The end of last night's festive meal - which I think went well, and I certainly enjoyed myself.

Berries with edible glitter - or are they glitterberries?

We had a lovely time, fusing oodles of cultures and customs, so that we had Yorkshire puddings and turkey, skirly and mashed potatoes, a rutabaga torte and onion gravy, nut roast and cauliflower... and much more.  And, even though I love them, not brussels sprout in sight!

I loved that in terms of nationality and parentage we were so multinational, multi-ethnic and multi-age... the youngest was 15... the oldest, well, it it wisnae me! All young at heart, eachwith stories of our own family customs.

I think B summed it up best for me.  Handing over a bowl of delicious skirly (an Aberdonian delicacy) she said, 'for me, this is always Christmas'.  R told us that her family always begin Christmas Day by singing 'happy birthday' to Jesus. For others the things that 'make' Christmas are different, and equally important.

We started our meal yesterday with a toast in 'fake Buck's Fizz' and concluded it (because we kept forgetting to do so) by linking hands 'Auld Lang Syne' style to pull our crackers.  The jokes were, as ever, corny - but it wouldn't be Christmas without them... or glitter, or a table groaning under the weight of food...

Thank you so much to F, R, B, L and A for sharing a fun night in.