Following my surgery, 2013 was hugely better than the preceding couple of years!

We pretty much had a family Christmas Cracker of a time...no TV at all till right towards midnight with a bit of Ashes cricket. No Christmas "specials" at all!

Our traditional breakfast of toast & butter, presents, then all in the kitchen prepping veg ( no sprouts!), getting a small turkey in the oven, sort of organised pandemonium! Then a quick hour in the local & back to finish off & eating our meal.

This merged into our rummy based family card game "can I buy", with some scary, additional family developed rules. This in turn became some cheese & Christmas cake. Which turned into fatigued slumping on chairs & the settee.

Went pretty well. But is it the right thing to do? Are there better ways to mark the birth of a Messiah? Who's to say? Who's business is it?

We'd filled the Cathedral with students, staff & their friends from our College just before the Xmas break. I'd travelled to see close but distant friends to exchange little gifts.

Seen those less able to get around themselves. Done a little work for charities, tried to write a bit in cards beyond names, got in a tizz about too much to do, too little time to do it.

The pressies I got were spot on! Some more to add to my mountain of must read books, tickets to a rock legend concert, some fIlms on DVDs to watch, some "smelly"! Thanks all.

But what did you do, give, receive, eat, do...

Doing the same next year?