Back from the land of Christmas haze

It's been too long since my last post I know. Sorry! Christmas and the break that follows aways sends me into a haze of overeating, hibernating and downtime, so the blog and many other things have taken a back seat!

Lucy, no sorry Snow White, opening a present from my Dad

Life is in full swing again and we are vowing to eat better, exercise and all those usual resolutions we have at this time of year. We had a fabulous Christmas with Joe home for 10 days (and a week before that working from home due to the snow), enjoyed being with family over the festive period again, and devouring many English goodies that we are usually without at Christmas. The television line up was also welcomed and we got into some great programmes like Come Fly With Me (form the Little Britain comedians), Agatha Christie's Miss Marple and Poirot, and the usual Christmas specials which we hand-picked from the Radio Times (TV listing magazine which has a bumper edition at Christmas). That in itself is a Christmas tradition that Joe and I enjoyed as children and still do today. Christmas television is something that the Brits do so well and extends way past just the same old films and dredged up junk from years ago. There's always something decent on and we have definitely missed this part of the year for the TV alone.

OK, on to New Year and 2011 which holds exciting times for us with yet another move on the cards. Yes are packing up once again and moving to yet another new house and area. We found a house and area that we fell in love with almost at first sight, and are hoping to move in February when the deal comes together. It's a cottagey house in a village called Barnwell, near Oundle in Northamptonshire. It's further north than where we are now but it's an area familiar to me as it's close to where I grew up and surrounded by places I went as a child. It means we'll still be close to family and even closer to Joe's parents - as well as the beach (about an hour to Hunstanton) which is a nice perk!

The house is only 9 years old but built in classic Northamptonshire stone and looks and feels cottagey. The piece de la resistance is the private garden which overlooks fields and the village manor, castle and church. Our little piece of Miss Marple's England. A village was not my ideal location, but it is a mere 2 miles to the town of Oundle which has schools, shops and markets etc. Peterborough is the nearest large city, about 20-30 minutes away, and has large shops and malls. The area has the feeling of being rural and tucked away,  untouched by the London sprawl, but has the convenience of good roads, rail and facilities. We chose carefully as this is hopefully our last move for some time.

So we are busy planning our move, getting removal quotes and planning new a school for Lucy, telling the friends that we have made here in Ampthill of our plans. I am finding that bit hard as I had just started to get to know a couple of Mums and having just gone through the process of telling people we're moving away, it isn't nice to do it again so soon. It is nice that people care that we are leaving and say they will miss us after such a short time of knowing them!

Lucy is excited about the move and so far seems quite comfortable about it. It will take work to make it seemless for her and to help her adjust to her new school and new surroundings, but I have done lots of research and am determined to get stuck in as soon as possible with setting up a social life for her and for me and Joe. She loves school so that will help her in terms of having structure in her life very soon after the move. Springtime and a garden of our own again will be a good source of activity for us too. The horses in the field at the bottom are already a subject of conversation for Lucy as she is horse mad :)

More news and updates on the move when we know more about dates etc.!