Christmas in England with the Vidlers

Last night I had to ‘play Santa’. James was tired, so I let him get to sleep and I put out the presents and stockings from Santa. I also had to take care (eat) the stuff Tony left out: Carrots for Rudolph, and a Rice Crispy treat bar & Gamers Cider for Santa. It was quite amusing. I also finished “prepping” for James’ Christmas game.

Tony woke up around 9ish, so everyone slowly got up around then, Alice made a pot of tea, and we opened presents. Tony opened ALL his presents first, then Sam(next older), then Harry, Then Me, (skipped James because at this point he didn’t have any presents), and then Alice.

Alice got me a Union jack Pillow.

Harry got me a vintage Doctor Who Mug.

Sam got me a Doctor who DVD with 3 episodes from the last series(with Amy and Rory).

James got me this home bath kit…coconut smelling. J Yum!

Tony got me a forget me not box.

Also in my stocking, James slipped in a gift voucher to go get a massage! J The works too: Mani/Pedi, and a long nice massage. We’re going on the 7th of Jan for that, and he’s going to go work out in the gym while I get a massage.

After that it was on to the Christmas game! I set up a lovely game for him. In the tree was a note with a beginning clue. He followed that clue to an envelope with a puzzle piece and another clue inside it. He was a bit slow at first since he’s new to the game, but he caught on and was enjoying himself, concentrating really hard. Here’s some pictures of him trying to work out his clues:

After the last clue, he put the puzzle pieces together and it said “Log on to your computer using this riddle: The Pope has it but does not use it. George Bush has a little one. Arnold Shwartzeneger has a big one. Nuns do not have it, neither does Madonna.” It took him a while to figure it out, just because of cultural word differences, but it was all settled. The real fun was watching him log onto his computer and seeing that I’ve changed his password (to the answer of the riddle).

Eventually he got onto his computer, there was a note basically bragging that I got onto his computer, and that he can log onto mine using a password, which I point blank gave to him. From there he answered 4 rounds of 5 questions each. For every answer he got right he got a 50pence coin. he needed 13 coins to buy back the location of his presents(cause there were 13 presents of his hidden). He bought them back, I gave him the location(the downstairs cupboard), and then he got to open his presents.

James got a bunch of DVDs and books, a poster from my mum, a fear and loathing costume from me (which he was absolutely chuffed to bits about--extremely happy--), a shirt, some underwear, and the LA Galaxy Donovan shirt that he was just as chuffed about. :)

After presents we chilled out for a while, packed an overnight bag then went to the hotel for Christmas Lunch. Apparently everyone goes out to a restaraunt, a pub or something for Christmas. No one stays home and cooks or anything. It's a nice new tradition for me. The meal was quite good. I had a 3 course meal: 1st-Duck, 2nd-Goose, 3rd-winter berry crumble. :) i like duck, not so much goose--too tough.

At the table, another Christmas tradition is "Christmas Crackers":

Basically some guy long time ago came up with this and it's been a tradition ever since. You take this 'christmas cracker' and you and another person take hold of each end and pull. Whoever gets the most of the cracker(the 2 cylindar bits, not one) gets whatever prize is inside. Above, is a fan that James won, but he gave it to me anyway....awww, isn't he so sweet? :)

Oh and in the christmas crackers are those little crown hats that you see in movies....

After Dinner, we all went up to the flat inside the hoetl(where James Sr. lives) and watched Toy Story 3. The movie was good, but James Sr. left halfway through to go take a nap, and conviently came back at the end of the movie (I can tell he likes to be a singular person, not a family man, plus he had a rough day, what with all the business of Chirstmas Lunch)...and then John, the eldest brother, left in the middle because 'the chairs in the flat were uncomfortable', so he went to the pub.

After the movie, James and I went to our room in the hotel(James booked a night so he wouldn't have to drive), to watch Doctor Who, the Christmas Special. :) We missed a bit of the beginning because some co-worker, that james doesn't even like, stopped to talk to us, but it was an okay episode.

After that we went down to the bar in the hotel for a pint:

James showed me the kitchen (since it wasn't being used) and James Sr. even recommended that we take some of the left over food from Lunch today that had been stored in the refrigerator.

Overall it was a nice Christmas. ....strange, but nice. I have some new traditions and some new craziness to look forward to. :)

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Today I stayed at home, like the good little housewife and baked for HOURS! while James, Alice and Tony went out to do some last minute Christmas Shopping around Hereford(a town about an hour away from Ross). I started prepping about 9am and didn't finish baking until 1:30pm. :) I made Snowball cookies, candy-cane sugar cookies, and rocky road fudge. All I think went pretty well without me burning down the place or poisoning the Vidlers.

