December 1st, where does the time go?

Hello all.

Just want to take the time to wish everyone a wonderful holiday season. It might be a little early, but heck, it's freezing cold here (by English standards anyway!), the calendar says December, and I have of late heard old Bing crooning about a white Christmas (though we shan't see one in Oxford, only up North)

This blogpost will also have to serve as a proxy for the traditional card in the mailbox. This is difficult for me, for, as John will attest to, I LOVE doing the Christmas cards each year: selecting the right picture for the right recipient, going to the Post Office with a monstrous stack of letters. But a perfect storm of events has made not sending out cards the right, though unhappy, choice. Firstly, an incipient postal strike by the Royal Mail means they might not arrive in a timely fashion. Secondly, the falling value of the US dollar against the British pound means that postage alone is a mad extravagance, and in light of the previous factor, a foolish one since the golden postage might not even ensure the delivery of the card. Greener folk might also add the 'lower carbon footprint' of an electronic missive, though I can't honestly claim that impacted the decision in the least.

I think everyone has been hit by the credit crunch, and so perhaps this is a good choice for many. I may create a 'virtual Mantelpiece', printing out the electronic Christmas Greetings we receive and hanging them up as I would do traditional 'snail mail' ones.

At any rate, from our house in England to your homes all over, we wish you the very merriest of Christmases, all the joys of the season and a very happy and healthy New Year.

There will, of course be more blog posts before the end of the year, as John is much better than I at keeping up with this. But today marks the day I usually sit down to write the Christmas cards, and I so wanted to send my messages of love and joy to all of you at this magical and special time of year.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Busy Autumn for the Morrison Family

Well I really must apologise for the lack of updates and photos. School is going well but it has really kept my busy. My courses are accelerated so there is a lot of information given in a short amount of time. This has kept me constantly busy.

Wendy has been busy with her doctorate and about a half a dozen other projects as well.

Gareth has joined fencing club at school. Who knows maybe he will join the Olympics in the future. Also Gareth has started to shave. I taught him how this weekend, he was starting to filter feed through his moustache. My little boy is growing into a young man already, heck he is almost as tall as I am!

Fiona is doing well. She spends most of her time reading and making things with paper and cloth. She really is a clever little girl.

Bronwyn is doing phenomenal with her maths (must get it from Wendy, because I am no good at maths) and she has lost three teeth now!

Enya was praised up and down by her teachers. She is already reading and doing basic maths. Now if we can get her to stop sucking her thumb.

That is about all. Hope everyone had a good Thanks Giving!

Enya turns 5!

It is very hard for me to think of my baby girl a five years old! I would love to post pictures of the event but some one in this house left the camera at her institute. However that person did take pictures with their camera so I will have to wait until those get emailed to me.

Enya is now the age that Fiona was when we first moved to England.

Enya, who is now a very good reader, got some Jill Murphy books, a light sabre, some dolls, and more books. It is very strange to have my five year old ask for books. I know the other kids never asked for them at that age. She also asked for a guitar but I thought better of that idea.

Thank you to everyone that sent birthday cards and emails.