27 December 2007 – Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year’s

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was great to be back home for Christmas with my two Sus (Sisters – Note this slang works better for male siblings where I am their Bru) and Mum and Dad.  Having a family of such international players means we rarely get the chance to all be together.  Perhaps all those years of Dad moaning about the state of our country became ingrained deep into our subconscious.  I’m here to stay, Annie’s in America and Rose will probably be out before long.  We do actually love England and the people, with the exception of those that feel need to constantly mess the whole place up.  I think I’m much more suited to the place as a holiday destination, rather than as a place to live though.   That way I can enjoy the quintessentially English idiosyncrasies every now and again without getting wound up by the general state of affairs.   Having said all this I can’t wait to get back to England in August for Reading festival and to see everyone again.

 

Now, whether it is the distance apart that makes us get on better and appreciate each other more or some entirely different reason, we all agreed this was probably our best Christmas together.  Everyone had a good time and bizarrely we weren’t going for each other’s throats come the evening of Christmas day.  No stress.

 

The day after Boxing day we got to go and see the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Barbican.  This was a present to the family from Rose.  It was nice to go out and do something a bit cultured with the added bonus that the orchestra is really good.  Dvorak Symphony Number 9 was especially encapsulating.  While being out we of course had to have the obligatory children’s photo.  Mum is always a little sad she never has a nice photo of her children together.  There is always one of us pulling a stupid face, not smiling properly or just caught at the wrong time.  This day was no exception.  Mum must have taken about fifteen or so.  If we were not yet in the age of digital photography all would need to be laid on the waste pile.  Then again if we were not yet in the age of digital photography she would have taken one or two and been disappointed at a later date.  In the end us kids started to take the pictures ourselves.  The picture that goes with this day was taken by Annie.  We like it the best and as such it was my facebook profile picture for over half a year.

 

Other highlights over Christmas were singing teenage dirt-bag on New Years Eve with Ben and Max, Annie’s pub quiz at home with friends and getting invited to India for a wedding.