Merry Christmas!

My first Christmas away from home went pretty great. Joe and I went ice skating at Hampton Court Palace on Saturday. I'm terrible at skating (thought I didn't fall) and there's only so long that its entertaining for, but the castle was amazing. It was a home for Henry VIII and was impressive. It has this a huge astronomical clock and some beautiful grounds.

After that, I went to work on Sunday which was awful. People were very grouchy! I got home and did gift exchanges with Joe and Frank. Ate a dinner of cheese, wine, grapes, and olives. I was in heaven.

Monday, Frank, Joe, and I went over to Dinah's for Christmas Day. We ate for about ten hours, did the quizzes in the newspaper (kind of a big deal over here--like a summary of the year in a huge quiz), drank entirely too much, and we chauffeured home by Julian, pleasantly stuffed and sleepy. Wonderful day.

Boxing Day (today--called that because the servants used to walk around with boxes and people would put gifts in them) is very slow. No one had to work so we've barely left the house (last night I had a moment of panic when I couldn't remember if I had to work today so I woke up this morning at 6AM, walked to the tube only to discover that it was closed until 8:30. I then decided that because of that and because no one at Starbucks would answer the phone, that I must have the day off. No one has called me yet, so seems I made the right decision!) but Joe and I are going to see Chicago tonight.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!