"I am not liking this David Cameron at all. He's shutting everything, and closing everything. Where has that Gordon gone? I liked him; he was very fair!"

What's all that about? I'll tell you. Our progeny's precociously perceptive political punditry, that's what!

Aaaaarrrgghhh! Once the alliteration had begun, I simply couldn't stop myself!

Jilly and I made our way to Beverley for around mid-day and had a pub lunch in 'The Queens Head' before having a wander around the town itself buying, amongst other things, Junior Scrabble for Evelyn from Oxfam (we're sure she'll be very pleased with it as the Junior Monopoly we bought her (also from Oxfam) proved to be a great hit.

We had a lovely, and very unexpected, surprise when we booked into The Beverley Arms Hotel. We made our way up to our second floor room in the listed part of the building (where there is no lift), and were soon joined by a member of staff with a bottle of wine. Deb and Kev (bless 'em!) had arranged the delivery of a bottle of wine to our room. Deciding that I'd prefer a bottle of Syrah to the Merlot he brought up, the member of staff was happy (or, certainly, seemed happy) to trail back downstairs to bring me my preferred plonk! I'm not what you'd call a seasoned hotel user, so this seemed - to me - excellent service, so I gave the guy what I hope wasn't an embarrassingly mean tip as a 'thank you' for his trouble; those stairs took my breath away climbing them once!

After relaxing for a while in our hotel room, showering and changing, Jilly and I made our way to Cactus Jacks, and Mexican restaurant five minutes walk from the hotel. As we hadn't booked in advance I was a little anxious that we might be unlucky and not get a table as the place was packed. The restaurant was fully booked but, with a little help from a very obliging maître d', Jilly and I were given a table (more excellent service for my birthday).

After an excellent Mexican meal (yes, we would recommend the food and service), Jilly asked the staff if they could recommend any good pubs nearby and it turned out that we'd passed one between the hotel and the restaurant...you could not predict it!

The White Horse Inn (aka Nellie's) is a fantastically atmospheric 17th century pub, literally down the road from the Beverley Arms. Reminiscent of the Rat 'N' Ratchett (or a poorly lit New Beehive, in Bradford), this Sam Smiths pub seemed very friendly and Jilly and I enjoyed a couple of drinks before returning to the hotel.

I had a lovely birthday, thank you Jilly.

Jilly and Evelyn got up before me this morning and brought me a pile of cards and birthday presents. As always, I could rely upon Evelyn to help me open my cards and pressies. I don't want to list the lovely presents given to me on these pages, but I would like to thank everybody (you know who you are) that sent me something.

After work (I didn't have enough leave to take my birthday off!), Jilly, Evelyn and I enjoyed tea at Pizza Hut. Jilly and I just about managed to finish one pizza between us (as we've both been careful about what we've been eating recently), while Evelyn had her own little mini-pizza to herself. The evening was slightly marred by an extremely drunk bloke who - incapable of opening the door to the restaurant - walked face first into the glass door making the whole glass front of the restaurant wobble. Evelyn immediately burst into tears and took some calming down, while the bloke outside composed himself before staggering off down the road. Evelyn continued finishing her meal once the idiot outside had left.

We returned home for tea and cake (made by Jilly and Evelyn's fair hands)...

Being a bit of a pig, I always eat crisps by the fist full (I can't help myself, no matter how hard I try to remember). Seeing me eating a packet of crisps this afternoon, Evelyn looked up and told me,

"Just one at a time, Daddy; simmer yer beans!"

That told me!

Reminding ourselves that she's only 6-years-old, Jilly and I realise that we're going to have to give Evie a little help...er...by removing all the sweets in the house in the new year.

As Jilly was at work this morning, Evie and I enjoyed boiled eggs and soldiers for breakfast. Mid-way through her breakfast, Evie looked up from her egg to ask me if eggs had a lot of fat in them. I told her that there was fat in boiled eggs, but that most of it was in the yolk. Poking around her egg, looking for the last of the golden yolkie goodness, Evelyn told me;

"That's why they don't put a lot in, isn't it!"

