Location: Hampshire, & Sussex, England
Summary: A Christmas spent with family, full of surprises, great food, party games, travel adventures and a triumphant Arsenal win to finish the holiday.
Christmas Day
I woke up on Christmas morning to discover that I could not remember where I had hidden the Christmas cards I had bought earlier in the year. I had put them somewhere safe, out of reach of prying eyes and little hands, but my normally reliable memory had decided to take a break and the cards remained lost.
I got up around 08:45 and went downstairs to open presents with my mother. My first surprise was an external writeable DVD drive for my ultrabook. When I switched on the laptop to test it, I found that a digital copy of The Lonely Planet Guide to China had also appeared in my Kindle library.
Mother found her presents under the tree, including a lovely pair of trousers and a beautiful jumper. She thanked me warmly and complimented my choice, amazed that I had managed to get the sizes exactly right. It really was a Christmas miracle. She had chosen high tech gifts for me that I genuinely wanted, and I had somehow chosen clothes for her that she liked and that fitted.
We then set off for Christmas dinner with Karen, Brett and Holly. As soon as we arrived, Karen and Brett insisted we drink Bucks Fizz, while my niece Holly buzzed around demanding cuddles from her uncle. Dinner was excellent, with turkey, gammon, sausages cooked in soy and honey and all the trimmings. After a few bottles of cider, the party games began.
Brett and I teamed up against the Wicked Witches team of Holly, Jean and Shireen, with Karen refereeing and showing clear bias toward the girls. Despite the odds, Brett and I won both the quiz and Call My Bluff. We were then entertained by the magic circle's newest star, The Amazing Hollyuisionist. Holly performed moving wand tricks, cup and ball illusions and impressive feats of mental prediction, correctly guessing the numbers on hidden dice every time. She will no doubt replace Dynamo on television one day.
A warm mug of mulled cider gave me a pleasant glow and helped me drift off to sleep before the next day's travels.
Boxing Day
On Boxing Day morning, my sister insisted on serving me a full cooked breakfast of bacon, fried potatoes, tomatoes, sausages and toast. Brett then appeared with the fried eggs Karen had forgotten and added them to my plate. Cheers Brett, that finished the breakfast off nicely.
Several hours later, once the ladies had completed their preparations, we all climbed into Brett's car for the drive to Pulborough in Sussex to spend Boxing Day with Ken, Armelle and their family. Our journey was interrupted when the A27 turned out to be completely blocked. Brett used his local knowledge to reroute us without a GPS, avoiding floods and several crashed or overturned cars. He soon had us back on track.
We arrived to a warm welcome from Ken, Armelle, Pierre, Antoine and Armelle's parents, Jean Louis and Marguerite, who had travelled from France a few days earlier and were coping well with the power outage that greeted them. Ken lived up to his Rambo reputation by rigging up a generator to give us enough electricity to cook dinner. Rambo might have rubbed sticks together, but Ken is a modern swashbuckler and provided us with warmth and a wonderful meal.
After dinner, Jean Louis and Marguerite entertained us with stories of their travels. Nothing captures my attention quite like tales of adventure and the people met along the way. I discovered that many of the places they had visited were the same ones I had explored on my trip through the national parks and monuments of the USA. Their stories were fascinating, and I hope we meet again to share more of our travelling adventures.
Eventually we said our goodbyes and set off once more into the rising floodwaters and treacherous roads of Sussex. Brett guided us safely through everything Mother Nature threw at us, and soon we were back at Karen and Brett's house in Cosham. Mother and I then transferred to my Mercedes for the short high speed dash back to Fareham.
The Christmas break ended perfectly. I sat at home in the warm, watching Match of the Day as the mighty Arsenal hammered West Ham and returned to the top of the Premier League. I had survived my Christmas adventures and would remain a happy Gooner, at least until the next match.
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