"Well. I could--" He moved, somewhat stiffly and still supporting the little girl's weight, to lean against an armchair. Several of the adults chuckled appreciatively; Susan herself let out a delighted giggle. "There. Not quite sitting, but it'll do. Oh--and John, like I said. In the bag, near the bottom with the violin, that's yours. And pass your father the one in the silver paper."

Okay, so a copy of Freakonomics personally annotated by Sherlock Holmes might be a really weird Christmas present, but it wasn't like he'd ever bought presents for anything approaching in-laws before.