Alright so I've left it an incredibly long time again. And that's not to say nothing's happened; last time I wrote the kids were still at school at the end of their Autumn term, and today they've gone back again after a month of Christmas holidays and two additional days of closure due to weather. We've had record quantities of snow and taken advantage on nearby amazing sledging slopes with our boogie boards (we did that last year on Primrose Hill but have now discovered that on proper slopes the boogie boards spin too easily to be adequate sledge replacements, though they are certainly fun if you can handle their unpredictability). Roj has built an amazing ramp in the garden so that the kids can climb up and get a headstart on the small slope that naturally exists. I've hand-sawn through a sizeable chunk of fir tree which came a cropper during the first of the heavy snowfall 2 weeks ago, crashing down and obliterating one of our own small trees. The full extent of garden damage will only become apparent after the thaw; right now we still have a foot or so of more-or-less compacted snow in the garden. Even the lane is not yet clear for traffic, though the larger roads and main roads are much better.

Before the snow was New Year, which passed in characteristically innocuous style in bed before midnight. Even my parents manage to stay up to see the new year in; I don't see why we can't! We watched fabulously entertaining Vicky Cristina Barcelona with the idea of staying up but after it finished couldn't supress our yawning and decided to bottle it. We'll be going to bed before our kids next year!

And before that was Christmas which was momentous in that it was the first ever Christmas that we've hosted. In part due to the recent death of my grandmother, my own mother was liberated to come away from Shropshire, and it didn't feel right to burden her anyway, with a great big family Christmas when we - in our new Surrey home - are now up to the task. It was a very lovely few days which started on the 23rd with the arrival of my parents and - after an epic car journey from north Yorkshire after their house move - my brother and his wife. We enjoyed a bit of a walk (albeit in rain and mud) in the surrounding woodland, and generally just catching up together, and then on the 24th we had a traditional cold Danish meal with way too much Jubileum Aquavit (my dad blamed my over-large glasses; I blamed the over-enthusiastic pourer!) We opened a few gifts and made it Christmas (though spoiled brat Jody was more obsessed with what she hadn't received than what she had), and ushered the kids to bed early enough to preserve their (and our) sanity.

Sven and Charlotte left early on the 25th to get to her parents' house in Lancashire (a year of travelling in a couple of days, seemingly), and I embarked after breakfast on the preparation of my 6 kilo Riverford turkey for lunch (which Nanna also made the journey down for). We had a short period before the meal to open a couple of gifts (to keep the kids quiet more than anything) and then sat down for dinner. The biggest issue for me was that Christmas alcoholism coupled with my normal stress-related insomnia and Miles's cold meant that my taste buds went on holiday on the 25th. I couldn't taste even the merest hint of flavour in anything, which put a dampener on my enjoyment of the meal itself, and also meant I had to enlist my mum and her taste buds to season everything. In fact I certainly couldn't have pulled off the meal without Mum's help but she seemed to think it was a lot less stressful helping than running the show, so was eager to be of assistance.

In fact it was so successful (despite me having to go to bed at 9 o'clock (do you see a pattern developing here!?)) that I really hope we can continue the trend in years to come (maybe Sven and Charlotte will have forgotten the pain in a year's time?) I derived more pleasure hosting than I do in being a guest (and watching the pain!), and thoroughly enjoyed having a house full of people. Plus the novelty factor (which has understandably worn off for Mum and Nanna after more than 30 years each of hosting Christmas) made the whole thing quite exciting; I didn't really know if I could pull it off until the end of Christmas lunch on the 25th, when stomachs were bulging and noises were approving.

It was quite suddenly then, on the 26th, that Nanna and her 2 dogs, and my parents vanished mid-morning leaving us with a rather quiet house and, for the first time in several weeks, little to do! In the lead-up to Christmas I'd been hard at work making curtains to ensure our sitting room wasn't as cold and unwelcoming as it has been, as well as trying to organise myself and the house to receive so many visitors, so I felt like the Christmas preparations had been fairly work-heavy. Fun though; especially embarking into our neighbourhood to find a local farm which sold their own Christmas trees and door wreaths as well as allowing the kids to stroke their reindeer and chickens (an experience rather far removed from our usual Homebase tree trip!)

