As it was Michael's idea, it was arranged that the gathering of all the pythons would be at his house. So after he spent Christmas morning with his family, he had to clean the whole of the house. It took a considerable amount of time so long in fact that shortly after finishing, the doorbell's sudden vibrations echoed throughout the house, causing a mixture of shock and surprise for the Palin clan.
Half way through putting something away, Michael rushed to the door to reveal Terry Jones and family. Greetings were exchanged as well as presents before the guests were welcomed into the house and invited to make themselves comfortable.
Shortly after, the rest of the pythons and families arrived.
Soon the living room was full of people, laughter, chatter, nibbles and wine with everyone gathering around the fire, ready to open presents.
First it was the children who swiftly received them and after excitedly ripping off the paper which concealed a simple toy, they thanked whoever got them the present (with a bit of encouragement from their parents as they were so eager to try it out) and then showed it off before huddling in the corner with the rest of children playing with their new toys.
So now it was the adult's turn...
Michael pulled out a brown paper wrapped gift with a beautiful red bow tied around
'Terry, this is for you'
Terry's face lit up as the present was passed to him 'oh thank you, Mike'
He opened it enthusiastically to reveal a book on Medieval history. His favourite topic to rant about which annoyed the other pythons.
'Thank you' replied Terry skimming through the contents of the book before giving Michael a hug
Terry suddenly disappeared for a moment but then came back holding a hefty present, with yellow sparkly wrapping paper and a brown string bow.
'oh thank you Terry you shouldn't have' blushed Michael as he began to untie the string.
In the present was a new atlas book and an inflatable globe as Terry knew that one day Michael wanted to travel the world.
The other pythons received presents.
Terry G got a sketch book plus some pens and pencils, a gift from all the other pythons
Graham got a random selection of medical books
Eric got a new guitar
John got some items for his cats
***
Soon it was Christmas dinner where everyone attempted to fit into the small table (especially for the amount of people that were there). Endless varieties of food were spread out upon the tablecloth which wafted around the whole room and encouraged approved murmurs from guests and hosts alike. The conventional Christmas crackers layed there for everyone, waiting to be pulled. The children ran towards them and instantly thrust them into the nearest person's face, giggling hysterically, both of them pulled the cracker, creating a huge bang as it erupted into two parts. Inside was a party hat, a useless toy and a Christmas party joke of which the children immediately read out and almost as quickly, began laughing at the joke, although for everyone else, it emitted a roar of groans.
Eventually everyone tucked in and enjoyed the tasty Christmas dinner, congratulating the hosts for making it and engaging in quiet small talk as they ate.
After several helpings of dinner, everyone settled around the fire and chatted until it was very late and all the children were tired. So one by one the guests left, thanking Michael and family for the day's festivities and waving goodbye.
That was fun thought Michael maybe we could do that next year
