We come to the end of the advent calendar with a Christmas Day quote from Mrs Miniver and a painting by Gilbert Spencer, The Cottage Window (1937, Manchester Art Gallery). "There were sounds of movement in the house; they were within measurable distance of the blessed chink of early morning tea. Mrs. Miniver looked towards the window. The dark sky had already paled a little in its frame of cherry-pink chintz, Eternity framed in domesticity. Never mind. One had to frame it in something, to see it all."

The Post will return on 5th January.