All over

A nice time was had by all....nearly.



I had a fab Christmas morning out riding with my boss. Big horse was a tad frightening to start with but we soon settled down and had a fantastic ride in the morning sunshine. My seat bones were a little tender for the rest of the day but I didn't ache as badly as I thought I would. The rest of the day passed in a haze of food, presents, more food and lots of silly card games....Newmarket, Chase the Ace, Pig and such things.



Boxing day morning didn't get off to a brilliant start when we heard about the earthquake and Tsunami that had hit Thailand. My sister-in-law and her husband were Christmassing in Sri Lanka and the Maldives, both of which had been badly hit. Mother-in-law was in tears as I tried to contact the hotel but it was impossible to get through and the emerency contact number was constantly engaged. I finally got through to the travel company they went with who were able to tell us they had spoken to their local office and all was well. Sister-in-law was finally able to call later in the day to tell us that they hadn't known a thing about what had been going on and were enjoying their holiday blissfully unaware of the chaos unfolding about them - they were up in the mountains rather than on the coast. Unfortunately we found out that they have to cut short the holiday by two weeks as they are unable to go on to the Maldives. But they're safe.



I also discovered that I ached. A lot.



Got home today to hear from my dog-walking pal that her husband had been taken into hospital on Christmas Eve because of a problem with a fistula in his arm. He's had a lot of problems over the years with kidney transplants and cancer so she is understandably worried. Then her oven decided not to work as she attempted to cook dinner.



So as far as Christmas catastrophes go, we got away with it, although there are a few people in my thoughts now.



Hope you all had a good one!