27th December
This morning we requested that we head to First Watch for breakfast and Jennifer & Tom obliged.
I once again had the super healthy Floridan French toast, Jennifer had pancake (I think), Tom had the frittata and Rob of course had an omelette.
We then went on a cycle of our favourite shops including Best Buy (where Rob debated buying some new noise cancelling headphones – but didn’t!)
Then Target, Barnes and Noble followed by Bath and Bodyworks (where we stocked up on foaming soap and some toiletries) and then of course we had to visit Michaels (Jennifer and I went here while the boys started at Lowes) where oddly I got some Christmas cards as I couldn’t find them anywhere else.
Of course, the boys took ages at Lowes so we had a little look around there too!
We headed back to the house and had a little snack of yule log and before we knew it (we take a lot of time at the shops) it was time for dinner so we walked to Trolley Square to a place called Catherine Rooneys.
The group had a variety of cocktails (I had a soft drink obviously) and I had a sandwich (I suspect a turkey club or similar) and Rob had chicken strips.
For some reason (maybe I was being polite) I don’t have photos of the other meals.
On the way back we went to see a very spectacular tree covered in lights 
28th December
This morning we had muffins and toast (plus coffee obviously) before heading to King of Prussia mall.
This was a new mall for all of us and we arrived at about 1100.
There were a lot of shops!
The main reason for visiting was for Rob to go to the True Classic store where luckily, he found some items. He has bought some clothes from them online before and wanted to try on some stuff before buying.
We stopped to get lunch at Five Guys (Jennifer and Tom had a subway instead I think) and then continued on our epic shopping trip.
We went in search of the Starbucks which was apparently in Macy’s, this was really far away! We eventually found it, there was almost no options available and the staff seemed quite disorganised.
We then found pottery barn and a few other furniture stores which were fun.
We decided we were finished and mapped a route across the mall before we started on our mission to get back to the car (it really was far!)
We made it back to the car then headed home, this felt like a real accomplishment as the mall turned out to be massive – it is apparently the 4th largest mall in the United States.
Having googled this we then discovered that Rob and I had been to the 5th largest when we were in Miami in September but King of Prussia definitely felt bigger!
We all had a little rest when we got back and then decided to have dinner at Kid Shelleens which is a short walk away.
Rob, Jennifer and Tom had some cocktails and for meals we had the following:
Me – chicken salad sandwich (I think), might have included bacon but not sure (for some reason I didn’t make a note!)
Jennifer – salad and I think also a soup but I clearly didn’t photograph that!
Rob – appears to be a steak of some sort 🤣
Tom – some sort of sandwich (amazing notes lol)
Obviously despite being really cold out I needed a Reese’s sundae (no whipped cream), while Rob had the small brownie sundae and Jennifer and Tom shared some ice cream.
All very good and we headed back to the house to watch a little bit of tv before bed.
Boxing Day
We had our alarm set for 0600 as we were due to be departing at around 1000.
We checked the AA app and discovered that our flight was delayed by 1hr25 
We continued to get ready (as we were already awake) and headed over to the terminal at about 0730 (which with hindsight was too early.)
We dropped off our bags and printed our boarding cards which was simple.
We had a few minutes wait in security and the after eights in my bag (we took a selection of chocolates for our friends) needed checking but otherwise it was smooth sailing.
We headed to the American Airlines lounge as we are both still silver (sadly I will run out soon as I haven’t done enough BA flights this year!)
We had some breakfast including tea and coffee and then moved to some of the comfy seats to wait.
According to the app we were going to start boarding at 1050 but we actually ended up boarding at about 1140.
We were back in economy but luckily, we ended up with 3 seats between us, otherwise it would have been a bit tight – I don’t know if it is my imagination but the AA aircraft always feel smaller (but maybe it’s because we don’t like economy!)
We took off just after 12 and the meal was served at 1250 (we both has a pasta meal and it was fine), shortly afterwards we were plunged into darkness - why is this a thing now?
Around 1500 (UK time) we were brought ice cream, I watched Barbie (again) then multiple episodes of Modern Family.
Shortly before landing we were brought the famous Monty pastry things, we went with the vegetable option, and it wasn’t too bad.
We collected our bags and were through immigration and over to the car hire place by 1500 US time which felt quite speedy.
Rob selected a Jeep Rubicon (gladiator) from the available range, it was quite funny as the people in the garage seemed baffled that we didn’t select one of the other options (I have forgotten what they were).
This vehicle had the advantage of being 4WD which as snow was predicted felt like a good idea.
We took the short drive to Jennifer & Tom’s where we arrived just before 1600 and without any of the threatened snow arriving.
They had ordered pizza for our arrival (which was welcome) so we had dinner and then spent the evening catching up. This did involve making a puzzle which actually seemed to help keep us awake for the evening (not that I actually helped!)
We also received our signed copy of Jennifer’s book Friction and were amazed to find that we are listed in the acknowledgements….!
We haven’t read the book yet as we are waiting for our copy (that we have pre-ordered as it isn’t released yet) to arrive so we don’t get the signed copy messy 
Christmas Eve
We started our day at breakfast with my uncle John (some of you will remember my auntie – his sister, passed away in 2023 and he now lives alone so I always try to take him out ahead of going away) at our favourite breakfast places.
Rob and I then did our workouts, followed by cleaning the house (for the burglars as always) and then we set off delivering Christmas cards to friends and family. We also dropped off a few presents for friends that we wouldn’t manage to see on Christmas Day.
Christmas Day
I got up and did my workout at 0730 (I know I am crazy), Rob ironed while I was doing my workout then he did his.
We then put our last load of washing on (gym gear - so it wouldn’t be gross when we got back) and then we started packing which was completed by 1120. We also unwrapped the presents that our friends had given us :)
We then went to see uncle John and then to Rob’s dad’s for lunch (via the cemetery).
Too much food was cooked as always, and we exchanged gifts - we were given one of the hotel chocolate wreaths which means we will be eating chocolate for months.
We also got a load of chocolate from John, he is trying to be careful as he is in the “pre-diabetic” phase so he basically gave us everything he had received so that he didn’t eat them.
We headed home to do a couple of last jobs and to swap cars before leaving for the airport at about 1600.
We stopped briefly at Fleet to add a tiny bit of charge (sadly no free charging this year).
We arrived at the Heathrow long stay car park at 1830 and then took the bus to T2.
We walked to the Hilton Garden Inn where we went straight to the room as we had a digital key. We had been able to pick our room online and had been upgraded to a high floor room with a view (it was dark so not sure about the view!)
We had a couple of snacks which we had brought with us (given the giant lunch) and watched tv until about 2130.
