A White Christmas

We returned from Paris to the UK which had experienced a full month of very wintry weather and had more snow than either of us had ever seen. On Christmas morning we were greeted by clear blue skies and a sun that made the snow shine a brilliant white. We were blessed to have the entire WP clan here to celebrate Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day with us - moments that are very precious and rare.

Sunset over Coln

Food over this festive period consisted of a cheese fondue on Christmas Eve (a WP tradition), a delicious turkey with all the trimmings on Christmas day, and gourmet leftovers with a birthday cake on Boxing Day - (it was also Jon's birthday - Andy's brother). Everything was delicious :)

After several full meals, we headed out to make the most of the snow (and gravity) by sledging down the side of a valley - sledding to those across the pond. We convinced Alex to try to use the sledge as a dog-sled, and have the dogs pull him as far as possible. Needless to say, this grand idea lasted less than 2 seconds, but made for a great photo!

Charlie's Angels hit the slopes

The WPs, like the Sweek and Martin clan have a treasure trove of late 80s flourescent ski gear that we pulled out and tried to make great combinations from. This is Tash, Hilly and Lindsay making the finest of the bright colours and looking extremely chic on the slopes!

We went to the village church on Christmas morning. You can see how the snow made for a storybook white Christmas picture - in terms of scenery...not us!

The walk back home from church on Christmas morning

We've been using the last several days to do some work to get ready to go across the pond, but we've also learned some games from the WP's past: Mahjong (Chinese game) and Poch (German game). We've had great laughs together, enjoyed some amazing meals, and taken some long walks with the dogs. Next stop is New Years...