After that, James still wasn't home, so I went to take a show, get ready, brought our wrapped presents down from our room to put under the tree, at some lunch.....soon it was 3:30 and James wasn't home. :( I got lonely, and was about to call him and then they got home. :P

James was well stressed from shopping with his mum and brother, so I tried my best to relax him, but it didn't work much. He just really needed some good rest, food and a pint. Unfortunately, later when we went out....all the stores were closed so we couldn't buy any wine for James to sit and relax with.

Around 5:30ish James' older brother, John, and girlfriend, Sophie, arrived at the house. They didn't stay very long because they had dinner reservations at The Kings Head, and then they were staying the night there at the hotel (If I haven't mentioned it already, James Vidler Sr.'s bar, resturaunt and hotel is called The King's Head. James, Sam, and Harry all work there and that's where we'll be having Christmas lunch tomorrow....for free I'm guessing cause it's the family owned business).

My verdict on John: He's a bit cocky. It kind of seems like everything he does or has is the best and everyone else's opinions, tastes, etc are less than second best. He seems like a nice enough guy, just up his own arse a bit. And Sophie seems really nice....posh, nails done, nice clothes...kinda one of those people who probably spends way more than they should on their appearence, but she's a really lovely girl.

After John and Sophie left, James and I went out to see if any stores were open to get him some libations...but all the stores close early Christmas eve, so we just headed back home. Then we sorted out some more presents and now we're about ready to watch some movies to kill time before we have to "play santa" for Tony and put out all the stockings and Santa Presents. :)

See you all tomorrow, and Happy Christmas in advance!

Chrismas Shopping Time

James and I watched The Damned United, a movie with Michael Sheen (I love Michael Sheen) about football (the UK one, not American football). Pretty good film. James and I have a habit of watching movies late at night before we go to sleep. That's quite alright with me--more cuddle time.

Today when I woke up James had gone outside to let Locke Gorman out. When he came back inside, and I came downstairs dressed, he took me outside to show me 'this really cool thing':

The melted snow on the roof dripped off into icicles. :)

Even the Plant had a major icicle problem. ....and so did James.

Anyway, today I was feeling better and the roads were much clearer than we last went on them so James and I decided to get our Christmas shopping done. Sam tagged along cause he needed to get Christmas shopping done as well. We decided to go to a BIG shopping center where a lot of stores were, so we went to Merry Hill, which was about an hour and a half drive from Ross.

It was a nice day, a bit nippy, but the shopping center was WARM. They have Westfield malls, just like the one we have in Santa Clarita. I was surprised how many stores were similar in and around the mall actually: Best Buy, Pizza Hut, Toys R Us, Claire's, Build A Bear, Disney Store, etc. All these American stores in England…then again it is a Westfield mall, so it would kind of have similar stores. The last stop we made was Best Buy, at my special request. It brought a smile to my face when I found Best Buy--great for getting gifts and gadgets around the holidays. :) And I got something for James there that I had looked everywhere else for and couldn't find.

After Merry Hill, we went back into Ross to get some last minute grocery shopping done and then back home to wrap presents. James and I basically finished all of our wrapping, FINALLY, except for I have to buy a small bag for his mum's present tomorrow. We had loads of fun talking and listening to music while wrapping presents, then after we made a little silly vlog. If you've never heard him speak before, this is my boyfriend James:

He's quite funny and silly and I love him dearly. :) Now we're about to settle in and watch "500 Days of Summer", which I got today from a store called HMV for a fiver. :) See you all tomorrow!

Sick Day

Last night James and I watched White Christmas, which James liked...at least alot more than Singing in the Rain. He found Danny Kaye very amusing. :) I enjoyed watching him watch white Christmas, a tradition in my family around the holidays. We even had a little dance around the kitchen while I sung "The best things...happen while your dancing..." and tried to teach James basic steps.

Anyway, I'm still not feeling well today, and we couldn't really go anywhere since the snow hasn't melted yet, so.....today was full of alot of sleep and laying about the house.

I've slept most of the day, and took a nice soothing bath this morning; James gave me a massage and we watched Psych on TV and a few movies, "Snatch" and "Fear & Loathing in Los Vegas"

My throat has been less sore when I've been taking ibprofen, which I have, but I've been having hot/cold flashes and nausea. I'm hoping it, like the snow, will clear tomorrow so I can get out and do some christmas shopping with James (he still needs to get presents for his family). Hopefully we'll get on to doing that tomorrow....if not, I guess another day of rest for me.

