Dearest friends and family,

In many ways we are having a wonderful time - it is lovely to be all together with Ed's Dad and sister - we all miss Jane very much, but the delicious smiles and cuddles with Daniel have kept our spirits from sinking too low... he is SUCH a scrumptious little man!

The cabin we are staying in is luxurious - warm, comfortable, spacious and spotlessly clean - so it is not too much of a hardship for Daniel and I, who are spending most of our time indoors. The reason for our being home-bound is twofold:

1) Baby it's cold outside! It has been snowing, blizzard-style since we got here - actually, I tell a lie, it stopped snowing and the sun came out yesterday morning - the ONE morning that we had arranged for me to have a go on the slopes - so my wonderful father and sister in law, having spent the previous 2 days skiing in horizontal, icy blizzard & wind, watched the blue skies from indoors as they looked after Daniel... meanwhile Ed and I skied in fabulous conditions - only to see the snow roll in again as we were having lunch! How guilty do I feel?!!!

2) Our car broke down on Saturday morning... this is turning out to be a bit of a nightmare actually. So, it broke down and, because it's still under warranty it has to be repaired at an Audi dealership. The nearest one is in Reno (50 miles away). The car was towed away on Saturday and then sat in the local towing station until this morning, because the weather was too hazardous for them to set out. We have therefore arranged for the car to go to Sacramento - which is further away, but at least it is on our way home. I just spoke to the Audi dealership in Sacramento and they close for Christmas, tomorrow evening at 6pm... they are 'doing their best' to get our car roadworthy before the holidays, but they can't promise, since there are already quite a few vehicles ahead of ours... Thankfully, part of our warranty agreement allows for us to have a hire car for 5 days in the event that our car breaks down when we are more than 100 miles from home - we only found that out yesterday, so at least we are no longer stranded, and we can drive the hire car to Sacramento... BUT if our car is not fixed by 6pm tomorrow evening, then we will have to drive the hire car home and then Ed will have to drive all the way to Sacramento (about a 4 hour round-trip) on Boxing day (otherwise known as 'my birthday') to pick up our car... as if we didn't have enough going on in these 2 weeks!

A few prayers on that subject would be appreciated!

The icing on the cake came this morning as Daniel and I drove home from dropping the Gilchrist skio-trio at the Gondola... I left Daniel in the car as I opened the front door, then locked it behind me and went downstairs to open the garage. I then drove the car into the garage, picked up my son and tried to re-enter the house... but the door had locked behind me... so there was no way for me to get back into the house! Daniel was already late for his nap and was therefore ever-so-slightly-not-so-nice-to-know, I didn't have the number for the cabin company and Ed was only intermittently in cell-phone range... after about 10 minutes, I managed to communicate what had happened to Ed, who thankfully had the number for the cabin company - he phoned them and they arranged to send someone out immediately. 1/2 an hour later (!) a ski-bum arrived and said (in Bill-and-Ted-esque drawl) 'oh yeah, sorry mate, I kinda forgot the address I was supposed to go to, bummer, yeah, it's freaky that garage locking mechanism, yeah, people get locked out all the time...' - needless to say, I found it hard to remain polite!

Anyway, Daniel is sleeping soundly and I have had lunch, so the World is looking slightly more rosy than it did an hour ago!

Sadly, we are still going to have to cut the holiday short to get to Sacramento for the car (PLEASE let it be ready!), but, despite these set-backs, we ARE actually having a lovely time together... and Daniel has learnt a new trick - yesterday he found out that he can suck his toes! By the looks of things, they are very tasty!