Last night Joe and I went to a party in our new neighbourhood. We were invited to the 'French chateau' as it has come to be called in our house. A huge mansion a block along from our place on Walnut Street which really was, we found out last night, built along the lines of a French chateau. With a grand front door, ornate wrought iron balconies and a powerful stone facade, the inside was everything that the exterior promised.

The house was a rabbit warren of rooms and staircases, stacked full of well-read bookcases, grand fireplaces and the kind of antique furniture that says 'sit down' rather than 'keep off the furniture'. Each room was decked out in effortless Christmas decorations for a very festive feel. The piece de la resistance was the ball room. A huge room in the centre of the first floor with huge French doors to stone balconies and the ornamental gardens beyond. It sounds as though we were in a National Trust property, but the atmosphere was far from stuffy.

The house was packed full of life, laughter and liquor-induced conversations. The host's sons were jamming away with their band in the ball room as the neighbours caught up on the latest gossip and jigged to the beat. Teenage friends hung out on the spiral staircase, dolled up in their tweed jackets with a cheeky pack of fags tucked in their jeans pocket. The older crowd chatted about Obama and Christmas plans while they ate from the delicious buffet in the luscious dining room.

Those neighbours we had already met touted us round to those we had not and we discovered some fascinating characters. We spent time with the mayor of West Chester who promised to teach Joe how to throw a football (of the oval variety) when the weather turns. His wife promised to take me to meet her Amish farmers who grow her prized annuals that adorn her much-admired front garden. We chatted to a very entertaining Northerner from Leeds who coaches soccer to local kids. We met the 'school bus' Mums and the 'mine are at college now' Mums, some with keen babysitter candidates and some who just want to meet Lucy and get their baby fill.

A wonderful introduction to our new neighbourhood, we were welcomed and celebrated as the 'young couple with the baby' who came along and FINALLY bought that house at 721.