Returning home from university, Kieran spent the day with his dad before joining us at home for Christmas Eve and, in keeping with our idea of a quiet Christmas, we all sat nicely and watched the Christmas telly over a civilised glass of Port...er...or something.

Despite her threats to be up at half past four in the morning, Evelyn slept until a very respectable 08:30, when Jilly, Evie and I got up; got up just in time to open a handful of Evelyn's presents before inviting Debbie and Kevin in from the cold outside. Again, Evelyn didn't disappoint us by happily accepting the few presents we allowed her to open when she first got up. Rather naughtily, Jilly and I hid several of her presents for later in the morning. Obviously a little disappointed that Santa hadn't brought her all the presents on her list, Evelyn didn't utter a syllable of complaint.

It was lovely to see Deb and Kev on Christmas morning. They were on they way to visit relatives in Grimsby for Christmas, and arranged to call in to see us on the way. After a brief cup of tea, Deb and Kev were on their way again, and Evelyn continued opening our pressies.

I'm sure it's wrong to be proud of the fact but (never-the-less), we had a wonderfully vegetative day watching the television, and watching Evelyn playing with her new Zhu Zhu Pets and Polly Pocket Roller Coaster Resort.

Kieran joined us for a lovely Christmas dinner (including gammon!), lovingly prepared by Jilly - and complete with a favourite recurring Christmas present; sprouts - before leaving for Holly's and a second dinner.

Evelyn played with her Roller-Coaster until it, quite literally, broke! Several teeth broke on the cogs inside the roller-coaster's escalator and, while Evelyn was a little upset, I was relieved that she agreed to 'return the toy to Santa'...as I thought it was cheap tat (I am the world's most miserable dad, aren't I!)

Interestingly, Evelyn agreed with our suggestion that she might prefer it if Santa brought her more accessories for her Zhu Zhu Pets

Boxing Day
On Boxing Day, Evelyn's grandma and granddad joined us for the day. Kieran and Holly appeared in the early afternoon, and we all enjoyed an excellent Christmas-dinner...er...dinner.

Annis family Christmas get-together
Conscious that there's never a great deal of room in our house (as soon as there are more than four adults in it), Jilly organised the Annis family Christmas bash in the local Methodist church.

Alcohol simply wasn't allowed in the church, so we didn't take any; and nobody really missed it! Jilly and I organised a load of excellent family games to play, a friendly multi-choice Christmas quiz (that one member of the family tried to cheat at - you know who you are!), and I took my laptop and speakers along to play a Christmas tunes playlist.

The afternoon went (perhaps surprisingly) well given the number of people who might have preferred to have had a drink. Everyone agreed that they'd had an excellent time and even suggested that we organised a similar party for occasions in the future.

It was the turn of the years two and three children this year, and Evelyn had a singing and dancing role as one of the 'heavenly news' team. Again, like last year, our sight of Evelyn wasn't great for the majority of the show, but improved as she joined the rest of the crew as they delivered their news through the medium of song and dance (though...er...obviously, Evelyn's performance stood out from the rest! I would say that, though, wouldn't I?)

The photographs are a little 'blurdie' (as Evelyn was very quick to point out) but - in my defence - the lights were dimmed and the camera is hardly cut out for taking indoor shots at a distance!

Remembering how a mum says goodbye to her daughter (one of Evelyn's friends) at Evelyn's school ("I love you more than Chocolate"), I wrote the following note back to Evelyn.

Not to be outdone, Evelyn took the note from me and turning it over, started writing on the reverse. She passed me the following absolutely delightful note.

Of course, Evelyn really loves pigs: they are 'her favourite and her best'.

After some searching, I couldn't find either of the t-shirts I thought I owned (as Jilly constantly reminds me, I throw nothing away) and I was become more vocal in my frustration.

Hoping she could help end my search, Evelyn had an excellent suggestion.

"Perhaps you grew out of them Daddy, and Mummy gave them to one of your friends?". Jilly cried with laughter when I told her.

I've bought some more t-shirts!