“I dunno, it just feels as though there has to be a better way to organise Christmas than on a minimum damage basis, you know?”

I nodded, but took my cue nonetheless to pour out more of the single malt that we had been drinking since dinner had ended some hours before. The ashtray had the stubs of more cigars than I was happy with and yet the evening, had become one of those special times when opinions are tempered in the forge of debate and the whole world is put to rights by three friends, armed only with good scotch and no desire to sleep.

“I guess I am blessed”, I said as I put the stopper back into the bottle; “Christmas has always been a happy time for me. Single or in love, child, boy or man I have always felt the love of family and friends, the sense that we are all together, in spirit at least as the year ends and we look forward to the new. Who watches what on the TV, and who got what as presents has never really featured as long as some of us could be together.”

“You are lucky. That’s for damn sure.”