- Christmas week followed a welcome and familiar pattern: we hosted a set of parents (mine this year), I did the cooking and L coordinated the present-giving.
- But first, the football. I took H to the Emirates for Arsenal’s Tuesday night League Cup quarter-final with Crystal Palace. Arsenal won 8-7 on penalties, finishing very late. Luckily it’s school holidays so H could recover his lost sleepw.
- While we were at the football, L took C to see a local Cinderella pantomime (not the adults-only Sinderella alternative).
- On Christmas Eve, I took my dad to the local pub for a pint before we started on the ham. As is traditional, I boil, glaze and roast a big gammon joint and we eat half for dinner.
- This Christmas we decided to swap a big turkey for a big chicken: most of our family prefer it, it’s cheaper and there are fewer leftovers. My adjusted timings were a bit off - it was ready too early - but hot gravy and the rest of the trimmings made up for it. And then I could relax.
- My present haul included several new tops to wear, a Kindle (to replace my 2011 model), and some very good books, including Will Larson’s Crafting Engineering Strategy.
- The boys received plenty of Lego and STEM-related kits, intended to (mostly successfully) draw their attention away from Switches and iPads. They also happily received their stockings from Father Christmas who they claim to still believe in. We’ll take that. Stay young!
- I don’t think we watched much festive TV, apart from Amandaland and the Gladiators special (the boys’ favourite). I was more excited to watch the excellent final episode of Pluribus, and now face a frustratingly unknown wait for the next season. More and quick please!
- Then, to burn off some of the extra calories (me) and restless energy (boys), we put on our football boots for a Saturday kick-around in the park. The boys defeated their father 10-8. I was left to scrub our muddy boots which predictably took almost as long to clean as we spent outside.
