Advent Firesiders

Talking Turkey (2016)

After a brief reign over the UK's Christmas, the hegemony of the Thanksgiving turkey is in decline, defeated at once by the decline of extended family celebrations and the temptations of other meats; why should we be tied to this bland tasting bird that lasts for weeks when we can eat a steak and have done with it?

Yet for all our observations of the decline of major family gatherings, it is surprising how heated self confessed unbelievers become about which of an extended family will spend Christmas day with whom. The logic of this is obvious in the case of the children of spent marriages but I fail to understand why disputes should run to every branch of a family. Incidentally, every time I hear somebody say: "It's all about the children" I inwardly shout - I should rather use softer speech - that it is about one child.