Tis the season to be jolly

Anni loves her flatmates Martha and Anna so much that she brought them home with her. We had a  lovely time with them. It was really rather handy having 3 Art students in the house for our annual Christmas gathering. They helped me by decorating my Heston Blumethal Christmas star cookie tree. Anni also rescued the whole project. First of all, it did't look right at all. In fact Tom saw the dough resting in the fridge and asked, "Mum, why is there sand in the fridge?" When I first began to bake the dough, it just melted into splurges instead of stars and she re-kneaded the dough and hey presto!

So this year, we had 66 guests for carols round the piano. It was lovely to have a packed house, full of people singing, friends reuniting and children playing. This and music, makes for Peter at his happiest.

It was particularly lovely to catch up with some of the lovely friends we don't get to see very often, such as Lucy and Naomi...

..and my sil Dee's lovely Pops, Graham from South Africa, whom we will get to see more of on Christmas day.

Every year we miss the wonderful man who used to play the trumpet so beautifully for us, Keith Hilton. It was a welcome addition to have Josh playing the guitar.

We finally persuaded Sally and Jay to join us...and to sing!

It was lovely to see the old YP reunited and new friends added, such as the lovely Charlie Brown.

Whenever I contemplated moving house, having parties here always convinces me that I never could.

You just can't beat this for a party house.

I loved seeing people, who hadn't seen each other in a long time, enjoying one another's company anew, such as Becky and Abi.

And I loved seeing so many fabulous Christmas jumpers. Dave's was a piece de resistance.

Anni's friends, from school and uni, stayed on making music until the early hours and we loved it. Long may the tradition of carols round the piano continue.