Waiting ...

I think Santa came before we got to bed ...

Another place-marker. The girls went grass-sledging with M and K. Fun for them, exhausting for K, who had to haul the sledges uphill for the little ones, while  M walked the dog ....

Meanwhile A & N made the traditional Czech Christmas Eve meal for all of us - or as close as possible with the ingredients available in the borderlands.  So we had salmon en croute and potato salad, and side dishes. Our home-grown tatties did well ....

I  told bedtime stories to the children. In previous years they have loved the Icelandic version of the mid-winter tales. 

Mixed reception tonight - Hal felt asleep, Nico covered her eyes and ears, Caitie was fascinated by the gruesome details of Gryla and the Yule Lads, and Isobel has heard it all before ...

 An unfortunate stand-off between Raf (dog, visiting )  and Douggie (cat, resident) led to a wine-glass flying through the air and spraying wine over half the sitting room.Fortunately the glass broke cleanly through the stem and the clean-up didn't involve combing the rug for splinters.

Another day of family fun awaits later today. Stockings at 3am, anyone ??

Eventually they all went to sleep, and we sat up till Far Too Late talking about the Christmases of their childhoods, and our childhoods ... thankfully avoiding any speculation about what come next.

It's long past midnight, so this is a back-blip - wishing you all the very best for this Christmas, however you are spending it, xxx C