Christmas

 Not having young children (or old children) in the house, there was no early morning excitement. I got up at my usual time and worked my way through a reviving coffee, the overnight news, and a smattering of social media feeds. Diane wandered down a little while later, and after I had made her a tea, had a shower, and made her a coffee, I set off on my morning walk.

It was only 2 °C, and there was a biting wind. I was glad of my woolly hat and my leather jacket (nothing seems to cut out the wind as well as a leather jacket). My audiobook chatted away in my ears, recalling life in the mid-1800s. (When I say recalling, I do not imply they are my recollections, but rather they transport the imagination to that period!!!). Despite the cold, there were plenty of fellow walkers with their dogs, and everyone had a cheery "Merry Christmas" greeting as they passed.

Once I had returned home and grabbed some breakfast, I took a spare chair and some frozen "pigs in blankets" around to Zoe. She was very well organised with her cooking schedule worked out a taped to the worktop. I left her to it and promised we would be back at 12:30.

As promised, we walked back and joined the festivities. Ellie was back home after a week with Pete, Kim and Jon were there, and we made up the party. After sharing some Christmas drinks, we opened the presents. The pile of gifts wasn't as big as in previous years since we could actually see the wall against which they were piled.

We were all immensely lucky and had some wonderful and thoughtful presents. Zoe was particularly proud of her selection for a joint present to us, combining my love of technology with Di's love of tea. She bought us a smart kettle that we can control from a phone app or through Alexa!

It goes without saying that Zoe presented us with a wonderful Christmas Lunch. After a salmon and prawn starter, we marched into the main event. There was a turkey crown (only half of which was needed), roasted potatoes, carrots, and parsnips; there was cabbage, brussels sprouts, peas, gravy, and bread sauce. We hardly seemed to make a dent in the food she served up. What's more, we realised when we had finished that a) we had forgotten the ham, and b) we had no room for dessert.

We had a lovely afternoon as Ellie played with various gifts and, item by item, gave a fashion show of the outfits she had received. Zoe even set up the karaoke on Ellie's Nintendo Switch.

Jon and Kim left at about 18:00, and we went soon after. (I popped home to get the car as there was so much to take back). 

We had a quiet evening after a wonderful Christmas Day.