EH sat at the far end of the sofa, watching me as I cut out shapes from unused Christmas cards to make some cards of my own.

‘What is the point of doing that?’ she asked.

‘I like to make my own Christmas cards’, I replied. ‘We used to make them from scratch, but this saves time’. As I uttered these words, however, I realised that EH had a point. Why not just write and send the cards that I had bought?

Our conversation was interrupted by the arrival of members of TPR’s family. They were visiting to celebrate our wedding anniversary. I noticed that FS had grown a lot since of last get-together and was now an almost-teenager.

Then through the window I saw some university pals walk up the garden path. I panicked.

‘Sorry everyone’, I apologised. I need to go and get dressed. I can’t allow GG to see me in this state.