There's no snow here in West Dorset, nor, according to our daughter Hannah, who's in Oxford, is there any up there, either. Nor is there any in Tokyo, or so Tom tells us, via Skype. So we believe that all the footage currently being shown on national telly is from the archives. Icy, though, and it's quite fun doing a Clarkson - when it's safe to do so! (Much to Mrs C's chagrin!) No biking, though: I'm not entirely mad. (Whatever your young may think.)

Anyway, if you're at a bit of a loose end and, for whatever reason, have blog-logged, I hope you're having a wonderful time, as we are - even in our snowless state. The Matriarch is due to arrive tomorrow, coming by 4x4 (someone's driving her: she doesn't own one), so that should be, er, fun. I hope the kitchen won't catch fire this year, as it did two years ago, and I hope that I don't get bogged down by theological 'discussion' to such an extent that I ended up writing to the Telegraph about it. I hope, too, that I shan't have any cause to cover my hysterics at her malapropical pronunciations! Last year, when discussing savage dogs and the fact that they are, in her view, all a menace to society, I dared to venture that if they're looked after properly, they're as placid as a Newtonian watching Songs of Praise waiting for sweet rations. She didn't think much of THAT!

"Well, would YOU like to own a Rotor Weller?" she demanded.

Here's our Christmas letter. Yes, I know most of you think they're ghastly things, but we're all family together. So enjoy. Have a great time and much love from us both. P and D.

NEWTON LODGE MAYFIELD ROAD OXFORD OX2 7EN
Telephone: 01865 459246 E-mail: prc@summerfields.com
Dear Friends
Another year has come and gone and much has happened. We are still very happy here at Summer Fields, where we are in our sixteenth year, and very pleased that we decided to return to houseparenting after our (much-enjoyed) ‘sabbatical’. We are privileged to live in a very fine four-bedroomed house in North Oxford, surrounded during term time by 27 ten and eleven year old boys, all of whom are very agreeable and appreciative. With just two more years until retirement, we can’t think of a nicer place to be.
The Cheater family members are all well and thriving. Hannah has had a momentous year, in which she worked for six months as a gap-student teacher at St Cyprian’s School in Cape Town. She had a truly amazing time, based at the foot of Table Mountain, and now she has just completed her first term at Bristol UWE, where she’s studying for a B.A. degree in Early Childhood Studies and Linguistics. She has enjoyed it all tremendously and has made many new friends and joined numerous extra-curricular activities.
Tom is currently in Japan for seven months, having arrived there last week. It was horrid saying goodbye to him at Heathrow, but any distress was somewhat alleviated by the fact that he discovered, when booking in, that he had been upgraded to Business Class – free of charge! He is, of course, delighted to be reunited with his Japanese girlfriend, Risa, and, to judge from the Skype conversations that we have had with him, although he was rather jet-lagged to begin with, he is greatly enjoying his time there. He left Monkton with sufficiently good A levels to gain a place at London University’s School of African and Oriental Studies, to read for a B.A. degree in Japanese, starting in September.
Alice left Monkton at the end of last year, having gained a perfectly respectable clutch of GCSEs and has returned to her previous school, Rye St Anthony, here in Oxford. She has adapted remarkably well and, after an initial period of missing her Bath friends greatly, is now very content with her lot – especially as she now has free weekends!
Paul is still the school’s ‘Senior Master’, teaching English and French and being the School Organist. His research fellow status was raised to that of ‘Adjunct Research Fellow’ at Monash University in Melbourne, and he continues to be heavily involved with the development of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, of which he is now a member of the Governing Council. He may be visiting Kabul in the not too distant future, to organise and lead a training course for a number of music examiners. He was very fortunate to have visited New York once again in April last year, and he will be back there again this year, too.
Diana continues as wife, mother, house mother, head of department, chief dog-walker and head of logistics for the Cheater family! Any one of those would appear to be a full-time occupation, so quite how she manages to execute all of them and never drop one of the spinning plates is a constant mystery!
Diana’s mother, now 88, is as incorrigible as ever and, although not as mobile as in days of yore, when a ten-mile hike was de rigueur for any Corner House visitor (and I should know!), she’s still very sharp, still driving, still playing Bridge and still making her own bread!
We all enjoyed a lovely occasion to celebrate Paul’s mother’s 90th birthday in April: all the various family members were together and she gave a truly wonderful speech, made all the more remarkable that she has very limited sight now, which meant that she had to speak without a note in front of her.
As for the animals, Isla, our black lab, is now two years old and very affectionate, and Jasmine, our ancient tabby of indeterminate provenance, is now very old indeed, but remains adorable.
And that, dear friends, should bring you all up to date with Cheater family news. Diana and I know that we are very fortunate and we count our blessings regularly. We wish you a very happy Christmas and a joyful and peaceful New Year.
With love from Paul, Diana, Hannah, Tom and Alice. (And Isla and Jasmine, of course.)