Such a fearful gale of wind was raging when he woke this morning, the rain was very heavy until about midday stop did not go out all day. At tea time Cedric Clare arrived, Dorothea wrote to Aunt Janie at Christmas & suggested he should come & see us again. In 11 years have passed since we have seen him. He was only 8 when he was here last.

To return to the war. A long list today of killed & wounded. On Tuesday we saw among those wounded & missing the name of Luke Coleridge. Mr Rennel Coleridge’s son. He was in the Coldstream Guards, having joined some time after the war. He was meant for the Diplomatic Service. It is difficult to find out what is happening, there is so little news. In the afternoon D & I went to Whitchurch. Miss Walker has asked us to try the organ. It is a lovely one. Miss W plays beautifully. Afterwards we went to tea at Holwell. I...

At 12 the rain began, and all the afternoon & evening, torrents fell, with a high wind from SE. This was really the last straw for from the beginning poor old D has had to contend against so many difficulties over this play, & then to have such appalling weather was too much of it. Fortunately we had the car to take us up, & at 6 it began to go to & fro, & fetched various people, & the last to come was Father. And after all we had nearly a room full. Outside the wind howled & the...

In the afternoon we had the performance of the play, & quite a nice number of people came. Newmans, Clarks, Joan brought over the boys, also Hilda, Theo and her two. The children did the play quite well.

Paper to day is an account of the raids that our sea planes made on Cox Haven , on Christmas morning, of all days in the year in which to drop bombs, it is too terrible. At Meuport too a special attack was made. A very long casualty list to day in which Reginald saw the name of a man he knew at Oxford, called Walters. See [something] Gloucestershire Reg. Also among the wounded & missing is Luke Coleridge, at least we think it must be he. LHR, sounds like his initials. In the times of Sat. is an account...

Real old-fashioned Christmas weather this morning, soft driving rain from South West. Reginald & I walked down to Greystone bridge for the meet. The rain cleared over and the morning was perfect. Soft drifts of grey cloud with peeks of blue sky, and the woods & countryside rich in colour. At the bridge there were very few people, chiefly farmers. The only one we knew was Cicely Lewis, & afterwards the rest of the family arrived in a car. One of the brothers, Ted, belongs to a public school corps connected with the Navy. He dresses like a ordinary sailor....

Last night was very beautiful, clear & bright and very still, with the moon half full, and a white frost. But this morning and came a thaw, after a very lovely red sunrise. At the 8 o’clock service there were a good many people, but how few we (the family) are now compared to former years. At breakfast I could not help remarking that it did not feel like Christmas although we had exchanged presents as usual. Perhaps it was, as Dorothea said, that being so few made a difference. But perhaps it is that we are all a great...

As usual, giving of presents, sending off cards, decorating church, & clearing up for Christmas day. Cold day but fine

Cold day. Fog came down at 12. Lifted again at sunset. Mary & Reginald came home, terribly busy all day doing up parcels & sending off cards.

Lovely day, white frost, clear sky. Iced cakes in the morning, in the afternoon went to Yalford to see goddaughter. During the day we had one postcard and 2 telegrams from Mary saying first that she was coming to day and secondly that she was not. After tea we did up the flannel for the men, and the servants presents.

Cold. Showers from NW. In morning made cakes. Armind and Ruth came to lunch. Jack has just gone to the front, left yesterday. Heard from Mary this morning saying that she was ill, and was at the Deanery. The Dean has fitted a room for sick V.A.D. nurses & has a nurse there to look after them. She hopes to have come home, but did not do so, by this means she may get leave for Christmas.

Left Wimbledon at 10. Reginald came with me as far as Waterloo. Met Jack Sethbridge at Wimbledon station. He staying at Wimbledon going through a case. At Waterloo met Armind Morshead and travel down together. She is working very hard at her painting & is evidently getting on, as Lucy Kempe Welch told her the other day, that she would do strong work one day. We saw train loads of soldiers coming off for Christmas leave. Reginald is going to try again to get into something he thinks he might do some home job so as to let some other...

Very nice day. Went up to town met Ela at Harrods for lunch. After which went on did a good deal of shopping and finish with tea at the Coleridges. They were very excited over the Scarborough outrage. Canon MacMarness was celebrating in the one of the churches when a shell fell on the church, he however finished the service. In the meantime one of his sons who arrived home on leave just as the shelling began, found his mother & the servants in a panic, and drove them all down into the cellar. A shell entered the study &...

It was all too true. Some German ships came in quite close to Scarborough under cover of a fog, & proceeded to shell the town at 8 AM then they went on to Hartlepool & Whitby & shelled that. Great damage done. This will perhaps stir people other bits & make them recruit. In the afternoon Ursula & I went to see the Gondoliers at Hammersmith, it was very enjoyable.

Wimbledon came here on Monday, just to catch a glimpse of Ursula & the child. The latter is quite a different baby from what she was when she left Kelly in Sep. she is now very round & fat, with a very comic face, lovely colour & beautiful eyes. A baby in fact to feel proud of. On Monday during my journey up, two private’s got into the same carriage. There was an elderly woman also there, who talked a great deal to them. One was in the R.F.A. & had been wounded and Mons, but he said he knew...

There has been an attack on Dover by submarines. This is what the Daily Mail says, but the Times does not believe it. It is supposed to have taken place very early on Thursday. The Kaiser is better, but some say he is mad. The rebellion in S. Africa is now at an end. De Wet is a prisoner and Beyers was drowned in a river that trying to escape. Servia is supposed to have given the Austrians a tremendous defeat. Father heard from Bob this morning, he intends to start home soon, & will try & join the Yeomanry....

Came home on Tuesday by afternoon train. Very glad to be back again in the pure air & have all the comforts of home. On Wednesday did not do much felt so slack, went to bed soon after tea, & slept until 7 this morning with the exception of a short interlude for dinner. It has been an absolutely perfect day. Very calm & still with sunshine. Went to Dunterton to see Mrs Clark about the S.S.H.S. The Kaiser is ill. He has bronchitis also a nervous breakdown. There has been an naval victory in the Pacific. 3 of the...