Christmas at home

I love our annual trip to the Nene Valley Railway on the Santa Special. Thomas the Tank Engine (the original) is always there, as is the Fat Controller (Sir Topham Hat) who has been on duty for the last 31 years. We always take a ton of food with us, which we never eat. The crew come around with really good mince pies and drinks (I always have Scotch while Hanna has white wine) and the kids get juice and sweeties. Santa is on the train too, and Sir Topham always comes around to remind the kids that they need to be asleep well before Santa comes. I think Nick still enjoys the tradition.

Afterwards we drove over to Ely Cathedral for the annual children's Christmas Service, which is mercifully short and entertainingly chaotic. (One year the Archangel Gabriel caught alight.) This year the highlight was a fight between the shepherds, and a pile of donkey poop in the isle. There was also a stray kid (where was Mum?) who decided that she was going to be Mary's assistant at the birth. (A sort of junior midwife.) She was on the stage from start to finish. Perhaps this was what started the shepherds fighting. As usual the Dean brought out his Auntie Eileen puppet. She never really gets the Christmas thing and thinks that people who go to Cathedrals are POSH. Now, the Dean tried to rectify this view, but you only had to look around the congregation to see that that it's true. There were grandparents in furs and kids in designer dresses all over the place. The little princesses would get up every five minutes and parade all over the chancel . It is a sort of junior catwalk. We were very entertained, I can tell you.

We fully expected Dan to be up at 2 or 4 am but he lasted until 6.00 so we opened all the presents and had a slow day.

On Boxing day we had to feed the wild birds ion the reserve. My son Robin, who we only see once a year, came along too. He now works in a toy shop in a smart London suburb inhabited by media people. He brought us some lovely puppets.

On the 28th our friends the Lambtons cane around for a lovely evening of chat, food and booze. Nick was a star at keeping everyone entertained while we cooked or managed Dan.