You can always tell it's getting near Christmas when the boiler decides to break down. Having got that little problem resolved now (we hope), we once again find ourselves rushing around in the annual chaos of school plays, concerts, parties, shopping and trying to remember everything that needs doing. As usual, the year has flown by, punctuated by the occasional holiday in an attempt to recharge our batteries a bit.
The children are all growing up far too quickly and keeping us occupied with a wide variety of extra-curricular activities. Elizabeth is now 9 and thriving at school. She is still learning the violin and will shortly be taking her grade 2 exam. She goes to Intermediate orchestra in Stockport as well as the school orchestra and choir and will be taking a lead role in the school Christmas play this year. Her enthusiasm for football has also continued and she is now a member of the Manchester City ladies under 10's team which involves practice on Friday evenings and matches most Saturday mornings. Her Christmas list is largely made up of 'Man City' accessories to go with her team kit.
Ben, now 7, is also doing very well at school and with his music. He is about to do his grade 2 on piano and has taken up the trombone this year which is progressing well. He is in the school orchestra and choir and has joined a new drama club this year which will be putting on a show before Christmas in which he is a scarecrow (with several lines to say), as well as being a shepherd in the school Christmas production. At home he can usually be found playing the piano, or on the computer.
Kirsten has just turned 4 and is still at 'Kids Allowed' nursery 2 days a week, which she enjoys very much. The rest of her week is taken up with various social activities including baby ballet, or reading stories and playing games at home. She has not started any instruments yet, but the neighbours are wondering what is coming next. She had a slight mishap earlier in the year when she broke her wrist, but it was soon fixed thanks to a special purple plaster cast!
Having now got past the baby paraphernalia stage, we decided to be a bit more adventurous with our main holiday this year and flew to Minorca for a week in the spring. We had a lovely time, staying at the quiet resort of Santo Tomas on the south coast. The weather was ideal and most days were spent around the pool, relaxing. The beach was lovely, but there were quite a few jellyfish in the sea which made swimming a bit hazardous. We did take a day out to explore some other parts of the island a bit and would love to go back sometime to explore more of the quiet coves and beaches.
We made our annual pilgrimage to Devon in the summer this year for 2 weeks, risking the high tourist season for a change. The first week was spent in a 'holiday chalet' at Budleigh Salterton which was a snug fit for the five of us, but served well as a base for the week, not too far from Granny & Grandpa. The end of the week was slightly overshadowed when someone decided to re-model the front end of our car with their vehicle, resulting in a couple of days spent sorting out insurance claims and hire cars. Fortunately no-one was hurt and we managed to get a replacement car in time for our second week when we moved slightly further down towards Plymouth for a week in a converted Methodist chapel at Holbeton, joined by Rachel's parents. We had a good week exploring the other end of Devon and managed to visit some distant cousins who we had traced, still living at the original family farm at St Keyne in Cornwall.
Our third trip of the year was a flying visit (literally) to go to our friend Cornelia's wedding in Switzerland, which was a wonderful weekend. We managed to work out a (relatively) cheap route via Easyjet and enjoyed a very scenic drive up to the little mountain village where she was getting married. The wedding was quite different to our traditional English weddings, but we managed to follow the proceedings with a bit of help from a few English-speaking guests (Martin's O-level German was not really up to the job!). 
The evening reception was in the splendid location of a mountain-top restaurant, reached by a very winding and steep road! We managed to spend a day sight-seeing before going home and riding on as many cable cars and trains as we could find.
Other family activities have continued as normal during the year. Rachel is still teaching in the infants Sunday School, though has now stepped down from being in overall charge. The church hall should be having major redevelopment over the coming year so we are looking forward to the additional space and facilities this will provide in the future, following a period of disruption. Martin is still involved in the music group and choir at church and we take it in turns to attend a weekly housegroup meeting.
On the work front we are both still in the same jobs, Rachel working two days a week in Middleton and Martin working for the Methodist Church in their Manchester office. This has recently been involving more frequent visits to London and work progresses on re-shaping the organisation, but at least it looks like the Manchester office is remaining in existence for the time being with a review now scheduled for 2010.
We don't have any firm plans for 2008 as yet (other than visiting Devon as usual), but one major event will be when Kirsten starts 'big school' in the autumn. We hope that you have had a good year and wish you all the best for 2007 - as always the invitation is open for you to visit us if you are ever in the Manchester area!
With love and best wishes,
Martin, Rachel, Elizabeth, Benjamin and Kirsten