Every year I pledge to myself that this year will not be the mad dash to get cards written and in the post at the very last minute. I like to use Private Eye’s comedy Christmas cards (as do at least some of my friends, leading to us exchanging pretty much the same card for the last five years, which I personally think is hilarious, not sure what they think). So I think I’ll buy them in October when they’re ready, write them out in good time, prepare a mini-newsletter, and get them to the post long before Last Posting.

Never happens.

Didn’t happen this year either. I got the last ones out to the post at 4am two days after last posting – and that includes all the Euro ones, which were covered in 5p and 2p stamps from the back of my filing cabinet in order to get them to some approximation of the right postage for a 40g Airmail letter.

Still, for posterity, here’s the “nilesletter” I included with my cards this year.