Together

 Thank goodness there was no sign of that blasted Elf this morning. The has clearly returned to Santa and will not be seen again until next December - in Urban-Cub'c new house.

Ellie had been with Pistol Pete overnight, so we had a quiet morning giving us the chance to get the preparation done for lunch. Everything was scheduled and, with one exception, ran smoothly. The ham had been cooked yesterday, the turkey cooked slowly in the bottom oven to be joined by the pigs in blankets, and the stuffing wreath. The potatoes were meant to roast in the top oven at a much higher temperature. It was the potatoes that caused the problem. The Gorse Fox got distracted by the "Chaos of the Gifts"(*) and left the potatoes to par-boil for a bit too long. Some had turned to mush by the time he remembered. We soldiered on. The Gorse Fox had, after all, prepared sufficient potatoes to feed the truckers queueing in Kent, and the soldiers who are testing them.

Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit were able to join us. It was lovely to have the whole family together. That, in its own right, made the whole day special for the Gorse Fox.

After the sumptuous lunch we retired to the lounge and continued with the second part of the "Chaos of the Gifts". This culminated in sacred "Assembly of the Toys" whereby this gifts that needed some post-reveal engineering or assembly were passed across to the technical department for completion.

After Cousteau-Cub and the Coventry Hobbit left to go and look after their dogs we progressed into the next stage of Christmas. This involves phoning various friends and relations. This is probably the noisiest part of the day. For some reason, there seems to be an assumption that microphones stop reacting to the spoken word and in order for the voice to be heard at the other end of the call, it is necessary to shout. This, combined with the fact that Ellie wants your undivided attention, tends to create a continual escalation in volume. The Gorse Fox decided that the most sensible solution was to walk to the back of the house and listen to the conversation from a distance. Even there, it was still too loud.

Christmas was a lovely day.

God Bless you all.

(*) The "Chaos of the Gifts" is an annual ceremony whereby a neat but huge pile of finely wrapped gifts becomes a wilderness of torn wrapping paper and temporarily discarded toys and cards.