A Cotswolds Christmas

And Hanukkah... and New Year...

Abandoning our typical "hit the road every chance you get" ways - we decided to stick close to home this holiday season... A quiet winter in the Cotswolds filled with:

Meat.

Kim's first Black Forest Cake
(with real Schwartzwald Kirschwasser from Baden-Baden, thank you very much!)

Presents under the tree
(so what if it's a banana plant from IKEA, the presents are there, right?)

And the joys of opening presents and hiding them under the couch...

Although the best presents undoubtedly came from the USA:

But being British meant that the festivities were appropriately somber and depressing:
So therefore we must bring the festivities to us. With Ale.
(at least it's Christmas Ale):
Much Ale. Even the ferrets need it to stay happy:
And what would Christmas be without family:
And the Boxing Day Hunt galloping across your front yard:
(A prize goes out to the first person who know when boxing day is!)

New Year's Eve Bar-B-Que:
And Auld Lang Syne-ing at the local pub
(the Chequers, of course!)
(Seems that there is this British - Scottish?- tradition that you're supposed to cross your arms and hold the hands of your neighbors as you jump up and down whilst belting Auld Lang Syne out at the top of your lungs... if you lose your grip during the song you can kiss that New Year's wish good-bye. Somehow we missed this in Edinburgh last year... clearly that's what went wrong in 2008)

A particularly pleasant surprise - a lovely frosty day, perfect for strolling though the bleak British landscape:

And poetically highlighting our holiday experience, a steaming pile of horseshit:

Happy Holidays Everyone!