Dear LPG, 

I want to tell you about something which made Christmas a bit special for me in spite of the fact that I never had a visitor or left the house on the big day last year.  

Many more of us oldies have had little choice but to learn about the wonders of the video call over the past two years and, even though there is nothing as special as being able to meet with your loved ones, without the electronic barrier, an electronic chat is better than no contact at all.

I am writing in early January 2021 about the Christmas that has just past but I have asked LPG to keep my letter until next December because after two Christmases with limited contact, I think we have all learned not to anticipate a 2022 holiday with the same optimism for togetherness as I know that I did in 2020, when we all thought that the one we have just experienced would have been more like the ones we were used to. 

Because so many of us were unable to meet up yet again this year, my family decided on an online family Christmas quiz.  Our online group video call encompassed three generations and contingents from three different continents with six far flung households taking part.   Instead of getting technical and using an app to find the questions, we found it better to get each participant group to set 5 questions which gave each a chance of being able to get a few right.  

There were lateral thinking questions, general knowledge questions, questions about pop music that I have never heard of, and I also devised some family-based questions, and the rule of thumb was that answers had to be supported with proof. 

It was a great success and really had nothing to do with getting a good score.  The questions got us all debating the answers and were a reason to get family members talking in spite of the fact that it is sometimes hard to find topics to keep such a conversation going.  Because of the time differences I needed to be ready for a 9 p.m. start and we were still debating the odds and catching up well after midnight. 

Even if we locally based family members are able to visit as usual next year, there is something very special about including those members of the family who have moved to the other side of the world and having a really good catch up was the real bonus.  

There were so many of us that when the odd one disappeared to deal with a phone call, the ring of the front doorbell or any other little crisis  it did not hold up the proceedings, but next year I plan to add one more thing to my preparation.  We have all decided to have something Christmassy to munch and knock back ready for action as well as the questions…  

It is a really good way to stay in touch with what is going on with those members of the family that you only get the Christmas card from usually…  

NS, Beckenham