I forgot to mention all the spoiling that has gone on. From Mark I got a digital camcorder, which was very bad of him so I am going to give him some money for it. And the bits that go with it like a firewire cable and mini DV tapes. Also a USB storage thing to replace my old floppy disks (yay! so needed for work), some Lindt Lindor chocs, two necklaces with pressed flowers in them (sort of like this but not really). His parents got me a few things like some money, vouchers for M&S, a jewellery box, some chocolates. His sister got me the Edge of Reason soundtrack. And my grandmother gave us loads of bits of china and stuff. And the dog has been spoiled too with lots of treats.

I didn’t even hear about the tsunami right away as we’ve been out of the house so much. Actually am exhausted from all the visiting and travelling and carting the dog and half a house with us everywhere. This really is like having kids. Xmas day at Mark’s sisters with loads of other people, and bringing the dog up and down like 6 flights of stairs every time we thought she might need to pee. Then next day driving home, dropping her off, and going back up for lunch at a pub with the same crowd. Then next day trying to do the sales, first on Oxford Street in the morning, and then Brent Cross shopping centre in the afternoon. Can you believe I actually bought a cheap wedding dress – unexpected find. May not wear it, but I can always sell it on Ebay. It was 70% off and wasn’t that expensive in the first place!! Anyway, then yesterday up to Derby to see my Grandma, and Mark’s dad on the way home. Mark actually had to have a 10 minute cat nap in the car at a roadside stop last night as it was approaching 11 and we were still not home. And he was falling asleep. And the dog is hating all these car journeys and so are we!

Anyway back to the important stuff. The news is just getting worse everytime I turn it on. There are loads of Brits dead – all these terrible stories about families being split up and newly married couples where only one of them has survived. I can’t help thinking that it could have been us as we are dying to travel to Thailand and possibly would have been there if not for getting the dog, and we also really looked into getting married in Sri Lanka (it’s kind of like the Vegas of south east Asia). Also I have good friends from Canada travelling in India right now – I know they have said there are no foreign tourists killed there but I am still worried about them as I don’t know what part they are in right now. And one of my staff members had a possible standby ticket to Thailand – but he could have gone to France instead, they weren’t going to know until the last minute (his partner works for Air France so they can pretty much go anywhere). I hope they are okay – Thailand is where most of the Brits have perished, it’s very popular.

For like the first time ever I’ve just given a substantial donation to the British Red Cross. Apparently they are being overwhelmed with donations, them and Oxfam, so that is good news.

Mark’s birthday today, so thinking of happier things, we are going out for a nice Thai meal in a couple of hours. Better go get ready.

We have no idea what to do for New Year’s Eve and are probably going to be very boring at home with puppy!

I keep getting emails from friends and people from work saying ‘Awww he is so cute’. When referring to Piper. Why does everyone think she is a boy?!?! She’s going to get a complex. Or at least I am. Piper may be the name of a kind of airplane, but it’s also a girls’ name – the actresses Piper Laurie , Billie Piper and Piper Perabo, the character Piper on Charmed, and Piper is also a brand of champagne. Which seems feminine to me.

Ughhhhhh I have had too much eggnog. And munchies. Xmas eating started early when Mark came home from work early this afternoon. We have loads to do – have to pack up half the house to go to his sister’s tomorrow, but haven’t done a thing. Probably just going to veg in front of the tv tonight. Made the cranberry sauce for tomorrow today – looks really nice. Better than jarred stuff. Fresh cranberries, orange zest, orange juice, red wine and some sugar.

I think I have to go. Brain not working.

Merry Christmas everyone.

She’s a growing lass. Piper has about doubled her body weight since we got her like 3 weeks ago. And becoming more of a pain in the butt!! Willful little thing! 

Mmm…full of rum eggnog. They don’t know what eggnog is in this country – yet it seems to have originated here. But they do sell Eggnog Lattes at Starbucks. Today, though, we are sipping some that I made this morning, while thinking about all the crap we have to get ready for tomorrow. 

It’s positively balmy outside today – sunny and like 12 degrees or something. I went out with the dog in my pj’s and felt warm! But I understand from thestar.com that Ontario has had a nice snowstorm. Of course my parents and grandparents are in Barbados right now so they are suffering the lucky so and so’s.

All the weather forecasters are dying to give people here a white xmas, and although they say it’s going to be chilly again this weekend, it’s almost never below zero, and probably only Scotland will actually get any snow. Not that I miss it! But gee do they wish for that white xmas here. I think Piper would enjoy snow, though. So far she hates the rain, when it’s belting down, so she’s been lucky that’s only happened once. Everything is muddy though – her, the carpet by the backdoor (of course the only place downstairs there is carpet is where she needs to bring in the dirt!), and us. You should see my pj’s right now – paw prints everywhere.

I’ve been having a very lazy week – organising recipes, doing laundry, hanging with the puppy, sort of cleaning stuff up. But mostly lounging and watching crap daytime tv – but for the daily dose of General Hospital that has made me so very happy!! I don’t think we are very far behind here – should look that up actually.

We did a big grocery shop last night so I can at least do some decent cooking in the next few days. Tonight I think will be oven roasted cod with a herb crust and I’ll throw some veggies together. I’m making the cranberry sauce for Saturday, but other than that, and the booze we were asked to bring, I don’t have to worry about the actual food on the day as Mark’s sister and mum are doing that. Will really miss my grandmother’s cooking though! And probably will be stuck eating brussel sprouts, mince pies and xmas pudding – ugh ugh ugh.

