"These Christmas Crackers are EMPTY!"

Morning all.  Boxing Day and I can hear the birds chirping as the sky begins to slowly lighten.  

We had a truly lovely Christmas and no meltdown from our exhausted daughter who works in a jewellers and still had customers in the shop at gone 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve.  She has already left to go back for the Boxing Day sales, as she is working.

We drank champagne as we unwrapped our gifts (G always gets given champagne at Christmas by well-heeled customers so she has made it a Christmas tradition now).  I have ALL the books I had hoped for and some lovely thoughtful gifts beside.  We had daft films on tv and there was such happiness and laughter.  I am indeed blessed.

We don't eat Christmas lunch, but eat our meal between 5 and 6, and the kids told me to take the day off  (once I'd made the roulade - although Tam whipped the cream for me) and they cooked a splendid meal. 

We sat down to a leg of locally-shot venison (local Shoot gift) with all the usual trimmings, including a luscious gravy by Gabby which had a piece of dark chocolate added.  Wow! is all I can say.  Danny's Yorkshires were sky high as always.  He has the knack.  The crackers got overlooked and Keith and I were washing up when there was great hilarity round the table and exclamations of "these Christmas crackers are EMPTY" - they were ones Tam had found at a charity shop for £1.50 and she hadn't read the packet - they were ones you made up yourself!!  

Then we played Articulate and were all helpless with laughter - we literally laughed until we cried at one point.  It's a brilliant game when you have had a couple of drinks and I was totally useless at it!!

Now today we are back to normal.  We have to take Danny back to town as he's working tomorrow, and then we will sit down and watch the racing this afternoon - which includes the King George VI steeplechase, which will be hotly-contested between Altior, Clan des Obeaux and Cyrname.  I have been following National Hunt racing since I used to watch it with mum as a child - one of these days we will make it to Cheltenham for the Festival!  Keith has 3 (Christmas present) shares in racehorses (two flat, one jumper) which add to the piquancy.  It would be lovely to see one of "our" horses in action. 

(For anyone who thinks racing is a cruel sport, get a reality check on the cruelty of ignorance and go to Prince Fluffy Kareem's home page on Facebook and see how horses really suffer elsewhere in the world.  This is a charity I hold dear to my heart - not one penny is wasted and they can work miracles on horses which would have been instantly condemned to death had they been in this country.)  Sadly, horses do die when racing, but they also die in road traffic accidents, in their stable or field and it is a fact of life. In Cairo, they are suffering from injuries and physical problems which were mentioned in my Victorian horse books - ignorance and desperation have stayed on in Egypt.

Anyway, time for breakfast now and a walk is planned for later - I am feeling slightly jaded from being up early to see Gabby off, and from yesterday's alcohol intake being higher than normal!!