Was it the popping of the cork?
(All photos by LBG.)
Was it the fizzy bubbles rising to the surface with their whisper of good things to come?
Was it the surprise treat that the husbands had mysteriously disappeared to shop for the day before?
Was it the surprise treat that the husbands had mysteriously disappeared to shop for the day before?
Was it the Christmas crackers ready to be pulled apart to find the paper crown and little toy hidden inside?
Was it the sight of two handsome men bustling around the kitchen in a perfect storm of cheerfulness?
Was it the masterly carving of the roast goose, done with a skill and speed that astonished all who witnessed it?
Was it our friends' dining room which shimmered and glowed with the promise of the meal to come?
Was it the talking and laughing and interrupting and clinking of glasses?
Was it the heartfelt speeches of the children?
Was it the plates piled high with goose, stuffing, roast parsnips, potatoes, mushy peas and gravy?
Was it the sticky toffee pudding castle which broke coming out of the Bundt mold and was rebuilt with a heroic use of toothpicks? Was it the thick moat of toffee sauce that surrounded it?
Was it the candlelight?
In the words of the great man himself,
"And thus the evening passes, in a strain of rational good-will and cheerfulness, doing more to awaken the sympathies of every member of the party in behalf of his neighbor, and to perpetuate their good feeling during the ensuing year, than half the homilies that have ever been written, by half the Divines that have ever lived."*
It was a Dickens of a night.
* From "A Christmas Dinner", 1835