At  00.20am on Christmas morning 2012 it had stopped raining for the time being and I walked back from my Breton neighbours where I'd spent a lovely evening having dinner, chatting and laughing - I do enjoy spending time with them it's always so relaxed and comfortable.  The sky was clear and the moon complete with large halo shone alongside Venus.

Christmas Day was the first I had ever spent alone and in spite of that I had a lovely day.  I did the animals about 09.00hrs and during the day had various Skype and 'phone conversations with friends and family.

I started off looking fairly normal and then got ready to do the animals up the lane.  Thought I ought to look the part.

 The kittens got into the Christmas mood too, under a window wreath.

Lunch was crab salad, roasted duck and all the trimmings and then Christmas pudding with pouring and clotted cream.  It was all lovely - for some reason the photos are turning sideways!

 

I didn't go mad with the decorations this year as I was alone, but the room looked Christmassy and I had lots of cards from friends and family too.  

One of the Christmas tree decorations.  The lovely tree, a Nordman fir was given to me by some good friends.














The weather was atrocious all through the Christmas/New Year period and when my son, Matthew, came over on the ferry from Plymouth to Roscoff on the night of 28 December the winds were very, very strong.  In the morning the boat was already going to be late, they had emailed us to tell us, but in the event they couldn't dock even at the later time of 10.00am because of the winds and had to sail out of the area and wait for them to subside a bit.  He finally arrived at 11.30am.

He brought me a present from him and his sister of a lovely slate sundial - a very unusual and welcome gift.  I shall have to find the best place in the garden for it once I can stand out there without being poured on.

Here he is having his prawn salad starter on New Year's Eve.  Friends B&J came over for most of the evening and left just before the first of the two New Year's we saw in, first the French one and then the English one on the television with all the fireworks at the Millennium Wheel.

On New Year's Day, I tried to drive to Lanrivain to get bread in the morning but a tree was down across the lane just past my field, so I had to drive to St Nicolas du Pélem instead.

Amidst all the rain there was a double rainbow across my field when I went up to do the animals in the morning.  I think you can just see it to the left of the normal one.

The following day I broke a tooth on a soft Quality Street toffee and had to arrange to go back with Matthew to Cornwall on the Wednesday to have my English dentist do a repair job.  I had two dry days out of four there - I'd almost forgotten what a dry day was - and returned on Sunday night on the last January ferry from Plymouth to Roscoff - very glad to be home again.

While I was there all of the family got together twice for a meal at Matthew's and here is a photo of all of us.

Three things I like:

1.   Christmas.
2.   Seeing all the family together.
3.   Coming home.