New Year's Day

Last night as we were having a glass of bubbly at home before going out to our New Years eve dinner, it started snowing very heavily. We decided not to walk to the restaurant but to rather drive, albeit very slowly in the snow. I took family photos of us before we went out, as is my annual tradition, a group one can be seen in the first extras. 

The dinner was excellent - the food was delicious, the service very efficient, and the ambiance was warm and welcoming. Our friends were sitting at a table near us - it's a small restaurant so we were not very far from them and we had a good catch up before the dinner started. The menu was served at a leisurely intervals to take us to midnight, when we were given sparklers to light and glasses of bubbly were served. We left the restaurant at about half past midnight, and Luke and Tommy went on to a hotel to join other friends. As we have been coming here for so long we have made friends with many other English families who also come here every year, and at new year the children - now young adults - always get together. Some of the parents were also partying with them, it's always a relaxed multi generational kind of partying here, and Luke and Tommy eventually got home at 4.45am!! Adam wanted an early night, so he did not join them but everyone was wondering where he was as usually he is the life and soul of a party. I was exhausted today and I got to bed at 1.30am so I would hate to know how Luke and Tommy were feeling.

This morning it was like a beautiful winter wonderland, everything was covered with snow and there were sparkling blue skies. The second extra is my view when I woke up this morning. Gavin and I went for a lovely walk up the valley, there were so many people out walking, Nordic skiing, or going for rides in horse drawn sleighs on the snow. It was cold, about -2C. Xena went crazy in the soft snow, she loves playing in it.

Back home we had lunch and then it was sadly time to take the boys to the station for them to get the train to Zurich airport. Both Luke and Adam are back at work tomorrow, while Tommy is going to Cornwall to join Inca and her family for a few days. Gavin and I have been tidying up and doing a few loads of washing, and it feels so empty without them here.

It will be a lazy night watching TV tonight, I have about 30 minutes of the new series of The Crown left to watch!