A change of pace today — given my mother and sister don’t celebrate Christmas as Pagans we get together to celebrate the midwinter or Winter Solstice instead.
We normally do this at mum’s up north. But this year given Mrs Traditionalist’s advanced state we agreed to meet up down here in Loamshire instead.
Morning was, of course, a mad dash to get Raveloe House ready for guests and the big dinner prepared. We hadn’t even decorated the tree at this point, and come two o’clock when I drove to the station to pick my sister up from the Londinium train I was sent too to Tesco to buy fairy lights.
As it happened, Mater beat us all back to Raveloe and we had a very pleasant afternoon sitting around the fire, then eating a great feast of roast pork around the ‘new’ oak dining table.
After that it was Yule gifts, and we all have and received some nice presents. I had bought my sister a two part gift — a Google Home Mini and a wall mount for it.
Because she already had a full size Google home, I made a joke by giving her just the wall mount first and brightly exclaiming that she’d enjoy it because it was an accessory for something she already owned.
When she told me the fitting was for the wrong kind of device, I acted out being sad but trying my best to hide it, and they absolutely took the bait (unless of course their play acting skills are well in excess of mine).
A few gifts later I gave them their Google Home mini to compliment the mount and we all had a good laugh.
Among many other things, Mrs Traditionalist got a copy of the card game ‘Gloom’ and I got a copy of the game ‘Telestration’, which we’ve played a few times with just pens and paper but is, I feel, much enhanced by having the official set with dry wipe boards, pens etc.
It is essentially Chinese whispers with doodles, and has never yet failed to elicit wild howls of laughter. Mrs Traditionalist actually wee’d herself and had to go change. Perils of pregnancy I suppose.
After much merriment we went our separate ways. Meeting again in the morning for breakfast, probably, and then on to show my family the new house.
The Young Revivalists 