The aftermath!

Today should have been the gathering of my clan here chez Jennytc but fate conspired to ensure things didn't go according to plan.
Younger son in Crewe couldn't come because of a visit from his father-in-law, elder daughter, in Liverpool from Sheffield, should have been collecting car-less elder son and family from Bradford and bringing them with her but that plan was scuppered because she has been really ill and not able to drive. That left younger daughter and boyfriend and they did come.........eventually, when boyfriend had finished shopping and driven from Doncaster to pick up daughter from Liverpool and they had stopped getting lost en route (cue sales pitch from Keith on GPS systems!)
So we did have a very pleasant meal mid-afternoon and all was well except that they brought their dog, a lively 2 year old bitch and it was hate at first sight between her and Lucy - no Christmas spirit for them, it seems.
Oh, and to top it all, Keith hasn't been well since yesterday evening and has finally agreed to give up the struggle and go to bed.

Toys for the boys

This is a photo of Keith's son and son-in-law playing with seven year old grandson's Christmas meccano set. When I say playing, they were attempting to build a motor bike, following the instructions, and having difficulty. In fact, they were quite surprised to learn that the set was for eight to twelve year olds. Is that a comment on the complexities of meccano or their meccano-building abilities? :)
P.S. I would like to report that Josie and I got our hands on it and built a model of the Camaro in the garden in five minutes........but we didn't!

Bogs again

Avid regular readers will possibly recall the problems I had finding 'conveniences' during our holiday in France, as detailed here.
Well, yesterday was a salutary reminder of that. Please note that if you are out and about in North Wales on Christmas Day, you are not expected to need the toilet. Should you in fact disappoint this expectation, you are in trouble, mate. You then have three choices:

1. Head for home at the speed of light.
2. Find a suitably private bush, preferably free of snow and thorns.
3. Go to Pentrefoelas, where you will find 'much relief' in every sense of the word!

After extensive investigation, I can fairly reliably report that these are the only toilets open in North Wales on Christmas Day. If anyone knows different, feel free to let me know. :)

A great day out

This is Keith in the car park of Moel Famau country park this morning. We decided that, as Christmas day this year was going to be a quiet one for us, we would take off into the hills as we always do when we get the chance. So we packed a picnic (to eat inside the car!) and set off. We had planned to go over to Whispering Sands on the southernmost tip of the Lleyn Peninsular, which would be a two hour journey each way, but as snow was forecast, we decided to stay closer to home instead so we headed off to Moel Famau first and then around the area of Bala.
As soon as we got up into the hills, the snow was very evident but the weather was so changeable all day. One minute it would be sunny and I could take photos of views stretching for miles, the next, it would start snowing again, the cloud would lower and there was no view to be seen.
So, all in all, a relaxed, lovely day - no big Christmas lunch but we will have that tomorrow and the next day when our respective children come to visit. I hope you are all enjoying the day and wish you peace and happiness for the rest of the holiday.

Trees in the snow

One of our views today

Christmas in Clwyd

White Christmas here this morning. The snow has just started falling. Merry Christmas to all!