This year’s Christmas was very similar to last year’s. We had my Dad and Julie round a day or two before Christmas and Uncle Max arrived on Christmas Eve.

Every year on Christmas Eve, we Lawley’s always get new pyjamas. The reason behind this is so that if any photo’s are taken on Christmas Day, before we’ve got dressed, we’ll at least have decent PJ’s and not have worn out, holey abominations on. For the past 4 or 5 year’s, we’ve also had a Christmas Eve box. It’s a cardboard box in wrapping paper. Well it was. This year I upgraded and got a proper wooden, personalised box from ebay. The contents are a family secret, but it’s a tradition that we’ve come up with over the years that Ross and I have made together.

We went for the traditional pre-lunch drink to The Orange Tree and got a traditional hug from The Land Lord who has recently returned from his intrepid adventures in Nepal to Everest Base Camp. We both made it to Christmas 2016!! And we both have Wills thanks to the very clever Robert from BBW. (At least that’s one thing ticked off the To Do list.)

Back at home, Uncle Max produced a magnum of Prosecco which went down very well with Ross’s Christmas Dinner which was just as amazing, if not more so than last year’s. I can’t drink as much alcohol these days, so after 2 G&T’s, a prosecco and a Bailey’s, I was done in, and along with everyone else, slipped happily and easily into a Food Coma.

The next morning, on Boxing Day, Dad and Julie went off to the Kent Hoggs on the next stage of their Christmas Travels. After waving them off, we decided to get some fresh air and went off to Wimpole Hall. A lot of other families seemed to have the same idea but we went off the beaten track and walked the way of the kids ParkRun. I hadn’t gone that way before and it was fun.

All in all it was a pretty normal Christmas. And I like it when things are normal. When things were quiet. Normal and quiet are good.

Jx