Getting too old for this!

Well dear blogging friends, the good news is that we made it to France and my little family is all here together.  My daughter, son-in-law and 13 year old granddaughter (not forgetting their little French Bulldog puppy, Alfred), and my younger daughter and her partner, her two step-sons, aged 19 and 13 and their two little ones, aged two and almost one!!  So, as you can see, it's going to be a bit manic in this household for the next few days.  But aren't I a lucky mum to have all my little family together at Christmas?!

My husband and I are really getting a bit too old for that type of journey though!!  We leapt out of bed at 5 a.m. yesterday, all excited,  and set off at 6 a.m.  We finally arrived at our destination in France at 9.30 p.m.  Yes, that's right 9.30 p.m.  Let's put it this way, I've had better days!!

In spite of the awful weather forecast, our journey up to Folkestone (6 hours away from our home in deepest Devon) went really well.  No snow at all, and hardly any traffic on the road.  We were feeling very pleased with ourselves!!

But (and there is always a' but' in my life!!) it all started to go downhill from there on.  The Eurotunnel train was running almost three hours late due to the amount of people travelling at this time of the year.  We then hit a snow storm after leaving the tunnel, so a two and a half hour journey took us almost five hours!!

Oh, did I tell you that my poor husband has developed cataracts and can hardly see when he is driving in the dark, especially when all the lights are coming towards him. ( Hopefully, he will have an appointment for his operation in the new year. )  So he was only able to drive at 60 miles per hour, instead of the usual 80.   I kept on saying to him that I would drive, but he was having none of it.

Let's just say that I have had better journeys!   Never mind, they were all waiting for us with champagne and a lovely meal when we eventually got here.  The outside of the house was all decorated with Christmas lights and looked really welcoming.  I didn't feel like taking a photo this evening when we arrived (!), but I will take one tomorrow so that you will be able to see it. 

I'm sorry that I haven't been able to comment on your Blogs today, but hope you will understand.  I will be out of action now for a couple of days but will look forward to catching up on all your news very soon.

Joyeaux Noel!! (See, I'm fluent in French already!!).