Christmas

As usual, Christmas lunch was very nice. After ham, chicken, roast beef, prawns and Persian salad we had this delicious trifle and chocolate cake with home-made ice cream, all washed down with champagne. It was just Manami's family and me. 

The day started with Emma coming down to wake me about 5:30. I tried to hold her off till 6, before waking her parents and Hugo. The kids spent the whole morning playing with their new toys. We sat down to lunch about 1pm and were still at table at 4 (with Philip disappearing frequently to take a nap).

Weather was perfect. Not so for the unfortunate Victorians who lost their houses in bushfires and the people in north west England whose houses were inundated after heavy downpours. So distressing.

Doing another one

I won't attempt to repeat the things I lost, but will give a quick run-down of the mating habits of two of my grandparents.

My paternal grandmother had an ex-nuptial son - my father - in 1907. She was a Catholic nun and he was a Jewish (though not by religion) dentist. I am going to Brisbane in early January to meet the descendants of the dentist's sister, as he had no more children.

The result of the liaison - my father:

He used to tell people he got that flat ear from playing the piano by ear! It was really the result of an operation.

My maternal grandfather had an ex-nuptial daughter in 1905. For reasons difficult to understand, the mother of the child was not allowed to marry him, so he took the baby home from the hospital and brought her up himself. He had a live-in housekeeper, whom he married in 1916, and they had a daughter, my mother.

This is my maternal grandfather:

The number of ex-nuptial births in previous generations is astonishing and sadly shows how hypocritical they were about sex.

Oh no oh no oh no - this is so typical of computers

I have been standing here doing my blog for over an hour and now I find it has almost completely disappeared!!!!

I went into the website you gave me, Olga, on tidying up and then, when I went back to my blog it had gone. I'm so cranky I'll have to leave it for now.

Our new baby

This is Navi, Cupcake, Raindrop, Biscuit, Cherry, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Button and dozens more trial names, to today's Poppy, which I think really suits her, so will probably be the one. She belongs to Emma and was hard-earned - she had to get 20 points for good behaviour, and the points kept going up and down like snakes and ladders, over a period of months.

We got Poppy from Pet Rescue and had to wait till she weighed 1 kg, at which time she was 10 weeks old, before she could be desexed, vaccinated and microchipped. She was the runt of a litter of three. The mother and two brothers were both fine-haired and jet black. At this stage, though it doesn't show in the photos, she's wild and woolly.

She has a delightful personality and is so cute we all just want to sit and look at her. Muffy hasn't met her yet. I have read that some cats leave home when a new one arrives, but Poppy actually lives upstairs and they can be kept apart. But I would like them to meet, just to see Muffy's reaction.

I'm sure Muffy and Poppy are photographed more than the royal children!

Just one more. Hugo asked me to print this one for him to take to preschool for news tomorrow: