We Were Up Early,

and off to Nick and Maureen's,

Nick and Maureen had very kindly invited us all over for what was to be a typical British Christmas lunch, which is why I bought the turkey earlier in the week,

 but first a dip in the pool,

 which everyone enjoyed,

 every year these little uninvited guests appear, I guess a type of wood louse, this is the first one for today,

 back to the pool Diana playing with her telephone taking a few pictures,

 whilst Sandio and Dad have a swim,

 then another uninvited guest arrived, a vivid green caterpillar,

 for a mid-morning snack Maureen had prepared some corn-beef sandwiches,

 Diana and Daisy May enjoying their swim,

 I then noticed a few more of these moving around,

 they were everywhere outside, the good news is that they do not come into the house, just near to Nick and Maureen's house there is some woodland that has not been touched in years so I guess they migrate across the road in to Nick and Maureen's front yard,

like the ones we are used to back in Great Britain, when touched they roll into a ball,

then dinner is ready,

 the tables laid out,

 complete with Christmas crackers,

 the food was served,

 so a happy and smiling Daisy May,

 Lyn,

 Sandio,

 Dioshane,

 Mum and Dad,

Nick and Maureen,

 and myself not forgetting Diana who was behind the camera,

 then time for the crackers,

  which were a novelty, as none of Diana's family had ever seen or heard of them,

 so with smiles all round they were pulled and presents, 

hats and jokes came from each cracker, here is one little problem to solve I remember from one of them,
what starts with a T, 
ends with a T,
and has T in it?

a teapot!

or how about, why did the little boy throw his toast out of the window? to see the butterfly!

 then a real surprise for everyone, Maureen had bought all of the family a chocolate gift from England, for the children an Easter egg each, again a novelty for them, each egg had a different selection of sweets inside, Maltesers for Sandio,

 Smarties for Daisy May and a box of Cadbury's Roses for Lyn her Mum,

 Cadbury's flake for Dioshane,

 and Diana,

Roses for Mum,

and a roll of Rollo's for Dad,

 we all wore the hats in the crackers,

 then on to the dessert, one I had never eaten before,

 Kit-Kat chocolate flavoured ice cream, it really did taste exactly like a KitKat,

 meal over it was back outside for a swim, but Diana noticing one of the black squirrels in the area took this picture of one,

and cute he was too, 

 back to the swimming,

 Daisy May enjoying herself, after the swimmers had dried themselves off we chatted away for a few hours, Nick and Maureen telling us all about the trip to the UK they had just returned from, then it was time to say our goodbyes and after thanking Nick and Maureen for their many kindnesses we were on our way home,

 for a 3D film, so glasses on,

for Avatar which we all enjoyed, but I have to confess there are a couple of  scenes in the tree tops that made me with my fear of heights decidedly uneasy, but great fun never the less, by now it was late so with the end of the film we were all off to bed.