Autumn and Christmas 2011

We have just returned from 10 wonderful weeks in the USA. For the first week we stayed with Jo, Todd and family in San Jose. It was great to catch up with the children when they were not at school. We managed a trip to the seaside for Alexander and Oliver to do a spot of fishing off the pier, unfortunately without luck that time (on another trip after we had returned to the UK, both boys caught a fish, Alexander taking his home, gutting it and the eating it after Todd had BBQ’d it). Sienna, being the young lady, preferred more feminine pastimes. It was a great week and we celebrated Gerry’s birthday before we set off for Palm Springs.

Palm Springs was as lovely as ever although the weather was a lot cooler than average. We met up with many of our friends who live or winter in Palm Springs and enjoyed several drinks parties, dinner parties and trips out including the cinema and a visit to our favourite restaurant in Idyllwild with friends. Annie also hosted a traditional English dinner party in our bungalow. When we invited the guests they immediately asked if Annie would do Coronation Chicken as they had so enjoyed it the previous time they dined with us. Annie also joined in the aquarobics class held most mornings – not really a class but a chance for the ladies to have a long chat whilst doing some exercise in the water. Gerry used the time to swim and was up to about 1100m a session by the end of the stay. Most of the rest of the time was spent sitting by the pool or Christmas shopping when the weather was particularly grim (for Palm Springs) in the early part of December.

There were, however, two high spots during the time we were based in Palm Springs. The first was a couple of days in Las Vegas. The purpose of the visit was to meet up with a friend, Penny, who lives in Christchurch, New Zealand. Penny, one of our travelling companions on our trip around South America in 2006, was holidaying in the USA and visiting Las Vegas. Since we had cancelled our planned round the world trip earlier in the year when we would have visited her, it was an opportunity to catch up that could not be missed. Apart from visiting the wonderful gardens of the Bellagio Hotel and enjoying the view from the top of the Stratosphere, we spent a day exploring Red Rock Canyon and the Botanical Cactus Gardens. The cacti had been covered in thousands of lights and decorations ready for the holiday season but were switched on (I assume for testing) prior to the official opening a few days after our visit. We had a great time!

The second high spot of our time in Palm Springs was a five day visit over Thanksgiving by Jo and family. (It is a fact that one of the first questions when we arrive in Palm Springs is “When are the grandchildren visiting?”).

As usual, the children stayed with us and this time Jo and Todd stayed in another bungalow rented from some friends of ours. Alexander, Oliver and Sienna love the routine of their stays in Palm Springs. They wake at around half past six, carefully open the door to our bedroom every few minutes until they are sure we are awake and then charge in and climb up the middle of the bed. Grannie and Grandpa enjoy a cup of tea in bed whilst the children (and us) enjoy some special ginger snap biscuits that we get from Trader Joe’s. After breakfast we head for the pool where the children swim and play for the rest of the day until the sun sets over the mountain. Showers, teatime snacks and then drawing, playing games, scooting around the neighbourhood, walking up Bug Mountain (where we look for bugs and other animals hence the name given by the children) or visiting the park precede supper and a quiet time before bed.

It was a great visit, especially Thanksgiving Day itself when we enjoyed a full turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Annie did an amazing job!

We left Palm Springs to head up to San Jose on the 16th of December. Jo and Todd had decorated the outside of their house with lights and a Christmas tree as had most of the residents in their road. It is just a shame that none of our photographs did justice to the wonderful festive displays as you drove up to their house. Family P had also decorated the inside of their house and had the most beautiful tree in the lounge area. It was so perfectly shaped, you could be forgiven for thinking it was imitation!

What a great time we had in the build up to Christmas , trips to various parks, a house specially decorated with thousands of lights (raising money for charity), cooking sessions, ice skating, a visit to Winter Wonderland (a temporary fairground in downtown San Jose), and BMXing for the boys at a special cycle track.

All too soon it was Christmas Day.

It may have started early, but everyone was on great form. The children were excited and very happy – no fights or disputes for the whole day and lots of lovely presents to open and play with. A lovely brunch of Eggs Benedict kept us going until we all sat down to a full Turkey dinner with Crackers containing the usual hats novelties and jokes (Alexander took great delight in reading them out). It was a wonderful spread.

Thank you Jo for all your hard work. Later in the evening, after the children had gone to bed, both Annie and I summed up the day in one word – “perfect”.

Boxing Day (obviously not called that in the USA) dawned fresh but sunny and we all went to the park to play football for the lads and the climbing frames for Sienna when she wasn’t walking her new dog that walks on a lead and turns left and right at the press of a button (It is a toy not real) All too soon it was evening and the last night of our stay.

Thank you Jo, Todd, Alexander, Oliver and Sienna for a brilliant time.

And so our autumn sojourn to California came to an end.

The day after we arrived home, we headed for Jenny and Mark’s in Caversham to spend time with them, Bethany, Callum and baby Elsie who had grown so much in the time we were away. Then the icing on the already wonderful cake was the arrival of Martin and Louise. M and L had come back from Singapore for Christmas and it was the only opportunity for us to get together before they return. Jenny had prepared a lovely meal and we sat around the dining table chatting until we left to return to Fairford just after 10pm. The next morning, Jon and Jess rang to ask if they could drop in on their way back to Bristol. An unexpected but very welcome surprise – Annie managed to produce a lovely lunch (don’t know how as we had only done a very basic shop the evening we arrived home) and we sat and chatted until late afternoon. Lucy (the nurse) is working nights and we will catch up with her and hopefully Dr James in Bristol next week. It is just a shame that the only member of the family we will not have seen is son James. He had spent Christmas at The Nook and expected to see us before he had to go back to London. Unfortunately, we were a couple of hours late getting home (but that’s another story!) and so missed him.

All in all a fantastic Autumn and Christmas.