The two week Christmas break was just what I needed, with rest and activity in good measures. On the first Sunday I accompanied Katie to church in London to see what it was like and I realised how hard it is to commute to church in central London and become a part of a church there.
In the afternoon I helped Katie make a gingerbread house which was a lot of fun, although a precise kind of baking for which we had to measure out the sides of the house, roof and chimney, and get the thickness of the icing right so we’d have a house that stood. It did thankfully, and then we had fun tiling the roof with white chocolate buttons and putting sweets all around it.
On the Tuesday evening of the first week I went to my friend Amy’s house for an evening with Katie and another friend, Afua. We had pizza, crêpes and a good chatter. For Thursday lunchtime I went to visit my friends Melody and Pedro in their new flat in South London. I wasn’t expecting it to take me an hour and a half to get there (no problems with transport), but it was so good to see them when I did.
Then on the Friday before Christmas our family spent an afternoon and evening in London, going to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition which was a selection of stunning photos, followed by Prezzo for dinner and Hillsong church’s carol service in Wembley Arena, which was packed out with people. For the last two we were joined by an American friend of mine from Rennes who was on her way back from a trip to Ireland via London.
On Christmas day, Katie took on the challenge of cooking the Christmas dinner for the first time and did a brilliant job of it. We’d normally go to church but Mum and Dad’s one and Katie’s one weren’t doing a service because they’re in central London and I didn’t want to go to church on my own, but afterwards I wished I had. In the afternoon we opened a good set of presents, went out for a walk, watched TV and then played a board game.
After Christmas we travelled north to go and visit family in the Manchester area for a couple of days – great Aunts, Aunties, Uncles and cousins. It was lovely to see everyone as we don’t get to see them very often. We even had the luxury of staying in a hotel, the highlight of which was using the swimming pool which had a separate Jacuzzi pool with one part which was exposed to the outdoors (only partly because it’s winter), so there was a cool breeze coming in and reacting with the hot bubbly water making it all steamy and you looked out to grass and trees. It was kind of misty and dream-like and I really liked it, but am probably not doing it justice in the description!
Dad took me out to practise my driving a number of times so I can get better (I have passed my test but need to improve my skills), which although frustrating at points has helped me a great deal, and I even managed to drive halfway to Manchester and halfway back which I was pleased with and it was a weird experience for Mum, having to be a backseat passenger (thankfully not a backseat driver!).
Nearly as soon as we got back I went away again, this time south, to a small place on the South coast called Winchelsea. I met up with a group of uni friends there, there were 13 of us in total. We went for a coffee, played games, walked along a beach and sand dunes, visited Hastings and Canterbury and ate good food. To see in the New Year, we had an 8-course meal (but weren’t stuffed at the end, thankfully the first 5 courses weren’t too heavy), did Secret Santa and watched a couple of the boys do a fireworks display in the cold and wet! It was a lot of fun and good to catch up with them.
Fiona x
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