16th December 2013

The Annual Christmas Newsletter is being written, usually by the lady of the house, and received by her famously competitive friends who read it aloud through gritted teeth.

Dear Everyone, 

Well, what a year it has been and no sooner than we returned from our last sortie on Eurostar it is time to start buying presents and sending cards.

I was so pleased to see that How to spend it, was neatly tucked into our FT this weekend, such lovely things and so reasonable, it makes choosing what one wants from Santa so much less taxing.

Well we do hope that your year has been almost as good as ours.

2013 has seen one success after another as the whole family has seemed to benefit from the improvements now that Plan A is working. 

Of course Rupert always said that cutting back on Welfare will encourage people into working again and reducing immigration will mean that the jobs are there for hard working people if they get off their bottoms.

Reducing tax helps and means that this year at least we can afford a few little luxuries to make the season more enjoyable.

Work hard and play hard, as Rupert says.

Well the children are keeping up their studies as you might expect.

We had such high hopes for Philomena, and we're not disappointed, her nine A levels included a couple of *'s and the approaches from Oxford and Cambridge have been so tempting but she will not be dissuaded it's been an ambition since she designed her first Skyscraper and won the competition beating off all the famous names, so it's off to Harvard, twelve is young I know but she will fly home for the weekends, at least until she's settled.

Simon, such a darling, has had an offer from Harrow but is more tempted with Eton, after all if he is serious about a career in Politics it seems the right background these days. He did toy with applying to a free school that has opened nearby, but Rupert bumped into Michael G and after that conversation there was no argument. 

With his Latin A* Level he could be the next Mayor of London.

Darcy is continuing with his Mandarin. It was a big ask for the staff at his primary school but the Chinese Tutor we hired has been amazed at the progress he has made, fluent Mandarin at six is quite an achievement, he is looking ahead, a gap year before Eton spent in Guangdong University of Foreign Studies should give him an extra push.

Of course, there has to be a black sheep in every family, but little Tarquin is always aiming high. After all if you're going to be a black sheep you might as well be the blackest sheep you can.

After spending so long in his crib listening to punk rock versions of nursery rhymes it's hardly surprising that his first album is climbing the charts.

He spends so much time on his cell talking with his Homeys but hopefully he will have got it out of his system by the time he gets to Prep School.

Rupert is so busy with his various projects, dashing here and there and helping his friends in high places ( can't name name's I'm afraid but you know who) to keep their plans on track. After all too much socialist non-sense for too long has simply made people too dependent.

As he always reminds the children, we've had to work for what we've got, and all that Bullingdon Club business it wasn't easy keeping up whilst keeping the drink down.

This year we've hardly managed time off, just one long weekend on the Island, such a shame the Caribbean is so wonderful at this time of year.

And as for me?

Well I just try to keep things together so that home feels like home, when the children are back for the holidays. I keep the staff on their toes. Make sure that the larder is well stocked and the Chef is keeping up to date with the latest culinary developments. My latest jewellery collection is about to be unveiled. My interior decorating business keeps me busy. The book is coming along and my publishers are keen to catch the Christmas Market but worry that we may have left it a tad late, but with Kindle it can be downloaded instantly, so I tell them not to fret.

Oh well, must dash, time to organise the charity buffet ..... as poor little Jesus so wisely said, the poor, they're with you always ..........