Christmas 2015 in Milton Keynes

This year Jane and I were invited to her daughters to spend the period with them, she was uncertain whether I would be happy with this, but I quickly explained that being in the company of 2 young children who believed in Santa was just up my street
We drove down and a trip thst should of taken 3 hours took nearly 5 there was that much traffic going away I presume for the period,  we were made welcome by the family and it seems that my full Christian name was to be used whilst there by the children,  so often I would hear " Jeffrey  " from the children who were lovely and seemed to take to me.
Janes daughter and sil were very busy on Christmas eve sorting out orders for turkeys they had bred over the last 12 months, think there were something like 50 to be delivered or collected,  another issue it seems was that because they had been so wrll cared for people were getting birds that weighed more than they had paid for or ordered, so more negotiation and sorting out.
They had their own 2 pet cockerals that were quite inquisitive about all the coming and going so were in the habit of looking through the living room window, I do wonder if they realised how fortunate they were as with the 2 pet turkeys also enjoying the break.
Normally I would not of mentioned the problem I was having but with Christmas lunch fast approaching it was quite important to me in that I was suffering acute constipation so unsure how to cope, particularly with all the effort the family had gone through.  I ended up going to the chemist and by the lunch the problem had reduced. I suppose this is a good time to mention that the new hearing aids I had fitted a couple of months ago were not up to the task so in normal conversation I struggle but 2 very excited children made it very hard for me to follow the chat.
On Christmas day morning I went to the toilet about 4am to be greeted by the little boy who was aware that Santa had been and left presents for him, fortunately I was able to return to bed with the promise that I would come down later to see whay had been left for him.
So thats what happened,  its so nice when every gift is so special and the children struggled to open the wrappings, but then which for them to play with.
I enjoyed the time I was down there and appreciated the effort everyone went to to include me, we went to visit Janes aunty and uncle whilst there which was another change
Janes sil and grand daughter got dressed up to ride with the hunt on the bank holiday, now for me I did not and do not want to get into the rights and wrongs of this, but it was nice to see all the different colours of horses and riders, whilst they were gathering so I enjoyed the chance to take photos of the grand child who suddenly was no longer the little tomboy but a confident horse rider and at ease, also it was the first time I saw the sil dressed and riding a horse. I obviously misunderstood how they would set off because instead of them heading cross country they went down the main street resulting in me missing what would been some really good photos.
The trip was soon over so back home very slowly,  again over 5 hours, I think it was just sheer numbers of cars on the road, on our return all the essential tasks like washing of clothes, also I had not left the heating up so as the temperature had dropped a lot at home, it took a long time to warm the flat.  We had seen on the news about the floods in our area but luckily neither Jane nor my home were affected, so the end of Christmas for another year.