| To celebrate Rachel's birthday, and start our Christmas break with some relaxation, we retreated to the Lake District for a long weekend with Rachel's family. We stayed, as ever, in Janet's cottage in the Dudden Valley.
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| Although the weather wasn't particularly nice, we managed some short walks...
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| ...some holly collecting...
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| ...and plenty of relaxing by the fire. Which was where Rachel was pampered on the morning of the 21st.
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| We enjoyed a evening meal in Janet's house, in the converted barn next door.
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| Back in Wallasey on Christmas Eve, and the traditional Bowes family Christmas dinner.
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| Of course, we sang the 12 Days of Christmas (they're drawing gold rings in the air, if you don't know the actions); and had a particularly raucous version of the animal game, where one can enjoy ones relatives make absurd animal noises with tremendous gusto!!
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| On Christmas Day we transferred to Cawthorne and Alastair's family. His mum had excelled herself with her Christmas cake (the tree and choirboys are all made from sugar icing and thus entirely edible!)
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| We relished lots of wonderful home cooking, and not a plate of pasta in sight!
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| On boxing day we were delighted to meet up with Nick, who was visiting the UK for a couple of weeks, back from VSO in Indonesia.
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| And on the 27th, the Bowes and Morris families joined up to make combined merryment and mayhem.
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