Christmas 2013
It wouldn’t be Christmas without quirks and customs and ours usually kicks off when Phil picks up a tree from the nearest supermarket (path of least resistance), then Eve asks to put it up asap. As tree decoration begins, we listen to Celine Dion’s “Special times” CD. However, this year, we’re in the UK, so we’ll break with tradition a bit: an artificial tree hurriedly put up on Christmas Eve, we’ll have the same music playing no doubt and we’ll take the obligatory “Wonderful Life” film to enjoy together.
Here’s a brief round up about us in the year that is almost over.
Sabrina is in her last year at her current school. The pressure has been turned up a couple of notches and she is feeling it. She has now to decide which direction she will take next summer – we await that decision with interest! She had a great trip to Budapest arranged by her form teacher. The whole class went (except for two naughty ones) and visited the government buildings, had an outing to an awesome series of caves, went to a concert as well as having free time to explore the city. She returned with lots of stories.
Evie is now in the third year at secondary school and seems to prefer languages to science – rather a departure from the rest of us - but maybe that has more to do with who her favorite teachers are. She continues to play the violin although only privately and takes part in a small concert twice a year. Mum and Dad are loyal supporters.
Phil remains busy at work, which has meant being away from home, particularly these last two months. He enjoys the work, finding it enough of a challenge to keep interested and likes going to the office where the ‘office banter’ helps to keep perspective amongst the stress. His participation in sports continues, achieving decent times in running and triathlon. Spectating at basketball has also been fun.
Katie seems to be content bumbling along at home, holding things together and attending to school letters etc. She has joined a new choir, but wishes they would stop singing Bavarian songs.
Teenagers and ageing parents seem to have resulted in a demanding year. Phil spent quite a few days popping over to England to settle his Mum in a new flat that exists as part of a complex built with the elderly in mind. Thankfully she seems to be settling in and liking it there. Katie too has had extra visits to England to see parents who are frail now, but well cared for and generally happy.
We spent a few days on holiday in England: a long weekend at the 80’s festival which is Rewind Henley - highlights were Kim Wilde’s cover of “Wonderful Life” and ELO’s “Mr Blue Sky”, capturing the atmosphere on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Then we had a break in York also taking Phil’s Mum along, it was stressful but we had some wonderful moments, including a visit to the Railway Museum.
As mentioned, we’re in England for Christmas and returning home for the New Year celebrations. Wild and loud describes the latter – with fireworks and parties, not sure about the former. We’re both hoping for a bit of peace and good cheer but we shall see, the girls, of course, looking for something more lively.
yearly reviews
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