It's been a long day

The day started with rain, rain and more rain - but at least we were dry, and our thoughts go out to those in flood-hit communities and hope that despite everything, they managed a good day.

Our day continued with a quick drive over to my sister's with two enormous bags of pressies, and soon exchanged some with them, before my sub-mariner nephew went off for dinner with his girl friend's family. It was then time for dinner - a delicious traditional turkey roast with all the trimmings, primarily cooked by my brother-in-law. Their dog, Aila, enjoyed the sneaky bits of turkey dropped under the table!

The sound level then increased by several decibels when my niece and her four girls aged 9 down to 6months turned up, and the rest of the presents were exchanged. The karaoke machine was a big hit, as was a sort of modern "Simon says". The 3D snakes and ladders, and hanging monkeys games were interesting, if only for the strange interpretation of the rules. Meanwhile, the baby sat happily on any available lap chewing the myriad of rattles she received - one of which emitted annoying strange buzzes and whistles to add to the general bedlam. Daddy was wisely unfortunately working, but turned up in time to lug 3 huge bags of presents to the car, and take his 5 excited and tired girls home.

Now was a time to wind down with a mince pie and drink. I introduced my sister to one of my iPad photo apps, Snapseed, and while she was playing, I took this shot of her relaxing with Aila at her side, dead to the world after a long day.