Christmas Day and we observed all those customs we follow at home, gammon sandwiches followed by present opening which of course was accompanied but sparkling wine. Ŵe missed all our families at home but having said that we had a very adult Christmas. David had several utilitarian presents to open, mainly caused by the lack of tools and crockery in his kitchen.
At about half past ten we got a taxi to Raffles and drove up to the front door where th commissionaire  opened th car door for us. We were a little early but had a wander around the hotel and looked in their shop which was, of course, open.
We joined the queue for dinner fairly early and we were admitted and found our table. Our table was on the verandah outside the billiard room. We walked around the food on offer and marvelled at the range of foods available. A groaning cheese board, fantastic sea food, a full carvery, a counter of cold meats, fresh pasta and so on. Much to my surprise other people started on the buffet as soon as they were allowed in, we decided to wait for the other people who were joining us. As soon as we were all gathered we started on the food and thoroughly enjoyed everything we had. As this was David's Xmas present to us it was important that we enjoyed it.
We had an absolutely fantastic time, the wine flowed, Singapore slings were enjoyed, the food was just as good as it looked and the company as great.
Everything stopped at three o'clock but by then we were past eating anything else. After Raflles we were invited back to a friend of David's for drinks and we returned home quite late, having had a fantastic day.
Raffles is full of colonial charms, the service was impeccable and there is very little chance that we will do anything similar in the future.