New Years Eve

So, the time arrives and we have a house full of Hardings. I must find a collective noun for a group of “Hardings”. Perhaps a “dreckly”…yes, we have a dreckly of Hardings (they are Cornish) in the house and everyone is armed with their own glass. Food abounds…….(this dreckly comprises it’s own masterchefs for which the men are grateful).
Each Christmas/New Year the question is posed of the 3 Harding ladies who now reside outside the county……….”OK, which one of you has failed to make at least one homemade Cornish Pasty?” After an embarrassing response some years ago when only one could own up to having completed this culinary treat we now have a royal flush each year and no-one needs hide their head in shame.
In between food and drink and queues at the buffet table there are to be “turns”. Which indeed, fills some with dread but others with the annual opportunity to show off.
I regale the throng with my version of “The Swimming Song” (always a party favourite) and Earl Klugh’s “Kiko”. The Deverson contingent perform a skit on “Cash in the Attic”..(the main branch of the family are Environmental Recycling Executives) which is hilarious and Debs demonstrates this years new must-have skill …..balloon modelling.
Quizes and rock’n’roll take us to midnight without a sleepy nod on the sofa from anyone. No-one has drunk too much or kissed their mother-in-law too passionately. No guitars have been smashed (as happened one rock’n’roll year….only an accident) and everyone is happy. We have peaked.
It was fun…we detect a commitment…” How about Al and Fi’s every year?”…………aaarrrgghhh.