Kat hosted another New Years’ Party this year, and I actually went to this one. She served a delicious four-course meal that was completely me-friendly. A lovely end to the year.

Out for some quiet New Years’ drinks the day before the main event when a lot of us were going to different places. Phil here really did not want his photo taken.

Bish has been encouraging me to get into this gargantuan series for a while, so I finally did so, getting the first two volumes for Christmas. Thus far, I’m really enjoying it.

This is the crystal drop that hangs in the lounge; it caught the Sun in a particularly magnificent way today which was difficult to do justice in a photo. I did manage to get a series of photos where it shone with each colour though.

It was the winter leg of the Evans Challenge today, which is always a tightly fought contest. We’re undefeated on the football leg, but at full time it was 6-6; I even scored a goal (left footed, of course). Last year went to penalties, which was something that no-one was looking forward to a repeat of. AET, however, we emerged victorious 10-6. This was the dejected, defeated, Evans A team.

Leah has hosted a Boxing Day swim every year at Frinton for the last few years, and living in Germany for this year wasn’t going to stop her. This was the first I had been to, and I loved it. I do look terribly cold in this excellent picture though, which was taken by Leah’s eleven year old brother.

Christmas day is always welcome, as it means first that there is good food abound and second that there great presents from the eclectic collection of items that mum has won in the last year; this year was no exception.

We eat our main Christmas meal in the evening on Christmas Eve by candlelight. I’d not tried photographing a flame close-up before, so I thought I’d give it a shot. Turns out, they’re pretty bright.

The colourful lights of the Playhouse. Leah was in town, which made this particular trip in more delightful than usual.

This was a shockingly difficult photo to take. Ideally, I wanted blue sky all the way around, and my face visible. This was the best compromise I could arrive at.