A thought for today

January calendar

Celebrating Christmas Day

My Dad and I simply loved sharing our Christmas Day with a small group of students and friends ... it's just a shame I can't squeeze more around the table.

Thank you Veroni, Megan, Hung, Kevish, Suvarna,
Sonali,  John Paul and Basel for helping to my our
 Christmas Day so very, very special!!

A BIG THANK YOU too to Sonali's parents, Prasad & Geethani, for the lovely card you sent all the way from Sri Lanka  ...  maybe one day I'll get to visit and thank you in person for entrusting us with your lovely daughter :-)

In the Martin home Christmas Day involves a morning

service at St Mark's, followed by a traditional meal

of turkey and all the trimmings, which must finish

in time for the Queen's speech at 3pm!!

Then it's time for present opening, pudding and

collapsing in front of a good film :-)

In addition to personal presents St Mark's was blessed with a HUGE pile of anonymous gifts for those who might not have much on Christmas Day  ...  and we were blessed with a mystery box for each of the students.

  

The boxes were filled with toilettries, food and clothing - Hung received a pair of pyjama bottoms almost as tall as he is :-)

Amongst the many wonderful gifts I received was an apron that allows me to over-indulge as 'Christmas calories DO NOT count'  ...  marvellous!!!

 

"I have no words to describe how thankful I am for you inviting me to spend Christmas day  at your home.  It was such a surprise to receive all the lovely presents and I really enjoyed  the dinner.  I was in tears yesterday night,  felt so loved and cared for even though I'm thousands  of miles away  from  home.  Dear Lynne and uncle Bill you made me feel special.  Thank you so much.  May God almighty bless you both abundantly and may Jesus Christ bless you with good health. "  Sonali (Sri Lanka)

"Thankyou for having us. We did not miss our family ... the lunch was brilliant, and it was like a family time. Thankyou for the present too.*   Suvarna (India)

"I sincerely appreciate and thank you once again for making my Christmas very exceptional and special, I really had a wonderful time. All glory and honour goes to Almighty God who made it possible for us to meet. I am honoured. Yesterday was my greatest chrismas ever. Indeed this year I have seen the goodness of the Lord. You have a such big, kind, and loving heart."  John Paul (Uganda)

Happy Christmas!!

May I take this opportunity to wish all my

faithful readers a very ...

Wherever you are from, whatever your faith or religious practices I pray for God's richest blessings on you and

your families during this Christmas season and

throughout the coming year.

       

Bring & Share

Not the hordes we usually have for a Bring & Share lunch; but very nice to have a quiet, quality afternoon :-)  Thank you Dev, Suvarna and Michel for your company!

Later in the evening, Michel and Samir joined us for the Candlelit Carol Service at St Mark's, followed by yummy mulled punch and mince pies :-)

On a personal note ...

Dad is here for Christmas and New Year and last weekend we took a trip to visit my nephew and his family. With Grandpa Tony not there, Great-Grandad gets more attention from wee Jonah :-)

  

 He also gets decorated as a

human Christmas tree :-)

Me just being me :-)

TABLEtalk Christmas Party

Another great TABLEtalk Christmas Party last night. Time with friends, lots of fun and laughter and, as always, a multi-national, multi-faith group of students willing to join in the craziness that I occasionally ask of them :-)

We spent time creating our first ever House of TABLEtalk Winter Collection ...

From designer Michel and his team we saw 'Golden Beauty' modelled beautifully by Cyrielle

From designer Juhi's team we saw the wonderful 'McZulu' outfit, ably worn by Brian

Designer Susie and her creative team produced 'Asaree Santa' modelled by Pesila

Sara's design team created a colourful outfit entitled 'Africa/Eqypt Princess Bride' worn by model Areti

Nish and his talented team of designers produced 'Princess Claus' worn by the out-going Clement

Our sixth outfit of the evening, worn by the beautiful Yanika, was appropriately named 'Island Girl'. Well done Dev and team.

Oh dear, wardrobe malfunction!!

And finally, late entry designer Melissa and team created 'Indian Passion' modelled by Druv

Our team of fashion icons ... Uncle Bill, Lovely Lesley and Wily Wayne ... then had the responsibility of deciding which outfit would be awarded 'Creation of the Year 2015'

And the winner was ...

Princess Claus

After all that excitement, some sustenance was definitely needed

"Sonali, thank you sooooooo much for coming early and helping prepare food for the evening. God bless you for your kindness!!"

Everyone was happy when the time for our gift exchange arrived.  This was helped along with the use of The Left-Right Story (or was it right-left??!!).

Thanks Sue for playing piano as we sang carols together and ended our evening with a slightly out-of-key rendition of 'The 12 Days of Christmas'

"The Christmas party was a big hit indeed!! Truly amazing." Juhi (India)