The Christmas Eve party went almost according to plan.

The guests were wowed with the function room, the oak floor in particular drawing oodles of compliments, and by the end of the evening there were several bookings for birthday parties, and Bill Feathers had asked if I’d consider giving the Smugglers Inn a long overdue makeover.

‘It’s time to get rid of the sticky carpet,’ he said, drunk on mulled wine, and I decided to wait and see if he asked me again when he was sober before committing.

The music went down a storm – mostly requests for Christmas songs because… well, it was Christmas, and Danny managed to discreetly propose to Cassie by the tree in the café that we’d decorated together. Obviously, she said yes, and agreed they could choose a ring together, but she decided not to announce her pregnancy, as nearly everyone had guessed already, due to her not drinking alcohol, and rushing off to be sick every half hour.

‘It gets better after four months,’ her Mum reassured her, glowing with happiness and excitement, and an almost radioactive tan.

Dad had a word with a man in the planning office and got the OK for the wedding to go ahead, so Meg’s Mum and Dad were married by Nathan’s brother’s friend, who looked a lot like Donald Trump which added a touch of hilarity. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room as they exchanged their vows. Meg’s three-tier wedding cake, decorated with cascading holly and berries, drew a roomful of gasps, and ensured a rush of orders for the bakery.

‘I think this might just be the best day of my life,’ she said. ‘Not every child gets to be at their parents’ wedding.’

Bridget arrived as the ceremony ended, with a triumphant and handsome Chad, which caused a stir for no one apart from our teak-tanned parents, who were thrilled to see their oldest daughter so happy and relaxed, for once, and their granddaughter joyfully reunited with her father.

‘I don’t know exactly what’s happened, but I’m so glad my lovely girls are here for Christmas,’ Mum cried, hugging us both at once, her tinsel necklace scratching our cheeks.

Gwen engineered her kiss with Jerry under the mistletoe. I noticed he didn’t put up a fight and had actually been hovering near it for most of the evening, in his Santa jumper – though her technique left onlookers open-mouthed.

‘Ain’t you lot never seen a proper movie kiss?’ she demanded, after dipping him over her knee in a way that can’t have been good for his back. Not that he was complaining. I caught them looking at the sky together on the terrace, Dickens tucked under Jerry’s arm. ‘If ’e’s good wiv me pussy, he’s a keeper,’ she said, winking at me over her shoulder.

Seth arrived with Jack, who made a beeline for Romy to show her a Star Wars sticker book his grandma had bought him for Christmas but decided to let him open early, and Seth told me he’d ordered a lightsaber, which had arrived that afternoon.

Digby stayed at home, probably enjoying having the place to himself for a few hours. Felicity had gone home, but had invited Seth and Jack to Oaklands during Jack’s first school half-term in February. ‘As long as you’ll come too,’ Seth said, nuzzling my neck as we swayed together to ‘Last Christmas’. Felicity had agreed to stop fighting for custody and was hopeful relations would improve, and Seth was giving her the benefit of the doubt. ‘Jack deserves a relationship with his grandparents,’ he said. ‘And maybe she’ll come to see I’m not such a bad dad.’

‘You’re not,’ I said, pulling him towards the mistletoe. ‘And you’re not a bad kisser either.’

‘You two are adorable.’ Meg hugged me as I joined her and Cassie by the buffet laid out in the café, mostly comprised of turkey sandwiches, and made me pull a Christmas cracker with her. ‘Can you believe we’re all ending the year coupled up?’ she said, trying on a gold paper crown.

‘What a horrible term.’ But I couldn’t stop smiling – especially watching Seth dance Romy and Jack around the room, his head stuffed into a Christmas elf hat complete with pointy ears.

‘I knew there was something that day he came into the café.’ Cassie handed me another Christmas cracker. ‘It was written all over you both.’

The only thing that didn’t go to plan was the weather. Despite predictions, it didn’t snow until the end of January when it barely stopped for a fortnight. It was the heaviest snowfall south Devon had ever seen, and I took plenty of photos to prove it.

One in particular has joined the little gallery beside Jack’s bed, next to the one of him with his mum – a photo of Jack and Seth, their faces bright with laughter, building a sand snowman on the beach at Seashell Cove.