Snow, snow and more snow.

Still snowing. For most of the day it wasn't snowing, but there was still left over snow on the ground. Then about 3ish it started snowing for a bit. So......we've gained another inch or two of snow today on top of the snow that came to us yesterday.

Hopefully the snow will let up tomorrow so we can finish up our Christmas shopping. But, if not, then we'll just stay home again and I'll probably bake some christmas sweeties for the family.

I'm feeling better today, sickies wise, and Alice seems to be getting her voice back (although it doesn't help her to be running around in the snow or talking while she's got a sore throat). The Ibprofen that James and I went into town to get last night is helping loads, but we're running out quickly. I really hope the snow lets up tomorrow so we can go into town and get supplies. :/

Anyway, on to today!

James and I slept in for quite a bit. We watched Secret Window last night, then i was feeling peckish so I went to sleep and James went down to watch TV for and hour and joined me. I had a nightmare inbetween going to bed and James coming to bed, but I can't remember what exactly it was. All I can remember was that I was glad to see James crawling into bed next to me, cause I knew in the real world that he's safe.

We got up, had a bit of Breaky(breakfast), and watched the tail end of Spirited Away, then The Nightmare Before Christmas, both on television.

Then we had a snack and took Tilly out in the snow to play for a bit.

We chilled out for a bit. We watched another movie, Equillibrium starring Christian Bale, and then James made us some dinner.....

Meanwhile, I played with Tony for a bit. Tony LOVES his walkie-talkies. We played on them for quite a bit, wandering into different parts of the house and speaking to each other. I taught him code words like "What's your 20?" ("what's your location"), "over and out", "rodger" and things of that nature.

That's mostly all the news I have to report. I'm bonding more with Sam and Tony. I'm trying to make Alice rest and kind of take care of the 'motherly' things so she doesn't have to worry, but she's stubborn; she thinks she can still take care of 4 boys and do things around the house, including going outside to feed the birds as she always does, all while being sick and basically coughing up her lungs. She's ridiculous but there's no use fighting a mother. james' dad still loves me. He dropped off Sam this morning(Sam had to stay over in the hotel the last few days cause it was snowing and Sam stayed the weekend cause he had shifts at the hotel), and James Sr. said hi to me straight away. :) And Harry.....Harry I can't stand. he's definately the Vidler I don't get along with. I had to give him a bollocking(a stern talking to) today: he asked his mum, who's still REALLY sick, if she could make custard for him cause he doesn't know how to make it. He knows how to cook, he cooks all the time for the family when my James isn't there...if he doesn't know how to make something, make something else. Don't get your sick mother get up and make it for you. If you really want it just ask her, or James, another chef. I was so pissed off at him. He's more lazy than I thought and inconsiderate of others. Another thing he does is he makes himself dinner, but not for anyone else. And if he DOES make more food for others to have he plates his portion but doesn't tell anyone else that food is ready for them. I'm not gonna get along with Harry. bloody potter.

Anyways I'll stop ranting now. I've done quite enough. Good day.

Let there be snow....and LOTS of it

Today was my first OFFICIAL snow day. There was tons of snow on the ground, and it was actualy snowing for most, if not all of the day. It was quite an experience. James and I went outside to look at the snow and play with Tilly....so I took plenty of pictures. You can actually see the snow falling in the pictures. Take a look....

James cooking a bit more. we had hamburgers, chips, coleslaw, and beetroot salad. yummmmy.

That's where the pictures end I'm afraid. I took a little hour-ish nap sometime during the day. We watched Secret Window starring Johnny Depp. We also had to go out tonight to get some ibprofen for the family. I'm starting to feel scratchyness in my throat and Alice is still sick, everyone else just has a mild cough. Hopefully popping ibprofen like candy will help the infection, if it is one, will go away.

No pictures, but on the way home James and I almost got stuck on a hill going back to his house. There are 3 big bends in the road and hills slowly inclining between each bend. We made it round the first bend, but then got stuck half way up the hill because James' car couldn't make it at the slow speed we were crawling(driving in snow is not fun). So we reversed it back down the hill to the bend so we could turn around and go back down the hill and just stay at the hotel,....then i suggested we take a 'running start' from the bottem of that section and try to floor it up the hill. Well, it worked and we finally made it back home after nearly 1 hour and 1/2 when really town is only a 10-20 min back drive.