Brilliant, IAmSo. I love the 'his and hers' Range Rovers :o
This is my effort this year. I think I need to revert to the grumpy janet and Roy, this lot are becoming a bit boring:
Dear friends,
Well, hasn’t time flown? And hasn’t Minty grown! We are so proud of our granddaughter, who, we are pleased to say, has just been signed by Scallywags, one of the top modelling agencies in the country. We sent in the photos Corinne took at her first birthday bash and of course they accepted her straight away. Honour and James were thrilled when we told them. As an Indigo child we knew she would do great things, especially after she began to walk at just nine months old and can already talk quite well in English, French and Mandarin, the clever little darling. It’s especially exciting as it’s unusual for multilingual children to talk so early, but with the French nanny, the daily Mandarin practice, the Shanghai shopping trips with Honour and Janet and such talented parents, we’re not as surprised as some of the professionals.
There’s no sign of any more grandchildren at present, although we do hope Thomas’ promotion means that he might look to settle down soon. As wonderful as a smart bachelor pad in Chelsea may be, it’s not the same as a family of one’s own. We were awfully disappointed when he broke things off with dear Annabel, and as for that unspeakably dreadful girl he brought home last Christmas, the less said the better. The £40 cleaning charge we had to pay the taxi driver was worth every penny.
Emma was in Liberia in the thick of the Ebola crisis over last Christmas and has been posted to Lesvos since August so we’ve planned a surprise trip to see her for New Year. Thomas and Minty are coming, although James has to be in Singapore for a dull meeting and Honour is in full preparation mode for New York in February. Her designs are absolutely beautiful; we do hope you’ll enjoy them. We can’t say much as it’s all very hush-hush but she has drawn plenty of inspiration from our trip to the Iguazu Falls earlier in the year. Do come and we’ll show you the photos. Roy looks a scream in his poncho!
Janet and Jennifer had a bit of a to-do with the vicar over this year’s Harvest Festival. We think he’s still smarting over the success of the Christmas carol concert last year, which he had prophesied as a failure, but there was really no need for him to take the donkeys personally and we’re sure it will blow over in time for this year’s event. It’s hard to know how to top last year’s success but Roy had the wonderful idea of doing a Vicar of Dibley-style candlelit procession around the village, with the nativity scene and carols outside the church at the end. No live births though, we hope!
As you may know, we lost Frances in July. She missed Horatio dreadfully and we truly believe she died of a broken heart. We were at a loss to know how to reunite them in death, so Denise came from town and advised us to exhume Horatio from his spot under the pebble walk, cremate them both and have the ashes worked into a stained glass window, which we thought a charming idea. The new window is in the right place to catch the sunrise and to see the two pusses chasing one another as we perform our sun salutations is a heart-warming beginning to each day.
Roy’s work at St Andrew’s paid off and we were invited to a rather swish do at the Palace over the summer. So much better than the garden party we attended the year before, where one’s heels sink into the grass and one has to either queue forever to greet Her Majesty. It’s a shame Charlotte was only born this year; a year earlier and she would have been a wonderful companion for Minty.
Janet’s WI involvement has not gone unrewarded either and she was hard at work behind the scenes at this year’s Bake Off. She adored Nadiya and is so pleased that she stayed. What a wonderful young woman!
On which happy note, our little round-up must draw to a close. We’re looking forward to hearing all your news and as always, we have plenty of space and love to have visitors.
Wishing you a very merry Christmas, with love, Janet and Roy.
P.S. Marvellous news about the Davis Cup!