h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Everyone has been writing in their journals about their Boxing Day activities - or, in most cases, non-activities! - so here's mine.

We got up about 9 am and some of us had breakfast. The boys have different sleeping patterns. Two of them are here at the moment, one of them seemed to have company. He has size 44 shoes (European size) and there was a pair of much smaller trainers by the front door. The other one's GF left on Christmas morning to continue the Christmas marathon necessary to cover all the parts of her patchwork family. It is touching that she preferred to spend the most important time - Christmas eve and Christmas morning - with us.

My husband and I cleared up the kitchen and lounge. Hubbie got in some more firewood and No. 2 emerged at some point and cleaned the glass doors of the fireplace. I spent most of the morning cooking lunch - had great fun trying out a couple of recipes. I did rolled roast pork and one of the recipes was red cabbage cooked in port and the other was for a red onion confit. So as not to have roast potatoes yet again I did a choice of polenta and gratin daupinois as an accompaniment. I couldn't be bothered to do another veg, although I had planned celeriac puree, and I also had some fennel which I hadn't used yet. We had a winter salad for starters - carrot, white cabbage and apple.

At 3.30, No 2 and I had to be in town for preperations for a concert. The youth choir of the church in town - which consists entirely of girls with lovely young, strong, clear, well-trained voices - were giving this concert of carols and had invited friends to join them for the second half of the concert. No. 2 son played the violin where required and in the other pieces he joined the choir to sing along. I also sang in the extended choir.

It was a well-balanced programme, with modern and tradional songs, and most of the girls had solos. The instruments, as well as the violin, were a flute, snare drum (for "The little drummer boy") and cajon (for "Gaudete").

My Daughter-in-Law had 2 solos. One of them was "The first Noel", which had me in tears from the first note. German Christmas carols just don't do it for me, despite singing them for nearly 40 years now. Anyway, it was all very moving and the church was chock-a-block. 5 pm on Boxing Day is an ideal time for this sort of thing - people have had their post-prandial coffee and need some amusement/activity before dinner!

Afterwards, Son No 1 with wife, and her parents, came back to our house and we had tea together. I was so proud of Son No 3, who laid the table and kept supplies and drinks filled and afterwards cleared everything away into the fridge and filled the dishwasher. We, in the meantime, had retired with our guests for a cosy rest-of-the-evening by the fire, exchanging a couple of presents, and discussing the coming year.

D-i-L's mum and I both had to go back to work this morning, so they didn't stay awfully long.


Have I mentioned that she and I are due to become a grandmas in July?

Sounds lovely, and congrats on impending grannydom!

Boxing Day is always a trek to my parents on the north coast, for board games and turkey salad. Jemima and her bf are staying in Bangor, and thus year are without a car, so I had to do all the driving- about 100 mikes there, though I did leave them in Belfast to get a taxi on the way home, to save myself 40 miles and an hour.

Weather was mixed en route, lots of fog over the hills. But the coast was bathed in sunshine, and the storm was making the waves rather spectacular, so some special photo opportunities, especially for London based j and m.

I'd brought nutcracker themed crackers, with a fun musical game inside based on blowing a whistle when your number was called. And we had my mums home made Christmas cake with chocolate baileys