Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

We hope you all have a very Happy Christmas and a fun New Year from Tom. Emma, Pennie, Abigail Rose and David in London.

I feel strange sitting down to write our Christmas Letter when for the past 4 months I’ve been writing up our Blog (Web Log) for family and friends to read at their leisure, I will add this Newsletter to our Blog, so it won’t be printed out en masse this year… except for one copy, which will go the NSW State Library and added to more than 20 years of our Christmas letters already there.

This Christmas you will find us in Wood Green, North London… only 7 minutes walk from where Tom, Emma and Abi live. David and I have just been for a good long walk up to Downhills Park, then for lunch at the Toll Gate Pub on Turnpike Lane and checked our emails at Tom’s. David is still at Tom’s while I’ve had a nice hot bath to try and thaw out my face and some of my frozen chins, now I’m watching Gordon Ramsey’s ‘F Word’ while I try and remember who has been doing what where and when.

Abigail is fascinated with what David has on his head but isn't too sure about all this dressing up stuff!

We’ve been in England for 3 months now and will enjoy another three months before we fly home. We’ve packed in a lot of touring, renewed old friendships, made lots of new friends and got to know our grand daughter… the very beautiful Abigail Rose! David’s passion for Double Deckers has been regularly fed from both England and Scotland while my passion for Quilting is starving, except for the hand sewing of half-inch hexagons… I turn 36 of them into a Diamond shape so one day I will have enough to make a quilt! I did get a thrill last July when I became a Cover Girl. My Blue & Yellow hexagon Flower Quilt made for Briony, was on the front cover of my favourite Quilting Magazine, it made me giggle when I saw piles of the mags in Newsagency or Quilt Shops… they were so looking at me… LOL… So all is very well with our worlds. Oh! I turned 60 last July!!

Rip and Rosie Rodd, my parents, continue to amaze us with their enthusiasm, pride and joy in their family which now numbers, with partners, almost 30, they have their ups and downs and their regular visits to the medical profession but they are still keeping busy enjoying life which isn’t bad for 89 and 82! Mum is a Computer and Internet Whiz while Dad still enjoys playing old tunes on his Electronic Organ, I will miss his entertaining Christmas music this year. They will spend Christmas Day at my brother Nick’s home.

Nerys started the year by doing a pretty intensive and emotional course with Dial-a-Mum, learning to help mothers who need advice or just someone to listen to, she does this voluntarily but has taken a break, (if you can call motherhood with a 3 year old a break) while she prepares for the birth of their second child due at the end of April. This one will be our third grandchild and a brother or sister for Jackson Harry. Nerys took getting fit seriously this year and just glows with her pregnancy although being pregnant during a Sydney summer isn’t all that much fun… I think our pool will get a lot of use.
Tim enjoyed his brother Simons visit to Australia last August, this was Simons first visit and it was great to see just how much he enjoyed the weather, the food and meeting all of Tim’s in-laws, the four of them flew up to Queensland to catch up with their Dad and Sue. Tim also decided this was the year to get fit so he rides his bike to the Station and back each day and has played lots of Golf… Tim is also glowing with the anticipation of becoming a father again! Celebrations in January for Tim’s 40th birthday are already underway.
Jackson Harry has turned three, he’s grown up so much since we’ve been away, he still misses us as we miss him so much, I send regular postcards and gifts, so of course he loves to check the letterbox each day. Jack can swim a sort of free style now; he’s come on a lot this year and loves mucking about in water. Nerys took him for Orientation Day to the Pre-school he will attend next year and he wanted to do Show and Tell like the other kids were doing, Nerys said he got up and introduced himself just like a big boy… ooooohhh I miss him so. Jackson Harry knows what Christmas is about this year and even sat on Santa’s knee, he is so looking forward to spending the day with my nieces Madison and Casey whom he adores.

Tomos has been busy filling up the pages of his passport at a rapid rate, he’s doing gigs with The Three Waiters as well as doing his own shows so that takes him singing all over Europe and Asia, at the moment he’s preparing for a one man show on New Years Eve in Hong Kong… David and I haven’t seen him sing for about 10 years now… since my 50th birthday in fact… all the gigs he does are for private functions so we miss out. Aaaaaahhh well one day eh?? We’re very proud and impressed with all the work Tom has done to turn an ordinary terrace house into a lovely home in Wood Green, he’s not only a handy man he’s a great gardener, cook and Dad as well.
We’re also very impressed with Emma’s mothering skills, our wonderful grand daughter tries to run rings around both Emma and Tom but quietly and without fuss Emma wins hands down… she may be a tad exhausted some days but that’s motherhood and working for you isn’t it! Emma has packed in plenty of teaching dance, as well as being involved in a couple of productions; and she obviously loves it all. One surprise for us is Emma’s ability to cook up a storm, she led us to believe she didn’t cook but she’s put on some wonderful meals for us and is eagerly learning all the time, Abigail Rose gets a wonderful selection of steamed vegetables just about every day! Emma has a lot on most days and becomes a little forgetful, last week she caught the tube with Abigail to Kings Cross Station to catch the train to Yorkshire…it wasn’t till she got to Kings Cross, maybe 40 mins since leaving home… that she noticed she’d forgotten to put a nappy on Abi LOL… a little puddle on the floor was the give away…one of the things I love about Emma is her ability to laugh at herself! How lucky we are with all our children’s partners… they make it so easy for us to love them all.
Abigail Rose has just turned one, she celebrated her birthday firstly in Hong Kong, secondly in Wood Green and thirdly in Kirby Malzeard where Emma’s parents live. This little one-year-old jets around the world and the UK at the drop of a hat… her passport is also filling up with customs stamps! We look after Abi every now and then so she knows us both well and gives us the biggest smile when she sees us and she loves to play what ever silly game we think up…up to a point that is, then she’s off to greener pastures for a while… Abi is one very active little girl. Tom, Em and Abi are planning a trip to Australia when we get home next March… even though Abi is a Jet Setter she still hasn’t been to Australia!

