‘We decided you needed feeding up, Mum,’ said Charlie, going a bit pink as she kissed him. ‘So you’ve got to eat it all.’

‘Happy Christmas, Mum,’ said Bob, planting a kiss on her cheek. ‘And don’t worry about Daisy, we’ll keep her busy until you’re ready to come down.’

They closed the door behind them and Peggy nestled against the pillows to tuck into the delicious breakfast, wondering if they’d given her this treat because they remembered their father doing the same thing every Christmas and birthday morning, and wanted to somehow make up for his absence.

She smiled at Jim’s photograph on the bedside chest. ‘Happy Christmas, darling,’ she murmured, blowing him a kiss and raising her mug of tea. ‘Here’s hoping we’ll be together long before the next one.’

Almost an hour later Peggy was bathed, dressed and ready to join the fray. She was wearing her favourite yellow dress with a thick white knitted cardigan, the gold filigree necklace and earrings Jim had sent her from India, and the garnet ring he’d entrusted to Ron to give her on the first wedding anniversary they’d had to spend apart. She’d added a dash of lipstick and some powder as it was a special occasion, and hurried down to see what was happening in her kitchen.

The turkey was very nearly cooked, and the boys had prepared all the vegetables. Cordelia was clearly in charge of the Christmas pudding which was now steaming nicely on the hob, and Danuta was instructing Daisy on how to wrap the sausages in rashers of bacon to put in with the roast potatoes and parsnips which would go in an hour before dishing up.

Peggy found that she had very little to do, so she lit a cigarette, made tea for everyone and then tuned the wireless in to the church service being transmitted from Winchester Cathedral. As the lovely sound of the choir filled the warm, deliciously scented room, it really began to feel like Christmas, and Peggy relaxed, determined to enjoy every moment so she could write and tell Jim all about it.

The morning sped past, with Stanislaw arriving by taxi armed with some of the bottles of champagne that Martin and Roger had smuggled over from one of their flights to France. Frank brought a huge pot of winkles and whelks for tea and looked very smart in a tweed jacket and twill trousers, and Peggy noticed he’d had a haircut and was looking rather chipper for a man whose wife had deserted him.

Betty and Brendon brought bottles of wine and had dressed baby Joseph in a scarlet and white knitted romper suit with a matching bobble hat which made him more adorable than ever. Bertie Double-Barrelled brought a box of cigars for the men, a lump of cheese and two bottles of very good port. Ron and Rosie arrived armed with beer and gin, the collars of the two dogs adorned with red and green ribbon bows. And last but never least, Jack Smith brought a cooked joint of beef for the Boxing Day buffet, a sack of potatoes and two pounds of carrots and two cauliflowers.