Though they are the least family-orientated people on earth, the English would not dream of spending their Christmas anywhere else but among the bunch of people they refer to as the ‘bosom of the family’. This annual merry-making almost always ends in tears and to get over it takes many families a good six months. But tradition rules and, come October, the whole population is beginning to plan for another family Christmas, having apparently completely forgotten the mayhem of the one before.
