After Christmas Nottingham visit, 2012 (2)

My family and I travelled up to my grandparents' Nottingham yesterday morning to spend the day with relatives. The journey was awful for me, worse than it was last year: before I went to bed on Christmas Day I ate nearly an entire box of chocolate mints, so that combined with the twisty roads to Nottingham nearly made me sick. I was glad I could have my window open to allow the wind to blow through otherwise I would have vomited. It was my own fault, and should have known better than to gorge when travelling the next day.

To move on from my travel sickness, the people present for the day were my grandparents, Nottingham aunt and three of her children/my cousins (one of my older cousins, the one who currently works in China, was there); East of England aunt, uncle and cousins; my uncle currently in Hong Kong, the brother of my Nottingham uncle, and my older cousin's boyfriend. We last saw my oldest cousin at my 21st birthday party and my Hong Kong uncle this recent summer; I had never met my cousin's boyfriend before, but it was certainly a pleasure for me and my family to meet him.

The gift we brought along with us was another photo album for my grandparents. They appreciated the album we made for them for their 50th wedding anniversary; for Christmas, we created an album of pictures taken at their 50th. They loved it.

I helped my grandparents in the kitchen in preparing the meal, which consisted of turkey, roast beef and ham, with stuffing, stuffed olives and a large bowlful of salad - that last one was particularly delightful to prepare, as I asked to slice the cabbage. Based on the mostly time we had while eating I would assume that the food was highly satisfying! (I relaxed a fair amount prior to having any food, so I wasn't in any danger of being sick.)

Much of the day was spent talking and catching up. It was interesting to hear about my uncle's and cousin's lives in China; their experiences of the country differ, especially since my cousin lives on the mainland rather than Hong Kong. My brother and East of England uncle, both being the cameramen, took numerous pictures of the occasion throughout the day. In the late afternoon the family created a playlist, with each member contributing two songs; I chose Gloria Estefan's "Reach" and, much to nearly everyone else's chagrin, Cher Lloyd's "Swagger Jagger". I seem to be the only person in the family with any time for her music!

After the music, the chatting and eating continued until the get-together ended, which was around 9:00pm. I am certain that everyone had a great day and is looking forward to the next time we all meet up.