I still haven’t quite worked out what that “thing” is standing on the windowsill of a nearby venue where my WI catered for a wake last week. Someone thought it might have been a reindeer once! Had it been in a domestic setting, I might have thought it was one of those odd sentimental traditions we all have here and there. The kind of thing we know to be weird but which we continue to bring out each year because of some family story associated with it, perhaps.

Because Christmas is all about tradition, isn’t it?

We knew from the start that this Christmas was going to be different. Edward and Amy were going to spend the weekend in Devon with her family and we were aware that it would be too much to expect Bettine to come to us for Christmas lunch (and all the trimmings). After all, at 97, the least we could do was to take Christmas lunch to her. So that’s what we decided. We’d organise her lunch, take over our presents to and from her and make her Christmas morning as special as we could, spending time with her until she was ready for her nap. We’d then return home to our “festive menu” which we’d ordered from Tommy Banks’ “Made in Oldstead” and enjoy a peaceful afternoon and evening at home.

So we packed the crackers, the presents, the Dubonnet and lemonade and Bettine’s Christmas lunch (of course) and set out on Christmas morning.

No waiting till lunchtime to open presents this time though! We each feigned surprise as we opened the gifts we’d chosen for ourselves, to hand over to the other to wrap “from Bettine”. Silly, really, but in the midst of her confusion she still remained concerned about her “Christmas shopping” and how she would manage. So, we reassured her that she could leave it to us; that we would each buy something for each other for her to give us and for the first time this year, she didn’t ask to see/wrap it. We agreed on a sweater each and in my case, her budget stretched to a pair of gloves too. Lovely!

We gave Bettine a cashmere cardigan and a pretty brooch. Despite first impressions, these are not diamonds ( ! ) She has always loved brooches and in recent years they have been hard to find, so when I spotted this one in the rather exclusive setting of the White Elephant stall of Bisley Flower Show in the summer, I didn’t hesitate. But then I spotted something in the Platinum Jubilee celebrations that I “sort of” recognised!

Whether or not Bettine wears it, no matter but I think we all like to have a little sparkly something in our Christmas stocking, don’t we?

The traditional turkey and trimmings enjoyed, phone chats with the rest of the family and the excitement of the morning over, we left her to an afternoon nap. After all, we had a fine Christmas lunch to come home to didn’t we?

Sadly not.

A couple of days before Christmas, we had an email with the advice that there was no need to worry, but some deliveries would arrive later than usual. The "use by” dates would be long, however, and all would be well.

Except it wasn’t. When nothing had arrived by lunchtime on Christmas Eve, I emailed the restaurant to ask where our lunch was. The answer, “Sorry…” was a version of the same story we’ve been hearing all December this year. Delivery problems meant that our lunch was not going to arrive in time. Worse than that, the beautifully prepared dishes would be destroyed as a result of these delivery issues and even though we had a full refund, the idea of all that time, energy and good food going to waste is terrible.

But it’s a good job I had a Marks and Spencer Steak pie in the freezer!

Sweet friends nearby invited us to drinks when they learned we wouldn’t have much cooking to do, so feeling relaxed and with a spring in our step, free of all further responsibilities for the day we joined them and had a most delightful hour or two in the company of their lovely family before returning home to put the oven on.

As the pie and dauphinoise potatoes cooked, we smiled at our “different” Christmas routine this year!

Although it was far from the original plan, it was actually quite fun. We lit all the candles and enjoyed our Christmas lunch very much indeed.

Certainly by the time we’d finished, it was time to turn on the TV.

We wanted to watch HM the King make his first Christmas speech, after all.

It took no time at all to wash up and clear the kitchen and we settled down with a cup of tea and exchanged presents with each other later in the afternoon. A different day for sure but actually, a lovely one in so many ways.

Who needs turkey?

Hopefully, your Christmas was equally enjoyable and filled with as many wonderful surprises. We look forward to fun in the New Year, when we have a consolation menu from Made in Oldstead to make up for the missed Christmas lunch and head off later in the month to celebrate Edward’s birthday for a few days with them both. Who knows, perhaps Evri might even discover all those “lost” packages of ours?

Or would that be just too much to expect?!