Wednesday 25 December - Christmas Day

The day dawned pretty bright and it stayed bright and fairly sunny throughout. It wasn't as mild as yesterday, and the southerly wind did nothing to improve on the 8C on the thermometer. Went to church (again) this morning, for the Christmas Day service in which I once more participated as a chorister. After a cuppa following the service we went home to watch the pope enunciate his traditional Christmas prayer Urbi et Orbi (for the city and the world). King Willem Alexander was on TV an hour later with the first of his Christmas addresses to the nation. After all those words, it was time for a walk in the woods. We went as far as the edge of the forest, overlooking the Heathlands and the Watchtower (in the distance). There were not many people about, except at the carpark which was positively heaving. The doggies had also been doing their business, phew. 5.8km (3½ miles) was the total. It was quite wet underfoot, after last night's heavy rain. My sister called round with some of her offspring between 4 and 5, after which we had Xmas dinner: a pork roast, stewed pears and potatoes. Very good!