, the infamous AB is coming over for Christmas, she still refers to the visit as a 'holiday' but we both know that's not true. I am the boss and she is my minion, so she is fully expected to undertake any duties I demand of her,like .........
Weeding the garden
Emptying the bins
Washing the windows
Ironing
Cleaning toilets
Washing up
Scrubbing floors
Dusting etc .........

The Rising Voices choir sung again at Durrell this evening, a busy night with lots of carols and mince pies, great fun and thanks to Nan and Pops who came to listen and join in.

Can't write anymore this evening, having just watched the penultimate episode of Homeland , ( never mind Mr Grumpy Murray) there is far too much to process In my small brain, in order to sense of it all!


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Thursday 5th December

I've learnt a new word this week 'Cornucopia' , not entirely sure how you pronounce it, and so far have not found an occasion in my verbal ramblings to friends that I feel I could have used it; but right at this moment in time I too am 'overflowing' with LIFE !!!

My CT scan was ALL CLEAR of the dreaded cancer tumours, and my blood test (CA 125 ) was still in single figures 9 . With kidney and liver function all appearing normal , a huge relief all around, and so I really do feel very blessed.

The cornucopia (from Latin cornu copiae) or horn of plenty is a symbol of abundance and nourishment, commonly a large horn-shaped container overflowing with produce, flowers, nuts, other edibles, or wealth in some form. Originating inclassical antiquity, it has continued as a symbol in Western art, and it is particularly associated with the Thanksgiving holiday in North America.

Monday 2nd December

Latest update on the animal situation; the cat is doing well, and getting quite accustomed to his enforced house arrest. Due back to the vet tomorrow to have his bandage removed, but still has to remain indoors.

Jess had a lovely playtime on Sunday with another springer puppy called Woody, a romp in the woods and fields suited them both, but she wasn't exactly a great role model, as at one point she disappeared into the depths of the undergrowth chasing pheasants and got 'lost' for 5 minutes.

I had my CT scan and two blood tests on Monday at the hospital, I go back in on Wednesday this week for the results. It has been a tough week mentally, swinging from negative to positive thoughts on an hourly basis.

The busy life at home and the sport activities/yoga etc has helped me enormously, there is always lots going on, and so much that I am truly grateful for.

The family had a birthday meal last Friday , lovely to get all of us together at one sitting.










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