A Lovely Christmas

Carrot for Rudolph, milk and cookies for Santa

Christmas was lovely; the kids woke me at 4.45am and despite trying to get them back to sleep, they continued to check the time with me every 10 minutes or so, leaving me exhausted and I eventually succumbed to their excited whispers of "is it time YET?". Lucy wasn't feeling entirely well but they were all excited and decidedly happy with their gifts. We made dough for Schnecken buns and rested collapsed into a coma like state with hot mugs of tea whilst watching the kids play happily with their toys.

The Schnecken are prepared

And separated into nutty ones and nut free. Mmmm.

My sis arrived with her kids, to help us eat the cinammony, pecan topped delights which are Schnecken and bacon sandwiches to follow. Once they left, I began to prepare dinner, roasting the ham, which had been boiled the night before with a maple syrup and honey glaze, slicing the turkey crown, also made the night before, to heat in gravy later and preparing the turkey by stuffing it and rubbing it with lashings of herb flavoured butter and topping it with fatty bacon slices.

Roasting the Ham with Honey, Cloves and Maple Syrup

Lemon rind, sage and thyme to be mixed into the butter

Inbetween cooking, we watched The Polar Express and had our Scotch Broth. When dinner was ready, we sat at the table and opened the champagne, toasting another year and the year ahead. When we had finished and tidied, we were just in time for The Gruffalo and Doctor Who!

Scotch Broth


Christmas Dinner

The new 3d Monopoly was brought out; whoever said games brought families together were wrong but it was a great laugh nonetheless.

Grandpa, my husband's dad, had me in stitches throughout the day with his interpretation of certain things he'd overheard, for example, whilst watching the news... "...Pope has been knocked over", grandpa exclaimed "the Pope wasn't sober??".

Boxing Day saw us all sledging before heading to Ann's house for curry and conversation. It was a lovely day although in hindsight, the 3pm start of drinking champagne doesn't entirely agree with me, when not heading home until late....

Sledging

Monday evening, we went to Di Maggios restaurant for pizza and pasta with our friends and their family, followed by a pantomime at the Pavilion Theatre. Today, I'm being forced to see Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 and then it's Hogmanay tomorrow! Party time.

A Happy New Year to you all.