Christmas in Yorkshire

Well, we are back home now. We had a great trip and really enjoyed seeing everyone. We started off the trip mainly doing some shopping. Here is the view of some shops in York. It wasn't too bad in the morning but the wind picked up in the afternoon and the temperature dropped pretty quickly.

I think one of the things Jamie enjoyed the most, other than being home and with family of course, was the food. A traditional Griffin Christmas dinner consists of ham, chicken, and/or roast beef, carrots, broccoli, green beans, sprouts, potatoes, stuffing, and yorkshire puddings (Well, the yorkshire puddings aren't always there but this year they made an appearance).

***Please note - There were 2 types of potatoes, roast and boiled, as well as pigs in blankets

Here's Martin and Jean (Jamie's grandparents), David and Jamie before dinner on Boxing Day.

Mark, his older brother, and his his fiancé Lisa.

Above, is the Christmas Cracker. Tom Smith, a baker of wedding cakes from Clerkenwell, London, invented the Christmas cracker in 1847. A cracker is made of cardboard tubing wrapped in decorated paper to resemble an oversized sweet-wrapper. It's pulled by two people, when broken in half one side is larger than the other, much like a wishbone. When in breaks there is a small snap, kind of like a cap gun. There is usually a toy, joke, and paper crown inside. Below is the largest cracker I've seen. Karen bought it for dinner or tea (In parts of England dinner is refered to as tea and lunch is called dinner, very confusing for me at times) at Jamie's Grans' house.

Below, is a picture of Jamie's brothers and his Dad on Boxing Day.

It was a fun trip but a bit tiring as we only were there a week. We are back at work today and I'm exhausted. It's just after 11 am and I'm ready for bed. Wonder if anyone would miss me if I disappeared for a quick/long nap?