Merry Xmas from Alexandra, John & Thomas
December 2009 – Chavanay, France
Warm wishes from the CôteRôti, a wine making region in the Loire.
Well, It’s snowy white outsides – fingers crossed that we maybe in for a white Xmas .
For 2009 it’s been another busy year for us, what with renovating our house ourselves and with an adventurous 3 year old about (Thomas who keeps us on our toes) where we are a small family but very happy indeed.
Last Xmas we were lucky to have spent it with Nora Swales (Grandma) in Whitby,in North Yorkshire, England giving us the opportunity to share time with family and friends and for Thomas to have meet them for the first time.
Uncle Peter & Uncle Phil (twin brothers of John’s belated father called John also) organised a restaurant lunch on his side of the family for us to meet them all,we were most grateful for them in doing that.
For the first time from when Thomas was born we were able to enjoy doing things (just John & Alexandra) like visiting York city, shopping etc., thanks to Nora babysitting Thomas for us, so for this Xmas we will be going there again!
For the following Xmas 2010 we hope to fly down under to Marie & Jay Menzies (Nana&Poppa) we are only sad that we couldn’t make this year, as it’s important to us that Thomas gets to know them more and vis a versa of course.
Events of the year:
In March – Avignon, where we caught up with old friends, Marie Therese and Laurence. Also Grandma visited us from England, as always Nora is a great help with Thomas and when we are working on the house.
In June – Paris, we were thrilled to have met up with Alex’s brother Kevin and family. Its was greet to show them the sights of the city
In July – Aix en Provence, where Alex and Thomas stayed with Sylvie’s family, (good friends living near us).
In August – The big event of the year was spending 4 weeks at the beach Seignosse, near Biarritz, France even though it was a heat wave most of the time, Thomas got to spend his first beach-bum lifestyle and we thoroughly enjoyed the break away.
In September – straight after the holidays Thomas started pre-school where he has taken a real liking to it. His French has improved from when he started up to now quite a bit, in fact it can be quite amusing listening to him communicate to his French friends, just gorgeous to have on video.
Thomas goes to pre-school each morning and some afternoons depending on how tired he is, but never on Wednesdays (a no-school day in France). He’s a very happy boy who gives us allot of laughs of what he comes out with and has a sensitive/attentive personality combined with a strong determined mind! Arugh!
At the moment he has an obsession with wanting to take the fast train (TGV) to catch the Polar Express, hence the advent calendar has been a good solution in teaching him to wait for things instead of right now! Thomas enjoys in general all sports but at the moment he takes full pleasure in whizzing around on his scooter.
He also has a love for books, where I’m sure he keeps the local library running and any activity involving his hands like scissor cutting, puzzle making, drawing rocket ships with his favourite colour orange (most days we get a drawing of one from his pre-school at St Jean in Pelussin).
In October/November – Once again we were treated with the kind help of Grandma visiting us, she’s still fit as a fiddle just amazing for her age 76 yrs.
This time round she was given a hosted tour from a very kind French family we know well here, where she certainly enjoyed viewing their vineyard and enormous cellar and to top it off with she was able to take back to England the first of their 2009 Condrieu wine.
As for the renovation work we are slowly but surely progressing, not as quickly as we’d like but starting to see some improvements (Thomas’ room is completed and looking grand indeed, all shutters and most windows have been installed), still a long way to go though. Whilst Nora was here last John installed the large sliding ranch doors in the living room within a week! Well-done John!
With our day to day lives at the moment Alexandra is busy at home and around the region being a taxi driver for Thomas to pre-school (since Thomas has his lunch at home most days), and working on areas for what’s needed for our home, she has a part time job teaching English, compared to last year where she was working full time back in the fashion industry for BCBG, but it took it a toll on us all though with the long hours required.
John has spent his 7th year working for the same company in Lyon as a “Chef de Project”; in all a total of 11 years with his company if you are counting when he worked previously in Paris. The project he has worked on this time has been an extremely difficult one for Chrysler.
Travelling work wise – John gets over to Paris for usually 2 to 3 days most weeks, he did go to Detroit for a week in September and to England a few times. So much needed rest and spending time with family this Xmas is exactly what John will be doing.
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Well folks, that just about wraps it up for a Xmas wish to you all & a Happy, Safe, Prosperous New Year for 2010.
God bless
Lots of Love from…
John & Alexandra & Thomas James