Yes they all stood

So far Sissi has knocked the Christmas tree over only once – but when she did so she managed to ruin one of our new blinds and scratch the paint on the wall. She got quite a fright so perhaps will stay away from it now.

We went to the Messiah on Saturday night and it was quite a satisfying performance. There was a choir of 100 or so and they were very good. The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra is very good indeed. And as we were told by Steph – everyone stands for the Hallelujah chorus.

Last night we invited our next door neighbours over for dinner. Apparently it was a success because they stayed until 12:30. I made goulash soup followed by roast chicken with patates batasi - and it was my best ever. I think I finally have the oven worked out.

Tomorrow we are going to St Elmo’s steak house – which I think is the best steak house in Indianapolis – and where they serve the famous shrimp cocktail with fiery horseradish sauce. Last time I had this I could not finish it and had to drink a gallon of iced water to cool myself down.

We had something of a heat wave over the weekend and all the snow melted. There is no more snow forecast - so regretfully we will not have white Christmas. But we will probably have some in Newfoundland.

At the end of our trip we are staying for two nights at the Fogo Island Inn – which is on Fogo Island off the coast of Newfoundland. To get there we will have to drive about 400 kilometers and then take a 45 minute ferry ride – but apparently it is worth it. We shall see.