Christmas with the Sinclair's

Well it's nearly 5am on Boxing day and it is no suprise to me that I can't sleep.
I work nights and so when I am off I end up going to bed early and then getting up early.
I know, you shout "go to bed later"!.
If only it was that simple, Christmas Eve I fell asleep on the couch about 7:30pm and ended up going to bed about 9pm.
Then it was up about 3 am peeling potatoes and carrots and cleaning up around the house.
I then took a leisurely bath, whilst listening to proper Christmas music (no Noddy Holder).
Real carols and some beautiful angelic voices on Classic fm, they really helped to make my Christmas day. Music linked to Christ and the celebration of his birth. Forget the presents and the commercialization.
http://ukrp.musicradio.com/classicfm/live
http://www.classicfm.co.uk/
The Pope made some good points and I was impressed, but his impact was lessened due to the fact that he gave his address in a "gold" tunic.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16328245
I have many things in common with the views of the Pope and his church and the stance of his church in lots of ways mirrors that of my religion, which is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Catholics like lot's of religions have many good members and some pieces of truth contained in their creeds.
However I don't belieive they have the whole picture or gospel of Jesus Christ.
That I believe is found in the Lord's church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
See our Christmas devotional here.
http://lds.org/broadcasts/watch/christmas-devotional/2011/12?lang=eng&vid=1309616245001&pkey=AQ~~,AAABJMwIxCk~,V-s4Hivdj0tPNypCoK3-U7EDiMwrZ90Q&pid=1302760218001
If you would like any more information visit:
http://mormon.org/
So now to some pictures of Christmas in the Sinclair household, with more to follow!

Some of Anna's tasteful Christmas decor

A Christmas gift calender I gave to Anna a few years ago

 Made by the Armish people of the USA 

Father Christmas has arrived and he enjoyed his carrot and peanuts!

Adam with his stocking

Ahh the stocking!

Anna with the love of her life

About to read all about the birth of Christ

Pre-present

One of Anna's gifts

Well Ryan and Adam's  main gift was all the parts for a new computer

We decided to build one as a father and son project

Adam likes using it, but not as interested in building it

So me and Ryan completed the task

Ryan earned the money for some of it and the rest I had to subsidise!

Here we are with the mother board, and about to insert the ram

The mother board is military class

Intel 15 processor

Ram is 8gb

Graphics card 2gb of ram with mother board allowing dual graphics cards

Power supply of 650 watts

Our Samsung Blu-ray player/cd rom

The assembled pc

It took us about 2 hours

The completed project

This took much less time then we anticipated

Cost a bit more then I thought

But was cheaper then buying a ready made one

with a higher spec

It was also  a great father and son project

Merry Christmas

Neil and Holly Sinclair's wedding 17th December 2011

Well the big day arrived. I am not a fan of December weddings, cold and to near Christmas.
Outside the church I had the pleasure of meeting Holly's grand parents. What lovely people as were Holly's Mum and Dad. Holly's grand parents live in Australia and came all the way for their grand daughters wedding. Her Dad works as a football coach which sound interesting. Adam and Ryan were ushers, Anna (Neil's mum) helped prepare the food along with the rest of Holly's family. Chris McClure was the best man and gave a great speech as did Holly's dad. Talks were given by Jason Shaw and Anna Sinclair.
Anna spoke about the six B's. Be grateful, Be smart, Be clean, Be true, Be humble, Be prayerful.
http://lds.org/ensign/2001/01/a-prophets-counsel-and-prayer-for-youth?lang=eng
Bishop Wall conducted the service as nice as ever.
The food was lovely and there was far too much. We had to give some away.
Holly's grand mother made a lovely wedding cake.
After the wedding they went to the Preston Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to be sealed for time and all eternity.
http://lds.org/church/temples/gallery?lang=eng&start=97&end=120&sort=name&sort-direction=up#gallery=preston-england

Neil and Holly cutting her Grand mother's cake

Big Dave with Adam and Wolverine (Ryan)

Anna looking happy and lovely

Stanley smart as ever

Daffid and Sasha

Colin Scott

Stanley, Peter and Big Dave

Holly's grand parents, Holly's mum, Aunt Sue and Will.

The bridesmaid with mum Sarah McClure

Dave and Margaret Farell

Rachel (the offical photographer, these are not her photos) and Peter

The Bride's car

The bride

Bride, groom and Rachel being proffesional

Holly's grand parents, her mother and one of the bride's maids father

Aunt Sue, Holly's mum and dad and grand parent's and Will

The cake made by Holly's grand mother on the left

Anna looking happy and lovely

The Preston Temple were they were sealed for time and all eternity

For information on the Church's temples see this link

http://lds.org/church/temples/why-we-build-temples?lang=eng

Winter beckons

Well folks as winter beckons, there will not be as much activity on here. Not picture wise.
On Saturday, me and Ryan fixed Adam's X box, I think we did a pretty good job.
Well this week was mainly about eating, it's what members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (http://mormon.org/)  are famous for.

Monday Anna, myself , Ryan and Adam had a lovely meal at the Twirl of Hay, Chester.
2 meals for £10 and 2 puddings for £2, great bargin.
Then on Weds Anna, myself, Neil and Holly (Neil's fiance) had, well another meal.
To start off the week, we cleared out Neil's room, got rid of his bed and installed the exercise bike.
Tues we changed the covers on the seattee and now we sit in blue spendor, after which we cleaned the windows.
Finally last night we spent at McDonalds, well it was ok, except the apple pie was hot!
Today I spent some time clearing out the bath drain, a dirty job!
Then learning how to run satelite broadcasts for my church.
Tommorow I may just go to the pictures and watch "contagion".
Hopefully over the winter I can find some thing to interest you.

Stephen Sinclair - Sutton Utd FC v Bognor Regis FA cup

In today's edition of travel with the Sinclairs I went back to Sutton in Surrey, just the other side of Carshalton, Surrey where I was born about 50 years ago.
The weather was really nice, sunny all day and warm.
The match, well it was played to a good standard, Certainly Sutton United FC would fit well into league two.
The star of the show was their number nine Leroy Griffiths, He scored a goal and provided at least an  assist.
Sutton Utd also have an ex-Coventry player Paul Telfer
I Had some lovely fish and chips, whilst Sutton Utd won 4-0.
http://www.therocks.co.uk/reports/sutton1112a.htm
http://www.suttonunited.net/other_interviews.html
For an in depth blog on this fixture visit:
http://agroundhoppersdiary.blogspot.com/2011/10/sutton-united-gander-green-lane.html
On the way home I went through Kingston and Hampton Court, Kingston has changed, a one way system that takes forever.
The traffic was horrendous, I am just glad I don't live there any more.
I could not put up with that traffic.

Sutton United FC-FA cup

The club shop

Good match, Utd bossed the match

An important place, my place of Birth, St Helier's Hospital in Carshalton, Surrey.

Visit to Peter and Rachel Sinclair in Leicester, Oct 2011

Our lastest entry on Travel with the Sinclairs saw us today  head south to Leicester to see how Peter and Rachel are settling in at Leicester.
We first went for a walk around Leicester, past their University and then went back to the flat for dinner and pudding.

Peter and Rachel's domain

A stroll through a Leicester park.

Peter and Rachel outside their University

Leicester Town hall, impressive

Peter's faculty..the Business school, DeMontfort Univ

Some pan pipe people

Anna in haberdashery heaven

Their local church, Glenfield ward, Leicester

Their flat