Danskcolin: Friday December 25th 2020

08:00 We bounce out of bed, into the shower, and out again, and then have a Christmas Day breakfast of boiled eggs and toast - yum yum!

10:30 We settle down on the couch and open our presents to each other: Lois gets a biography of the late and much lamented comedienne Victoria Wood, and various clothing items. I get a book about GCHQ, the latest book of crosswords from "The Times" newspaper, and a box of Turkish Delights.

Lois gets a biography of Victoria Wood, and ....

various clothing items

I get a book about GCHQ and...

... a box of Turkish delights

11:00 We go for a walk on the local football field - Connor, my NHS physiotherapist has scheduled a walk for me today. It's only just above freezing - brrrr!! - but the sun is shining, which is nice. Lois picks a sprig off a local bush to stick on top of the Christmas pudding.

we go for my scheduled walk on the local football field - brrrrrr!!!!

Lois showcases the sprig she cut off a bush to put on our Christmas pudding later.

13:00 We were just thinking about getting on with our Christmas lunch - turkey for two from CookShop, when our daughter Sarah calls us on whatsapp from a campsite near Albany, Western Australia, where they are spending Christmas and New Year. Francis is with her, and also Jess, one of their 7-year-old twins - her sister Lily is sleeping soundly in the background of the picture: all attempts to wake her have failed, which isn't surprising - it's 9 pm there and they've had a very exciting day. Francis and a couple of other dads cooked a big turkey on one of the campsite ovens.

flashback to yesterday: Francis and the girls shooting baskets at the campsite on Christmas Eve

earlier today: Francis, Sarah and the twins having Christmas dinner under their awning

It's one of the odd things about British, Australian etc culture that we all celebrate Christmas on Christmas Day (December 25th), while all the other European countries (to my knowledge) celebrate it primarily on Christmas Eve (December 24th). Why is this? I have no idea, but I think we should definitely be told !!! Why are we always the "odd man out" ????

Europe will be glad to get rid of us when Brexit finally happens, as it looks set to now they've agreed a deal, provided that Parliament okays it.

I'm hoping somebody will do an analysis comparing Boris's deal with Theresa May's deal, and tell us whether Boris's long months of wrangling, posturing and cliffhanging has been worth it or not - my god!

13:30 We have dinner. This CookShop meal is expensive, no doubt about that - but the quality is good, which is the main thing - we only have one Christmas meal a year after all. We have the Christmas pudding on the sofa afterwards.

we have our "Christmas dinner for two" from CookShop

we have our Christmas pudding on the sofa

15:00 We listen to the Queen's Christmas Day Speech, one of her best ever, we think - and once again we reflect on what a marvellous queen she's been - hats off to her, gawd bless her! She's seen us through some hard times, that's for sure!

15:30 We speak on zoom to the family of our daughter Alison, who lives in Haslemere, Surrey, with Ed and their 3 children, Josie (14), Rosalind (12), and Isaac (10).

Ed is in the middle of setting up Isaac's first phone - he's getting it a few months early: the normal family rule is that you get one on your 11th birthday. That's the modern world!

Isaac (10), seen earlier in the day with his first phone - yikes!

The zoom call starts.

(left hand screen, left to right) Josie, Alison, Isaac, with Rosalind in the background

Josie (left) showcases her new necklace...

... and her shiny new sushi maker: Josie is crazy about sushi.

...and some sort of "tree" of chocolate-y things - I forget exactly what!

Josie seen here with Dumbledore, the black ex-alley-cat the family brought back

from Denmark when they returned to England in 2018 after 6 years in Copenhagen

Josie playing the piano for us, the Ukrainian "Carol of the Bells" ,

which I'm not familiar with, but she makes a great job of it.

Rosalind plays the more traditional English carol

"God Rest You, Merry Gentlemen"

Lois has had the radio on Classic FM most of the day, and they're now counting down "the nation's favourite carols", from 30 down to 1, as voted for by the station's classical music fans. I like carols, but it'll be nice to have a day without them tomorrow, that's for sure! I see that Carol of the Bells, which Josie played, is quite high up, but I obviously haven't "clocked" it yet - oh dear!

1. O Holy Night
2. Silent Night
3. In the Bleak Mid-Winter (Holst)
4. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
5. In the Bleak Mid-Winter (Darke)
6. O Come All Ye Faithful
7. Carol of the Bells
8. Once in Royal David’s City
9. O Little Town of Bethlehem
10. Joy to the World
11. Away in a Manger
12. O Come, O Come Emmanuel
13. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
14. Ding Dong! Merrily on High
15. Coventry Carol
16. The Holly and the Ivy
17. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
18. Good King Wenceslas
19. In Dulci Jubilo
20. Gaudete
21. Sussex Carol
22. The Three Kings
23. Candlelight Carol
24. We Three Kings
25. The First Nowell
26. See Amid the Winter’s Snow
27. I Saw Three Ships
28. Jesus Christ the Apple Tree
29. Gabriel’s Message
30. Star Carol (Rutter)

19:00 We have a spot of tea - some of Lois's home-made trifle - yum yum! Oh dear, today is all eating. and talking to our family! But I suppose that's fair enough for Christmas Day. Is that a good debating point? [No! - Ed]

Lois with this year's home-made Christmas trifle - yum yum!

20:00 We listen to the radio, the latest instalment of an amusing series "The Cold Swedish Winter", which chronicles the life of English stand-up comic Geoff.

Geoff has married a Swedish woman, Linda, and moved to a town with an unpronounceable name, Yxsjo, in the north of Sweden, to live near Linda's parents, Sten and Gunilla.

Linda (Sisella Benn), English stand-up comic Geoff's Swedish wife

Gunilla (Anna-Lena Bergelin), Linda's raunchy mother, with Geoff (Adam Riches)

In this week's episode, Geoff's father-in-law, Sten Andersson, has been contacted by a rich American called Wilbur who has discovered he's Sten's cousin. Wilbur's family moved to Minnesota in the 1840s, but Wilbur now lives in California. He now wants to invest a lot of his fortune into the little town of Ysxjo, where his ancestors lived.

Wilbur had asked Sten if they can do a facetime call, and although Sten is keen to know whether Wilbur knows Pamela (Anderson) or not, he is nevertheless feeling nervous as the agreed time for the call approaches.

Gunilla is putting makeup on, and Sten is looking for a tie.

Sten: How does my hair look?

Gunilla: You still don't have any.

21:00 We watch a bit of TV, a couple of programmes about the late lamented comedienne Victoria Wood.

Lots of laughs for us - altogether a good couple of programmes to go to bed on - we're exhausted.

It's particularly nice for us to see again her parody, with Duncan Preston, of a "Richard and Judy"-style married couple, presenting an awful breakfast tv show combined with an equally awful daytime mid-morning show.