Simply the best ...

Today saw the biggest pile of cards so far in our porch - they've been trickling in for a while, but this was clearly The Day for most of them. And in that whole pile was one whose writing on the envelope seemed at once familiar and strange - for we play these games of guessing who's sent what cards before we open them.

And this was it. A school-produced, professionally-printed card from our older grandson. In many ways the intense pleasure at receiving such a card takes me back, oh about 35 years, since his father was giving us cards and pictures. Even the handwriting reminds me of that period. So another Christmas-induced fold in the fabric of time occurs and surprises with its joy.

Thanks, Al - and as you say, we'll see each other in a week!