Jacki's little updates

Christmas

Christmas was fun in Iowa. Erin's family live in the country and from their house I saw quite a few animals:
- a cat in a tree
- squirrels
- birds
- wild turkeys
- deer

We went to a candlelight service on Christmas Eve and sang traditional carols.. for some reason I had really missed traditional carols this year, not that I usually make a point of listening to them or singing them when in England but I think I hear them more there than I had done here. So the candlelight service was really nice for me.

Christmas Day was good too. Erin's family were so welcoming and kind, they made such a good effort at including me. I felt a bit far from my family after I spoke to them but was glad to be with another family - DEFINITELY a better plan than being in New York on Christmas Day. in the afternoon Erin, Katie (her sister) and I went to see Memoirs of a Geisha. It's a great movie so watch it if you get a chance.. oh but it's definitely a chick flick.

On our last night the family split the sexes and played Trivial Pursuit. In my usual competitive style I'm happy to report that the girls won (of course!!) although I can't take any credit for it. The questions are very America-centric so there were only about 4 questions in the whole game that I much of a clue about!!!

Getting back to New York on Tuesday was less fun. The flights from Iowa were cancelled due to fog and if I'd waited for a plane from that city I wouldn't have flown until Thursday afternoon! So instead I took a 5 hour bus ride to my connecting city, paid for a hotel room that I got to sleep in for less than 4 hours and went back to the airport to catch a 7am plane to New York. The son of a family I was sitting near was sick BEFORE the plane was fully loaded so we were nearly an hour late taking off while we waited for ground staff to replace the seat pad and clean up. Nice!

The rest of the week has been good. We had scones (which I made) and clotted cream the other day and Pastor Kevin gave me Green and Black's Maya Gold that he bought on his way back from South Africa when he stopped in London. Not one bar but THREE, so I was REALLY CHUFFED.

It looks like I'll have several visitors from England in January, which is exciting. The first is Alex Douglas, my friend who plays piano. He's here next week. Then in mid January John and hopefully Jenni are passing through on their way to LA, followed by my parents a week later who are stopping off in New York before finding somewhere warmer to hang out in.

[btw there are some pictures coming, when I find the cable to download them from the camera - oops!!!]

posted by Jacki @ 12:28 am