Christmas Greetings One and All

 I’m awake early.... and waiting for the cries of “He’s been! He’s Been!” 

Our grandson is staying with us with his dad, (support bubble)..... and we’ve done the whole tray preparation thing for Father Christmas and his 9 reindeer. 

These days, apparently, Santa needs milk (not whisky) and the reindeer should have carrots, but I’ve used celery tops and Brussels (as carrots are in short supply, and we’ll need whatever we have for our own Christmas dinner!) I got away with this by explaining to Zephy that Dasher, Dancer, Donner, Blitzen, Cupid, Prancer, Comet, Vixen and Rudolph need a change, because they must be so sick of carrots. Zephy’s teacher has obviously used the reindeer as a teaching topic because he seems to know a great deal more about Santa’s team of sleigh pullers than my boys ever did!


The run up to the big day has been crazy busy, despite me (and the rest of the world) telling myself to take it easy. I’m not very good at sitting back and letting it all just happen - basically because it won’t, unless I do it! I decided, a couple of weeks ago, that I had no excuse for having a box room that wasn’t suitable for having a small child use it as a bedroom - so I determined to get it emptied and decorated so that Zephy could have his own bedroom...... It was no mean undertaking - been used as a dumping ground for years. But it’s done. Stripped, papered, repainted and with a perfectly made bespoke bed for a small person of under five foot........the funny thing is that the small person who originally had this room managed to fit himself on the bed too, as a little reminder of times past!

For many years now,  the Quiney Family have had their Christmas dinner and ensuing celebrations on Christmas Eve, as the Scandinavians and Northern Europeans do. We started doing this some years ago because I was invariably working on Christmas Day. I also much prefer it, because I spend all day devoted to cooking in the kitchen, and then it’s over and done with, and Mum is then more able to enjoy present opening and other shenanigans without worrying about the turkey and trimmings. This year, Josh asked me if we could have Christmas dinner on the actual day, “like we used to when we were kids”....... I have to say that I much prefer having it on Christmas Eve....... I’m sitting in bed now, not relishing the cooking of the special meal. Possibly because I still spent all day yesterday in the kitchen preparing a special Christmas Eve meal! 

Peter remembers a Beef Wellington I made (probably a decade ago), and often wishes we could have it again. Well. I remember now why we don’t have it often. I purchased the beef from a butcher a couple of days ago (along with another few bits and pieces) and was stunned at the cost of the 1.2 kg piece of gold encrusted bovine........... The final Wellington was indeed delicious (as it should have been at approximately £10 per mouthful).... and we had stuffing, roasties, cauliflower, leeks and courgettes on the side.... and a monstrous apple, pear and apricot caramelised crumble for afters. 

Most years we have a culinary accident (or two). And this year was no exception. Watching the fan oven like a hawk, in case the stuffing burnt - I whipped out one of the two dishes (the dairy free one, for the lactose intolerant son) and it caught on the other dish as I pulled it out.......... oops 

Does anyone manufacture baking trays that bounce? 

Dinner duly consumed. Nosecco glasses raised...... chess played by menfolk, last few stitches of Christmas jumper knitted by self - and I was well and truly ready for my bed. 

I’m wondering if this year has been tougher than usual because of the immunotherapy? Or was I wiped out especially because of the Covid vaccine? Or because I wasn’t too sure some weeks ago whether I was going to be able to “do’ Christmas as usual? 

Well. Christmas day is here. The birds are tweeting merrily outside.No sound yet from the five year old...... 

the world is very strange this year..........

Can someone wake me up in January and tell me to start the preparations for December then please?

In the meantime.

Merry Yuletide everyone. Love you all.


Comments

  1. KateHJanuary 4, 2021 at 8:00 AM

    Sorry to use this site Maddy, but which of your FB accounts are you using? The old one or the newest one? xxx

    ReplyDelete

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