Christmas domestic bliss has been in short supply at the Tapper’s ancestral home. Some member’s of the family remember a happy Christmas Day in 1975 but we seem to have been in permanent warfare ever since.

This year, the major issues surround Rosa the Dog (or is she a Hog?) , Gregory’s 2 year old lurcher who has been inducted into the family despite her propensity to savage local wildlife not least Biscuit and Shadow, our neighbour’s cats.

I’m sad to say , the internet has been a further cause of discontent. Our family party divides between the bemused (the grandparents), the Luddites  -being everyone else other than me and Oliver.

It is of little use us protesting that the proof of the pudding is in our Klout store, nor pointing to our twitter followings , linked in connections or Facebook friends. Our family is taking a distinctly old-fashioned stance on social networking. It appears, heaven forfend, that many of my immediate family do not possess so much as a twitter address.

I am looking for an online solution to these problems. The dog issue seems intransigent but I am hopeful that through the power of the blogosphere, sweet harmony may prevail.

If however I fail, this may be my last blog. We play golf at Rushmore Park at 11am, have presents at four and sit down for the turkey at 5 and have the delights of family bridge from 7. The odds of this being peaceful are slim and I cannot hide it, I look at the next twelve hours with a sense of trepidation.

May the web with me and may that bloody dog be banished to the garden.

Related articles

• Christmas pps (slideshare.net)
• Happy Christmas (bigcircumstance.com)