At Christmas James and I volunteered to host a foreign student, this was our second year and as our guest we had Susmita from Eastern India come and stay with us.

Susmita came to England at the end of August to complete a masters degree (Development and Equality) at Brighton University. Susmita had visited Manchester and London, however this was her first visit to Oxfordshire, and her first English Christmas.

On Christmas Eve we took Susmita to 'Carols on the Green' at a local village, On Christmas morning we went to church, followed by a quick visit to see my Mum, and then on to James' parents for Christmas Lunch, present opening and to generally enjoy a relaxed family Christmas day.

On boxing day we took Susmita to Bourton-on-the-Water for lunch (thoughtfully paid for by Susmita) and a visit to to the model village, in the evening Susmita dressed me in a Sari, complete with bindi and we made Indian snacks for James - you will see from the photo's that I thoroughly enjoyed the dressing up.

All too soon the time came for Susmita to head back to Brighton for her studies, as I was walking Susmita to the bus she said that she thought she was going to really miss her family over Christmas, but she hadn't missed them as much as she thought she would as being with us was like being with family.

We have many happy memories from Susmita's visit and look forward to keeping in touch with her and when she returns home perhaps visiting her.