Christmas shopping hasn't been too bad. We drove to the market garden, the same as most Fridays. After today, there is a two-week break, so the boxes are double quantity, including lots of squash and root veg - no lazy-man-loads, carrying two boxes at once!

But two grandsons, with their entourages, are coming for Xmas lunch. A double box won't cut it. We went wild in the honesty shop. Extra sprouts, of course, and parsnips; extra most things! There were tremors on the international onion exchange. We indulged ourselves in costly Xmas luxury: organic spice bags to put in the mulled wine/apple juice

It's easy to be jaded and cynical about all the money, and waste and excess; the stress and conflict; the self-indulgence while others are hungry. But I like the break in step - the change from the routine - doing something different - things that are special to only that time of the year. Looking back, I think that was the heart of the childhood magic - the suspension of the rules. I didn't know then about the 'Lord of Misrule', but I think that is the same spirit, and a spirit that endures

MrsM has been combing the attic for relics of past childhoods. Neither of us are certain of the provenance of this one - perhaps our children will be. The first party game: pin the memory on the artefact

The macabre nature of the extra is the work of chance. They are a little young for Xmas ghost stories. Not the spirit of Xmas we are reaching for