Last night we made a deal with the girls that we are not to be woken before 7. It doesn't work.
After opening some presents, we start preparing what needs to be done for lunch. John does most of the work. I am in charge of the potatoes.
The highlight of the Christmas lunch is Christmas pudding which we douse in brandy and set alight. It burns incredibly well. My gran told me how they used to have trinkets the Christmas pudding until one Christmas her father, a very fiery bad-tempered man, choked on one and thereafter they were banned. We retrieve four of the five trinkets and believe that my dad has swallowed the fifth.
After lunch, which finishes late, we go for a walk and struggle quite a bit to get up the hill on our full stomachs. Sian and Ellie swim in a pond near the house.
In the evening, we play Ellie's new game, Time Flies, which is a mixture of Pictionary and Charades. You have to either draw, explain or act out what you are given on your card. One of the titles I am given is Eurovision Song Contest which I have to act. I try to be ABBA and it fails miserably.
If I am proud of one of the things we have done as parents, it is limiting access to television and phones. I honestly hate it when I see children given phones as presents. We don't have television and only ever watch DVDs. Some people find this absolutely unbelievable and we always get that question: 'Aren't your children left behind?' No, I don't think they are left behind at all. They still have Internet access and have good computer skills. Both of them get very, very bored with friends who come to visit and bring their phones with them. This on its own is enough for them to see how badly addicted some people can get.
Board games are challenging and fun and involve many people; playing on your phone is a lonely business.
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