Dear Friends and Family,
We've all had a very exciting year this year!
In January, Frank and I decided to get fit and healthy, so I joined a gym, and Frank signed up for a half marathon. Unfortunately, the half marathon was a no go due to a particularly nasty groin strain, but he refuses to be defeated and has signed up for a triathlon next year. (I'm hoping to actually get to the gym over the Christmas holidays.)
Sayonara continues to amaze her teachers with her literary skills, though her teacher did have a quiet word to us to suggest that perhaps "Fifty Shades of Grey" wasn't the most appropriate reading material for story time.
She's also doing really well in science, and her penchant for taking things apart has now developed into putting them back together in new and exciting ways. For show and tell one day she brought in a self-propelled robot that she'd made out of a sweeping brush, a lot of gaffa tape, and my, er, personal massager (which she'd found in its hiding place under the bed). We're sure a glorious career in engineering awaits her!
We were going to get her a pet rabbit for Chrismas this year, but after the goldfish incident last year, and given that's she's newly finished reading "Frankenstein", we've decided to wait a while.
Armadillo has finally settled into nursery and has started making friends. There was a funny moment when the nursery staff raised concerns about him shouting profanity at the cuddly toys. All was made clear when we told them that we'd recently enrolled our Shih Tzu, Shirley, in dog training classes and were trying to teach her to sit!
His birthday party was the talk of the town for several months afterwards. Thankfully the damage was easily fixed by a quick lick of paint and some new plaster, and the magician was only in hospital for a couple of days (and is not suing).
Our car got upgraded several times this year. First the wing mirror needed replacing, then the side panel, then the wing mirror again, and then the entire front corner of the bodywork. At that stage we tried parking somewhere different. The car's currently in the garage, having its exhaust system and rear bumper replaced. We've been assured it'll be fixed before Christmas!
Our long awaited family holiday in Alicante was lovely, except for poor Frank, who really does not get on well with shellfish. We did have an extremely long wait for our delayed flight at Stanstead (18 hours!) but we kept our spirits up in the waiting lounge by visiting the Duty Free on a regular basis. I was glad I'd packed extra clothes for the kids in our carry on, as Sayonara got sick from eating too much chocolate, and Armadillo drew all over himself with the felt tips we'd got for them to do colouring, before throwing a wobbly in front of a security guard. (We later discovered he'd drunk all of Frank's triple espresso, washed down with handfuls of sugar sachets...)
Instead of sending Christmas cards out this year, we've decided to make a donation to our local fire service. Really, it was the least we could do after they got Armadillo down off the roof of his nursery building. The staff are still mystified as to how he got up there in the first place.
We sincerely hope that you, and all your friends and family are well and happy, and send the very best wishes for Christmas and the New Year,
Sharon, Frank, Sayonara, Armadillo Smyth,
and Shirley the Shih Tzu
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