Mark is turning 39 (god he’s so old) in 6 days so I need to book something for dinner. I tried to suggest somewhere decent like 140 Park Lane or Mango Tree or Christopher’s but he wasn’t having it – he wants to go back to a restaurant he first took me to 2 years ago in February, a Thai place in the City called Silks and Spice. It’s pretty good, but we never go anywhere new! We are in London and shouldn’t be boring!! However as he didn’t get me anything for my birthday except a lunch out, he’s not getting anything other than dinner either. Last year at this time, I took him out to Toronto for the day, took him shopping, took him out for beers, and then for one of the most expensive dinners in the city at the top of the CN Tower – ON TOP of other gifts like a stupid Flight Simulator game for the computer he’s never used. So not making any effort this year as is clearly not appreciated!! MEN. Now let’s see if I get anything for xmas…

So much for a peaceful December with loads of time to catch up on correspondence – and blogging. Oh no. Piper comes along and the world revolves around her! She’s either sleeping, at which point I can do basic things like have a shower and eat breakfast, or she’s tearing around the house and garden looking for things to chew/eat – namely human skin, poisonous garden plants, the cat (okay she hasn’t gotten quite close enough to chew on him yet), metal, cat food, avocado pits, cat hair and dust, pebbles, fallen leaves, her own pooh, and so much more. I can not wait for her to be able to go for walks as we are all getting frustrated at how much energy she has, and how hard it is for her to expel it when she is contained in house and garden! She’s barking, I’m tired of being chewed – so when she does get that energy out, and she’s feeling contented, we are all happy.

I also had a lot of work stuff to do at the beginning of the month, even though I was supposedly on holiday. At least now WAES is closed for 2 weeks and I don’t have to think about it – as I know no one else is! We had our work xmas do on Thursday night and it was pretty fun. I’d barely had anything to eat that day (nasty cold this past week too – lovely) and the wine went to my head early, but it was good to chat to loads of work people about stuff other than work. Mark turned up for a bit at the end so he can put names to all these people that I bitch and moan about . Or sometimes say nice things about. The director of HR was super nice to me that night – telling me how from the beginning they thought I was wonderful and at that level, they can see me moving up the organisation as time goes on! Wow that was nice of him – and no he hadn’t had too much to drink. He told Mark to take care of me as I am vital to the organisation!! I know they love me at work, but seriously – that is too nice!

For those that didn’t receive it as you got gifts sent early (alas there are too few of you this year as I am broke), here is the xmas letter that I’ve sent out with my cards. In the great tradition of my mother, a nice computer printed form letter update that Mark got upset about as I wrote about him and didn’t tell him!! Isn’t it nice how we all turn into our mothers…

Hi!

We’ve been terribly busy, and I thought that December would bring some time to sit down and get in touch with people, amongst other things, but December brought Piper and everything is revolving around her right now! So instead of writing out loads of personalised cards, you are getting a lovely form letter – sorry! I don’t think I appreciated how much bringing a puppy home was like bringing home a baby (well, seems so). She’s a ball of needs who hates being left alone and is scared of pretty much everything except her territory inside the house, the garden and the cat. The cat, however, is not exactly her fan yet. I have to say, though, that it’s only uphill from here with her – things are improving, and we are having some fun!

I was promoted to Development Manager for Community Learning at work back in August, and since then I’ve barely had time to catch my breath (and this is the first time I’ve been off on holiday since then, which is unusual considering the pattern of the last year where we seemed to be travelling somewhere new every couple of months!). I’ve been struggling with some challenging line management issues with a particular staff member, we’ve just recruited new staff so come January my team will increase to 6 from 4, and I’m trying to do the strategic overview thing of our community-based adult learning and responding to local need/hard to reach groups (which I love) – but it’s all a lot of work. At the same time, I’m trying to maintain partnerships that I was working on before I got all the new responsibilities, and we were just awarded a very large (over £300,000) funding proposal that I worked on with community partners, that will see a 2 year project start in June to get more adults with mental health difficulties into further education. Okay I am now getting stressed just writing about all the stuff I have to do! No more of that, then!

Mark had this policy where he couldn’t go three months without some kind of holiday, so he’s probably feeling a bit of cabin fever. We did get to go to France for the weekend just before Piper arrived – basically combining some sight-seeing with a ‘booze cruise’ for the wedding. If you are coming along this summer, you should now be able to liberally enjoy some wine, beer and champagne. Of course the credit card bill for that is coming along right at the wrong time – along with the costs of a new puppy – so we are having a very quiet no presents Christmas this year! I would have loved to buy for loads more people but I just can’t do it right now.

Other than that he hasn’t been up to much really – busy with work at Metronet as usual, hasn’t even been really flying that much. He sold his share in the Cessna based at Elstree, but still has a share in a Grob (motor glider) at the London Gliding Club, Dunstable. We’re spending Christmas day at his sister Liz’s house with his mum and her husband too, and Boxing Day is lunch with the same crowd. Not sure if or when we are going to see his Dad as Zari his wife won’t have Piper to stay and won’t come and stay here! They are sort of on the way to my Grandmother Bowman’s house however so we may stop there briefly at some point, just to say hi. We’ll probably see my Grandmother around the New Year, but won’t see anyone else on my side till August – no Barbados trip for us! L

I’m pretty much off of work from December 4th to January 5th, but a few odd days that Mark is covering the maternity-puppy leave. On December 15th, we’re switching to a phone company that is giving me 1 year’s free calls to Canada! Wahoo!

It’s weird spending the holidays in England, actually – it’s mid December now and there are flowers blooming and palm trees growing. That’s just wrong. But we have a little 3 foot Xmas tree and some lights up this year so I ‘spose that’s festive enough!

Enjoy your holidays, and we hope to see you in 2005.

XO Emma, Mark and Piper (and Piglet the poor cat too)

The little Mrs. herself. 

Pardon me for taking a photo of my chest. But this is just a nice reminder of what we are aiming for, hopefully. The t-shirt text, obviously, not the chest. I should have bought one for Mark too!