Christmas in the UK. We've just had our first Christmas in England for 5 years, with my family visiting us in Cornwall, we had my mother (Granny), Auntie Lizzy, Richard, brother Arthur, and his wife Trudy (picture below). With Sam being nearly 2 it was a very exciting event. He now owns the largest fleet of trucks, diggers, and trains in Cornwall, including this mammoth digger from Granny, Auntie Lizzy and Richard. With only a few days to go before his birthday Sam now thinks you get presents every day.

We had some great walks, including Godrevie Head on Boxing day, where we saw seals, dolphins, and ponies all in a few minutes. Also had lunch at the Pandora, one of Cornwall's oldest water-side pubs, on Christmas Eve; very nice.

Yesterday Sam was very busy feeding Rosie the Jack Russell Terrier her dog biscuits by hand (we always called him 'Dog Boy' when he could bark before he could talk). As he gave Rosie each biscuit he would say "There you go Rosie", and when she had had enough he just started feeing the rest to himself. When his Mum caught him and tried to stop him the rest got stuffed quickly down his throat! I don't know where this reprehensible behaviour can have come from but its certainly nothing to do with his father!

New Year was down in Penryn with Anna's old friend Ben Lumby and a great group of people. We had one of those Murder mystery evenings, and ended up pouring some rather dodgy liqueur down out throats, an regretting it in the traditional fashion yesterday! Anyway all our best wishes to our mates in New Zealand, we hope to talk to you properly soon.