and God bless us, every one

A day of festive cheer like no other. Bro arrived late morning and together we prepared Christmas dinner for six with a background of Christmas carols - both the choral and the Dickens kind, for entertainment. Niece, nephews and C arrived a couple of hours later and much merriment accompanied the opening of a wondrous variety of thoughtful and appreciated gifts.  Dinner - both the turkey and the vegetarian kind - was, a joyous event that satiated every sense and feeling. There followed the mandatory board game - Harry Potter version of Cluedo which seemed absurdly complicated to set up, but then maybe our confusion was more to do with the level of festive imbibement?  Anyway, eventually we were on a roll and Maddy won which is all that it should be as the game was a gift to her from me. Early evening we all went down the road to their house for tea and coffee and a change of environment and a chance for nephews to play with their new electronic gadgets.  By 8.30 everyone was back at my house for a full table of Christmas supper, including bro's annual Santa jelly that hilariously collapsed on the plate. Oh well. 

At the end of the evening, after C and the kids had left for home, bro did all the washing up - now that was a gift!   Late evening and before retiring, I had nearly an hour video call with Robin now in Canada, whose Christmas has not been as fortunate as my own, as I fear many people also have had their festivities dampened by covid. So, to everyone who could and could not celebrate with loved ones today, may we all have a kinder New Year and a very, Merry Christmas!