It seems a long time ago now though, and I suppose the biggest change that's occurred since is our acquisition of my current obsession Asha, our 8-week old flat-coated retriever. I braved the country's snow covering to go and get her last Saturday in Bolsover; a 3-hour journey each way. Once I got there I was quickly ushered into a small room by the breeder who fetched the pup she had designated ours (I still wonder if I should have insisted on seeing the litter, so I could make sure that Asha was equivalent at least, to her peers, but it's too late now and she's such a little sweetheart that I can't imagine a reason I would not have chosen her anyway). I made another error in following the breeder's advice to put Asha in the car while I fetched my money and returned to pay her. The pup was already excited and I knew she'd be traumatised left in a strange car in a strange crate with no dog or human there to support her. So I rushed my payment and a run-through of the final paperwork and finally returned to the car to find Asha, as predicted, going slightly crazy. I reversed up the drive out of sight and then stopped the car and took her out of the crate, trying to ply her with prepared treats and toys to calm her down and get her enthused about her environment. But it became clear nothing was going to work and I thought my best plan of action was probably to just get on with it.

I can't say the return journey was very relaxing, with my little traumatised pup sitting next to me in her crate. But I worked hard at rewarding her tiny moments of relaxation with attention and ignoring her yelping and barking, and she gradually worked out that if she kept calm she'd have a sweeter ride. And by the time we got home to Godalming she was in a much better state and didn't seem too bad, enjoying relaxing her little cheek against my free hand which I was able to shove through the bars in her crate. The kids very carefully and quietly introduced themselves to her, and she was shown the front yard (which would be her sole domain for the next few days), and the back hallway where we'd set up her main crate. She settled quite well, especially considering she'd never been outside before, and was suddenly exposed to the feeling of snow up to her little belly! She showed anxiety only in her inability to fully finish a meal until Monday when I added a tablespoon of tuna to her ProPlan puppy food. I've been adding a small amount of sardines or tuna to each of her 3 daily meals ever since, which means she's been absolutely wolfing them down. I have yet to discover though, whether it's bad for her to have such a lot of fish (there's an issue with mercury in tuna isn't there?), for which enlightenment we will have to wait for her first visit to the vet in 10 days' time.

Having read quite a lot of doggy literature in the leadup, I was fully prepared for a very anxious and noisy puppy on her first night, but she exceeded expectations and spent only a couple of minutes crying every time I went out of sight, before settling quietly into her crate. I went downstairs to let her out at 2am and have done so every night since, believing that encouraging her to keep her area clean early on will facilitate the early completion of toilet training. We're gradually crate-training her too; in the knowledge that it provides a safer environment for her to be left in (pups can obviously damage their environments and themselves if they become bored or anxious). She's coping superbly with reasonable stints with the crate door closed, and it won't be long before I'll attempt to shut her crate door at night as well. At that point - given that dogs have an inbuilt desire not to soil their bed - I will probably see if she can go through the entire night without being let out, and do an early start (5am-ish) instead. I will also open the baby door to the rest of the (uncarpeted) downstairs; allowing her access to the playroom (with its multiple hazardous swallowing material), the dining room and kitchen. It only seems fair that she ought to have access to me as much as she needs; she's clearly missing the society of her littermates, and the breed as a whole is very sociable, so I want to keep her at bay for as little time as possible while also understanding that to expose her to the entire house too early will overstimulate her and perhaps cause anxiety.

For now I'm just concentrating on trying to keep her calm (she has a very exuberant nature), and on general obedience; not play biting, not jumping up, sitting before being given food and before entering the house, responding to the command to come to me, and responding to 'No!', as well as getting her used to wearing a collar. Of course all of these things are meeting with the mixed success you'd expect with a 2-month-old puppy, and I'm not going to worry about it too much until she's more comfortable here and able to respond consistently to basic instruction. The best book we have says that structured training shouldn't start until 3 months anyway and before that, basic obedience and acclimatisation should be the foci. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

So once again the coming weeks hold some unknowns for me. I'd like to get back into regular running (I have my eye on an April marathon), but I need to make sure the pup is comfortable to be left alone for short periods first. For now I'm aiming to get the house in some semblance of order after the holidays, do the tasks I've been unable to do with kids under my feet this last month, and focus on enjoying time with Asha. We're also spending quite a lot of time with houseguests in the early part of this year, which I'm very much looking forward to. And then planning to replace the flooring here and the kitchen units. Plenty to do then, before Easter.

Happy New Year everyone, and thank you for Christmas cards and presents. It's been lovely.