Briony has kicked butt at University this year becoming known by fellow students as ‘Brainy’ she’s studying Law and loving it while working 4 days a week at Baldwin Oates and Tidbury, a law firm in Gordon, not far from us in Turramurra. Briony’s voluntary work… entertaining the Children at Villawood Detention Centre finished half way though the year when all the children were released and allowed to come back into the community… she still helps organize days out with the Children and celebrated their release with a much publicized fun day at Manly Beach.
Briony and Joon have just been to India where Joon presented a paper at the University in Delhi they loved their visit especially seeing the Taj Mahal but they eventually found the poverty hard to ignore. As I write they are in Seoul, Korea, staying with Joon’s second oldest sister and are looking forward to spending Christmas with Joon’s family. Briony was quite nervous about meeting Joon’s mother and all his sisters and his brother as Briony’s Korean is limited to ‘Hello’, ‘Goodbye’, ‘This is delicious’ and a song she’s learnt from a Korean soap she’s seen on TV, LOL… but the meeting went well and she sounded just her bubbly happy self when I spoke to her on the phone. Joon will finish his PhD early in 2006 and sometime after that Briony and Joon plan to get married… what an exciting year it will be for us.

Just before we left Australia, Gwilym decided to leave full time employment and concentrate on his own company, Reflective Landscapes… working in an office all day wasn’t for him and he’s much happier working for himself, mostly out doors and he’s a lot fitter and a lot healthier as well. Gwil and Emily moved into ‘333’ a couple of weeks before we left and they are doing a brilliant job of looking after our home for us… although I have heard the odd ‘Gee I didn’t know it would be so much work!’ from Gwil when he realized he’d better open the pile of mail that always seems to arrive for us, but from what I can glean from the odd photo and word from his siblings the house and garden is loving having a clever caring Gwil to stay.
Emily has finished University much to both her and Gwil’s relief, he has his girlfriend back he says and she can enjoy her full time job with FBI (the Radio Station she used to work for part time) without having to fit in classes and exams as well. Em and Gwil have just paid for their trip on the 31st March traveling to - Saigon - Frankfurt - Helsinki, then train to St Petersburg returning home via, London and Frankfurt to Sydney. Nerys, Tim and JH will join Gwil and Em at ‘333’ for Christmas Celebrations on Christmas Eve, Em’s parents, from Brisbane, will be staying and Em’s Aunt, Uncle and cousin will be joining them as well, Gwil is catering in great style from what I hear on the grapevine!

This photo was taken on Gwilym's 25th Birthday, aren't they all lovely... playing the Modern Monolopy Gwil got for his birthday.

I haven’t heard a lot from Susan this year, she’s been so busy with her first year as a teacher, as well as ferrying Emily to her extra curricular life, Gymnastics is still one activity Emily really enjoys and will extend her hours next year. Just when Susan thought life would get a little quieter the owners of her home decided they needed to move back in and asked her to quit her lease which she has done and is now in the throes of moving in with a friend who lives about 45 minutes out of Melbourne… I hope she gets a bit of a break over the Summer Holidays.

Vale Mary Sanger Griffiths nee Evans, David’s mother on 3rd March 2005.

For the first time ever our family will be celebrating Christmas apart… Nerys, Tim and Jackson Harry will be celebrating with my parents and brothers Nick and Tim and their families in Terrigal, Briony and Joon will be celebrating in Seoul with Joon’s family, Gwilym and Emily will be celebrating with Emily’s family in Davistown near Gosford… but Tom, Emma and Abi will be celebrating in London with us!!
We’re loving the build up to Christmas and even though this is our 4th Christmas in England over 37 years, we still find it hard to believe it is only a few days away when the weather is so cold…minus one yesterday evening, it’s been 30c something in Sydney. We will be spending Christmas Day at Tom and Emma’s, cooking the Turkey in the BBQ outside then sitting beside the open fire inside, I don’t expect it will be a white Christmas as London is pretty mild compared to other parts of England and if the weather is anything to go by right now it may be one of these very crisp and sunny days. How exciting!!

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and have really loved receiving all your cards and Newsletters… they have brightened up our little English home enormously.