Christmas Eve – Di’s sister Sue visits to open a few preview presents for the children and stays until lunch when my parents arrive to have a better look upstairs before joining the rest of the family in front of a log fire in the lounge for a long monopoly game and then play them the long video of this year’s Disneyland, universal Studios and Knott’s Berry Farm visits. Today’s news about Terry Waite and the other hostages held in the Middle East at Christmas, the PLO forms a Palestinian government in exile, Iranian gunboats fire on a US Navy helicopter and news at home about the murder of Miss Alice Rowley, 87, and her sister Edna, who kept the Sparkhill Birmingham shop for 50 years
I slept well enough, but Diana was awoken four times in the night by Della, who seemed not to need any sleep at all. I awoke to my morning tea, with which Della’s visit now becomes commonplace. A bit slow for breakfast and so we all agree to eat in our dressing gowns and pyjamas before showering after. A normal meal of cereal and apple juice, yet again. Not much time to ourselves this morning, as I set up the lounge for our expected visit this morning from Diana’s sister Sue. I light the log fire in the lounge, go out to talk to Pete, who is cleaning our Range Rover, and then Sue arrives quite early. Coffee together (real coffee from Diana’s percolator) then we let Sue and the family open each other’s presents. A humorous Ronnie Corbett book for Daniel, a craft game for Debbie, little things for Della and we give Sue a woolly hat, scarf and gloves set for the colder weather to come. Sue stays for a nice lunch and has coffee with us afterwards and is taken aback when my Mum & Dad arrive for the ‘afternoon shift’.
We invite her to stay a while longer, but she goes. We have a nice chat with my parents, before we use the carrying chair to take Mum upstairs for her first look around the upstairs of our house. Di serves some tea to drink and then Daniel and Debbie take them into the dining room for a long afternoon’s game of monopoly. Tea in the lounge, sitting in front of the log fire, then the task of getting the girls off to bed on time. This evening, I replay the video from our trip this autumn to Disneyland. We all enjoy it and agree that it is the best video yet, bringing all watching into the action and spirit of Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm and Universal Studios. Later we talk a while about old times, then drink milky drinks before turning in. Dad and I carry Mum upstairs again and I then find Debbie and Daniel in a bit of a state. Debbie has had one of her ‘bad dreams’, worried less Santa would not bring her any presents for being naughty. She is plaguing Daniel, who just wants to be left alone to get some sleep. I settled her back down, wrote up my journal downstairs a while, until I manage to get her off to sleep. The news tonight is all about the Middle Est. A US hostage in the Lebanon sends a Christmas message and the UK Ambassador appeals for the release of hostages held there, including the Archbishop of Canterbury’s envoy, Terry Waite. The PLO announces a decision to form a Palestinian government in exile, which can only be a symbolic move. In Bethlehem the few pilgrims gather for a Christmas service, against the background of strict security and an ominous lack of goodwill all round. Then, Iranian gunboats risk further escalation of the Gulf war by firing on a US Navy helicopter. Back home, the most sickening news is of the robbery and murder of two elderly women shopkeepers. Miss Alice Rowley, 87, and her sister Edna, kept the Sparkhill Birmingham shop for 50 years and one had been strangled and the other smothered. This ends a rather sickening run up to Christmas and we must be grateful for the closer and happier state of our family and community.