I am sat here at the end of a very long Christmas Day and I have loved every single moment of it.
Our day started fairly early about 8.00 am, now I can hear all the couples who have young children saying “luxury, ours children got up at six thirty”.
Ours have now fled the nest and it is our grand children who phone us to ask when we are going to arrive bearing gifts like Santa Claus.
So by nine we are on our first present drop-off the day, children vibrating from excitement and parents looking suitably knackered from getting up so early.
By eleven we are on the second drop of the morning and again we are met by youthful exuberance which I have to say is very infectious.
The third visit was to see an Aunty who unfortunately isn’t well enough to join us in our family dinner and then on to visit Anns brother who also can’t join us.
Now by mid afternoon I am beginning to feel like a driver from some delivery service and can I say I do get grumpy when I miss my afternoon nap!
By three we have to be at Sarah’s, our daughters for Christmas dinner.
Now Christmas dinner at my daughters is a thing of logistical beauty. She and Phil her long suffering partner every year manage to make it a very special day. This year we had twelve sitting down to Christmas Dinner and everyone gets into the swing of things.
Not only is the food great (apart from the smoked potatoes) but so is the company. With an age gap some 70 years everyone never stops talking. Now that maybe not unusual but having a great time is an even greater achievement.
Now if like me you lead a sheltered life then what happened next may or may not surprise you. Our children and partners decided that we should play a card game called Cards Against Humanity which sound very innocuous, but I can assure you it isn’t .
This is a very simple concept until you start reading the cards and the answers. Now Lady Ann was designated as the master of ceremonies who had to read out the statement on the black cards and then read out the cards that people offered up as answers.
Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought that she would have read out such profanities (even though in an innocent fashion) that shocked our children to the core! (Can I just say the Grand Children were in the room next door playing on the Xbox which could not have been as entertaining).
The only issue is that I know that tomorrow I will have to explain what these term mean but more importantly I will have to explain how I know what they mean. Now that is very difficult when you are sober but when you have a hangover now that is a whole different proposition.
So I hope that you have all had a great day and let’s hope the rest of your festivities follow a similar vein, So all that remains to say is I hope you have laughed as much as I have with people who you love and as you progress through life you will that you will find that is the one thing that makes all the difference .
John d eccles 