Christmas Day - Monticello and Tallahassee Florida

After a very warm night as we did not know how to control the central heating on the top floor, we had a leisurely start to the day with home cooked breakfast in the dining room at 9am. Fresh Florida pink grapefruit, followed by a very tasty omelette stuffed with cheese, ham and portobello mushrooms and croissant with fresh strawberry conserve. Then some time to send Christmas greetings to family and friends

and a check on the location and service time for the Christmas Eucharist - oops Philip had not been careful with Google Search and the service he had found at 11.00am was actually at the Episcopal Church in Monticello, New York!!! The local church only had services on Christmas Eve. Change of plans and some accurate research by Jessica had the family heading into Tallahassee to the 11.30am screening of the new Les Miserables movie which opened here on Christmas Day. We all thoroughly enjoyed the movie and Philip and Alison were pleased to see Eddie Redmayne (they had enjoyed acting in Pillars of the Earth) and Samantha Barks who had missed out on one of the roles that were cast from a competitive show with Andrew Lloyd Weber.

After the movie to a popular Tallahasse restaurant (Sculas) for our Christmas lunch. No Christmas fare on the menu but we enjoyed our meal none the less. Philip and Alison ordered crab cakes and Jessica pecan crusted salmon. We certainly believe that we can no longer eat large meals. All three of us balked at the idea of some dessert afar our entrees (main courses for you Aussies).

We are now back at John Denham House and all settling down for a traditional Christmas arvo nap. Pat, our host, has returned from family lunch and she too is following the nap tradition.