Andrew & Claudia Abroad (Oxford 2007): The Festive period

Shopping for the Christmas meal has been an enjoyable feast of the senses, as you can see from the images below which show the produce on offer in the Covered Market:

Anyone fancy boar?

I hope you've ordered your Turkey

Christmas Day started early for Claudia and I. 4.45am to be precise - that's what time the alarm clock went off so that I could meet mum at Heathrow not long after her plane landed at 5am.

Our Christmas Day was very enjoyable - mum's company was a welcome addition as was Tim's and that of one of my classmates, Brian Brooks. We enjoyed a somewhat lengthy feast - starting with scrambled eggs & smoked salmon for breakfast followed throughout the day by pumpkin soup, turkey and gammon and some lovely puddings for dessert - both plum and chocolate with all of the traditional accompaniments. We consumed a selection of cheeses accompanied by Noble One and some Port during the evening to round off a gluttonous and very enjoyable day.

Waiting for the feast to be served

My first Christmas outfit

Mum meeting her granddaughter for the 1st time

Our 1st family Christmas

On Boxing Day, Luke and Sally Mann came up from London and we had a lovely lunch at the Anchor Inn in Jericho. They brought us a lovely jumpsuit for Ava - Party at my place at 2am!

The following day, Dirk, Barbara and Saar arrived from Amsterdam to visit for 2 days. It was great to see them all for the 1st time since we left Holland. We had a nice tour of Oxford and then enjoyed a lovely leg of lamb for dinner before bidding them farewell at lunch the following day.

Barbara, Saar, Dirk, Claudia, Ava and I in the Chapel Quad at Pembroke

Dirk, Barbara and Saar in front of the Bridge of Sighs (Hertford College)

Saar - ever inquisitive

Mum, Dirk and I in front of the gates of All Souls College

The Kersten family in front of the Radcliffe Camera

For New Year's eve, we had decided to stay in Oxford and fortunately, AJ and Caroline had organised for a group of us to celebrate together at the Oxford Retreat. Ava enjoyed her 1st New Year's celebration with about 20 friends and family of AJ and Caro, including some friends of ours from the MBA course - Gabe and his wife Katie, James and then later in the evening, Shelby, Brooks and Brandon.