The lead-up to Christmas was wonderful with the arrival of my daughter Alexanne on the 15th and a very enjoyable holiday to Kho Chang island in the Gulf of Thailand. I’ll blog about that later but Derek says “Two thumbs up!”.

Christmas doesn’t have quite the same feeling here in Thailand – first off of course it’s warm and sunny. And while there are the Christmas decorations here and there it looks mostly out of place or hopelessly commercial. But Christmas it is and off we went to celebrate.

After some research we headed over to the Peninsula Hotel on the river to enjoy a Christmas buffet with games and Santa for the kids. We ate too much and topped it off with brownies with chocolate sauce – adding to my Kho Chang beer for lunch pounds. Tomorrow it’s off to the gym. You can see the Bangkok Christmas pictures and get the idea.

I do wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas and all the good fortune, happiness and heath you wish for in 2009.