Christmas Day started earlier than planned. Soon after 2 a.m. Jasper decided to share his dinner with us, depositing it on the carpet by the side of the bed. We leapt out of bed and cleaned up so that it didn't stain before snuggling back down to sleep for the rest of the night.
We had a fairly relaxed breakfast before beginning the serious preparation. Diane sorted out the festive table, lounge, and Orangery while I concentrated on the food. There were vegetables to prepare and turkey to roast.
Kim and Jon arrived at midday, followed by Zoe and Ellie. Drinks were served and Ellie showed all the various gifts she had received from Santa!
At a suitable break in the excitement, we retired to the lounge and opened the presents. Ellie acted as the helpful elf and handed out the various piles of wrapped boxes. She was very excited as each gift was revealed.
I returned to the kitchen and began the final push towards lunch... roast potatoes, carrots, and parsnips, then the cabbage and Brussels sprouts, and finally carving the turkey. We settled down to eat a little later than planned but it had been a lovely family morning and timing didn't matter.
Lunch was the usual feast accompanied by chat, jokes from the crackers, and general teasing. After we had all finished eating, we had made no appreciable dent in the mountain of turkey and ham. I suspect that will be the source of several meals over the next week.
The clearing up was soon done and dusted and we headed out to the Orangery where we had set up Ellie's Nintendo Switch on the TV. She and Kim could then play with the Karaoke game using the two microphones she had received from Santa.
I think it was about 19:00 when everyone had left and we locked the door. We had a quiet evening watching TV before going to bed and reflecting on what a lovely day it had been and how lucky we had all been.
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