Christmas - away from home.

It was a sad day for us, without mum's Christmas cooking. Oh, and without all the family, too. Bad day for homesickness. We slept in, and woke up just in time for Grandma's call - so nice to hear from her. And then a really nice long talk to our mumsie, which may or may not have caused us some tears. Just saying. Shame dad was working, but we got to talk to him on their Christmas morning, our Christmas Eve. But apparently now we must move on from mushy.

Speaking of mushy, we had Christmas dinner at a little diner/pub thing called Jacques. It was a 3 course meal, and not quite like mum makes. For our entree Bek had some very strong grilled goat's cheese, with cranberrry sauce and watercress (not quite as appetising as it sounds) and I had some game soup. It was actually really nice, but nothing quite prepared us for the main meal. We shared a roast turkey meal and rack of lamb with a nothing sauce. I say nothing because that's what it tasted like. Bek had some interesting pickled cabbage, which leaked into the rest of her meal (family - you know how much Bek likes her food to mix), and we both had a very large assortment of vegetables. The lamb was nice, the turkey was nice. But it was just a bit boring, without Christmas crackers and loud family, along with various pets trying to take down the Christmas tree in the background. We had high hopes for dessert, ordering 3 between us in the true Johnstone style. The trifle was weird, but tasty. I think it had sherry in it. (Not alcoholics, Grandma) My Christmas pudding was, well, hilarious. It looked like 2 flat slabs of Christmas cake that had been well - soaked in brandy. Hang on, that's what it tasted like, too. Had some sort of cream/butter thing blobbed on top. Bek's dessert was 2 rather dry mince pies, supposed to be with brandy butter, but they looked a bit sad with the tiniest bit of butter on top. Our poor waiter looked like he would much rather be spending the day anywhere but there, but gave us a brave smile every time he took our dishes away. Like so many of our dining experiences, it was average, and weird.

We cheered up after lunch by visiting our neighbours, the SQUIRRELS! :)

Got a great shot of Bek dangling a peanut above one on her knee ----------->

and a video of the same one taking a peanut from my hand. Very cute. We tried to upload the video, but it would have taken 16 years. That really is all we did today. We're hoping to skype our bro tonight - Happy Birthday Josh! And then off to Amsterdam tomorrow morning. Prayers for the flights etc would be greatly appreciated.

Love,

Bek and Belle

p.s. Bek's cold is getting better, thanks everyone for the prayers. And Merry Christmas!