Cwtch

Last Saturday was National Cwtch Day. There is no literal English translation of this Welsh word. Its nearest equivalent is 'safe place'. It means an affectionate hug. One of those tight squeeze hugs. If you are giving someone a cwtch you are giving them a place to feel safe.

This Christmas we enjoyed lots of cwtches!

Christmas Eve drinks at the Coakley House followed by us all going to the family service at church, where Tom tried to get naked in the aisle, and Annie almost set her hair on fire with a candle.

Boxing Day curry and board games with the Brits! 

Family illnesses, Dan's aunt passing away and being desperate to meet my brothers fiancée meant that this Christmas we felt a real pull to cwtch our family. So with very short notice, and completely out of the blue, my wonderful husband made it happen! On Christmas Day we announced to the children that Santa had delivered some tickets for us to enjoy a short trip in early January. And with that Annie ran around our apartment yelling 'free flights, free flights!'

Im not sure I fully understand the benefit in giving Santa the credit for these things!

We'd have loved to have contacted so many of you to make plans to meet up, but we really didn't have much time to plan, and sometimes when you have a short amount of time you just need to focus on being with family.

Children are as flexible as you make them. Ours are very familiar with the whole flight process. Coming back into the US was an ordeal as we are traveling on 'parole' permit since our visa has expired and our Green Cards have yet to be issued. This meant a lengthy wait in an interview room after a 16 hour journey, before we could be admitted into the US. Frankly I was more concerned by Dan's calm admission that no, we weren't carrying any food items, as he picked up his 20kg suitcase full of salad cream, HP sauce, dairy milk and OXO cubes.

A highlight of our trip was to meet Andrea, who will marry my brother on February 14th. Since we can't be at the wedding, the few days we had with her gave us a chance to get to know her. They are so well suited, she is beautiful and someone I would have wanted as my friend if I had met her first! Colombian cwtches all round!

Drinks with my family at the Old House, in Maesteg, South Wales where my grandfather and great grandfather used to drink. The pub was built in 1147 and the church opposite was built in the 6th Century - talk about a history fix!

We surprised my grandmother by getting all of her great grandchildren together for the first time. We were expecting loud whoops of joy from her but she appeared to be underwhelmed by the surprise. Afterwards when I took her home she gripped my hand and told me - through tearful eyes - that she didn't know we cared that much about her and that she had been completely speechless. Priceless times and cwtches galore for a much loved great grandmother!

Whilst in Surrey, my mother in law and I took the children to my favourite National Trust venue, Chartwell House. A rainy morning in January meant I was the only person wandering around the new exhibit commemorating the death of Winston Churchill, whose funeral was 50 years ago this week. It is a small but deeply touching exhibit, revealing intimate details about Churchill's funeral and how the world responded to his death. It was with a huge amount of emotive fervour that I listened to an audio recording of his famous speech declaring that we will fight for freedom and peace - 'in France, and on the beaches' - on the same day that the Paris terror attacks took place.

My in laws hosted lunch for the family of Auntie Val who passed away suddenly last year. We hadn't seen Val's children and their families since our wedding, so it was very special to enjoy a day with them, and lovely for them to meet our children. Now we are working on getting them all to come and visit us!

Dinner with Dan's sister and brother in law. Who knew Thai food could be so good in Oxted!

I got to meet up with Californian friend Gladys who was on stop over in London. Andrea and I showed her around Westminster Abbey, where she got very excited over a tomb of the Earl of Pembroke, who she said was a very distant relative (as she scaled a 12th century wall to get a closer look!)

One surprise of the trip was being given a very special gift from Dan's Mum, who had bought me one of the poppy's from the Tower of London poppy display to mark the WW1 centenary. I am so thrilled to own one. Still covered in mud from the Tower, it now sits cwtched up next to our lemon tree on our balcony, overlooking San Francisco Bay. A reminder of the freedom we are so blessed to have.

And finally, a real reason to cwtch this week. Three years ago this week we moved to California. I remember spending our last evening in our home surrounded by boxes, working on a project for my client, while 3 year old Annie and 7 month old Tom were sleeping on a mattress on our bedroom floor. The previous few days we had valued, packed and sorted our belongings into three sections - air, ship and suitcase. Our cars were sold, our savings cashed in and new tenants were moving into our house three days later. Looking back I have no idea how we managed it all but what an adventure!

The initial visa was for three years, which seemed long enough to give it a go. But three years is not long enough! It's not an adventure anymore, it's our life now. And we're determined to keep making the most of it. Here's to a lot more cwtching in California!

Happy 2015!