Quite a late night last night – I sat up till rather late last night watching festive rubbish on the telly. The plan for the morning was to have a lie-in, so I was rather miffed to be woken at silly o’clock by a text message sent to the house phone wishing me a merry Xmas.
And so on with Xmas. This year Xmas was different. Much as I’ve really enjoyed all my previous Xmases, they have all been spent driving from one set of relatives and friends to another. Which entails a very early start, and the day spent rushing here, there and thither (to quote Oliver Hardy) sometimes visiting half a dozen people and places in the one day. This year I’d put my foot down, and we were going to have a quiet day at home. We’d decided that we may never do it again, it may well be a flop, but just once we weren’t going to spend all of Xmas driving.
So we started off getting dinner ready and tidying up, and we had a brill Xmas dinner. The wine wasn’t all that – fifteen quid for a bottle of wine was in retrospect money down the drain. It wasn’t especially bad wine, it was fairly good, as wine goes, but wasn’t a patch on a bottle of beer which would have been a fraction of the cost. And having pigged out on turkey, sprouts and Xmas put we had the Ker-Plunk challenge. Which I lost.
Xmas isn’t Xmas without a snooze and so “My Boy TM ” and I had a kip on the sofa until the Folkestone contingent arrived. Pressies were opened – I got a decent haul; if only my mother in law would stop buying me liquorice allsorts. This is now the twenty-eighth Xmas she’s bought me liquorice allsorts. I can’t stand the things.
Prawn cocktails went down well, and we raised a glass to friends and family near and far; especially thinking of those half the world away.
And then we settled down to the Xmas “Doctor Who” special. As “Doctor Who” episodes go, it wasn’t anything out if the ordinary. As Xmas “Doctor Who” specials go, it was the best one ever. And then we had an evening of Blokus. I could have done better. The Xmas “Royle Family” was excellent, and as the kids went off visiting, I slept in front of episodes of “Family Guy”, finally giving up and going to bed around 1am.
And as the day drew to a close, I felt myself reflecting on a different way of doing Xmas. Usually it’s spent with a load of people, and it’s usually very busy rushing here and there. This year it was quiet; we did things at our pace, and I enjoyed it. Next year… I’m still undecided… but the home made stout was definitely a success.
And in closing today, spare a thought for the Beresford family. Elizabeth Beresford (creator of the Wombles) died yesterday, aged eighty-four.
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