Christmas is a-coming

I love Christmas and this year it is going to be even more fun than usual. All twenty-one of us are going away together for a few days. A chance to have satisfying conversations with every member of the family instead of the usual fragmented snatches, usually interrupted by the urgent needs of small impatient children.

Present giving has become easy, since we adopted the practice of having everyone give just one good present to one other family member. Just one to give and one to receive. Children are, of course, excluded from this paring down and they still end up with many more presents than is good for them.

It is Christmas cards, that I am fed up with. My heart really isn't in it anymore. The whole business takes far too long , postage stamps cost more than the cards and I am trying to summon up the courage to stop once and for all. As it is, I only send cards to people who live abroad or whom I never see. Or I send e-cards, which people loathe! Next year then, finito! But will I stick to it?