Is there a Xmas carol trying to get out?

The 'ten lords a-leaping' - and more

Apparently "The Twelve Days of Christmas" first appeared in an illustrated children's book, Mirth Without Mischief, published in London in 1780. Take what follows in that spirit.

We could probably get away with 'ten lords a-leaping' here - certainly Zigi is having a good go (top right.)

Great to see everyone in their festive gear - we did also play 4 Swiss tournaments, amongst the mince pies, baklava (thanks Jimmy), chocolates (thanks Petar) and Xmas drinks.

The 'partridge in a pear tree' meets Dame Edna

The 'partridge in a pear tree' is definitely Mihail - well he's standing near a tree and he came first, as does the partridge in the carol. Here he is receiving his champagne for winning the 2024 Grand Prix series. Congratulations!

I thought Barry Humphries had died, but apparently Dame Edna has had one last outing, handing out the prizes.

Andrew and Paul, the 'two turtle doves'

And then we come to the All-Blacks final as Andrew (pictured left) called it. He went on to beat Paul and win one of the four Swiss last night - the other three were won by Zigi, Mihail and Roubina. Congratulations to all of them.

Did you know that a common variant to the line in the carol that goes 'four calling birds' is 'four colly birds' - and colly apparently means coal black?

We'd never make such a crassly racist analogy and besides there are only two of them, not four - so Andrew and Paul must be the 'two turtle doves' (sweet.)

Anna, Roubina, Kate, Yas and Valérie (some of the 'ladies dancing')

And finally, there are nearly 'eight maids a-milking' here (Gulcin was in an uber so missed being in the photo.) Even then I suspect I won't be thanked for the maids analogy, so I'm probably better saying it's 'nine ladies dancing' - if we included Merzad, Philippa and Rosalie?

And it's particularly exciting to know that Anna is playing in the quarter finals of the WBIF Women's World Championship this Thursday. It's being streamed live online - a link will be posted in the Whatsapp group when available - do try and join and support Anna.

So, we seem to be missing some swans, pipers and drummers (amongst other things), but what we have had is a pretty damn good year of backgammon, thanks to all of you and to the BGiE team!

Let's do it all again in 2025! Our first night back is Monday 6 January. See you then.