Merry Christmas, ho ho ho!

Yes folks, it's a seasonal blog between the years (as they say here in Germany, referring to the period between Xmas & New Year) to say hi and to wish everyone out there a fab time for the holidays.

Oh, okay, I'll quickly list things I've done recently too - I can't resist:

- A spot of kultcha, when I went to the theatre with Christian, Sabine and Rudi to see "Männer", a musical about being a man which was actually a whole lot better than I expected. The setting was a football stand, with eight very different men each externalising their thoughts and feelings through song. Not a word of dialogue was spoken at any point; it was all communicated with carefully chosen songs from all musical genres. Cool!

- A spot of shopping, when I went to the Tollwood winter market. In fact, I went a couple of times. It's such a huge market, and there's so much to see, that you really can't get bored. And this year much more of it is indoors (or, rather, in tents), so the bitterly cold weather wasn't too much of a problem.

- Christmas parties a-gogo: first Moyra's "private" EPO party, replete with huge English Christmas dinner and the most outrageously naughty mince pies I've ever tasted (mmmm, so buttery, so rich!); then our works do which was a bit of an anticlimax to be frank after our cheeky pre-party Glühweins at the Praterinsel Christmas market in the Isar.

- A couple of visits to Mama, my favourite Vietnamese restaurant around the corner, during which we discovered that it was the owner's birthday on 14th December, so I popped in and brought her a birthday plant on my way to Moyra's do.

- And then I was back at Afrika! Afrika!, this time with Michaela & the boys. It was really good the second time too, especially as we were sitting in a different spot so I saw the acts from a new angle. Plus I laid into the Savannah Light ciders this time during the interval - ah, fond memories of South Africa back in '03!

- And Christmas itself, for a change NOT with Michaela (unless you count a quick present swap and portion of Christmas pud on Christmas Eve), since she was off to London on Christmas Day with the boys to fly to Lapland and visit Santa with Chris & Kate & the girls on Boxing Day. Instead, Christian & I had a quiet Christmas Eve in, cooking a delicious rabbit stew and making our own tagliatelle to go with it. Yum!

- The next day (ie 25th) we drove out to Christian's parents in the Allgäu. It was a freezing cold but beautifully sunny day, and in the afternoon Christian's father Alban popped over to lake Elbsee with us for a stroll on the ice (his mum Renate preferred to stay at home). The ice was amazing! The lake had frozen in perfect snowless windless conditions, so the ice was completely clear and you could see the water and even plants & fish underneath. It was a bizarre feeling to walk on such transparent ice - especially when it would quiver & crunch ominously underfoot.

So there you have it. I've had a truly wonderful time in 2007 - not just at Christmas but throughout the whole year. Here's hoping 2008 is just as much fun!