Our belated Christmas

By Boxing Day both Sarah and John were somewhat recovered, so cooked the Turkey.



Helen and David W. came for lunch, though David was still feeling a bit groggy - he had a cold anyway even without the after effects of the dreaded lurghi! Sadly David G. began to feel ill just before it was dished up. At least he got to open a few prezzies before lunch (we were waiting for the turkey to finish cooking, so thought we'd begin the ritual).

John got a pile of interesting books and CDs.



After we'd opened a few presents the turkey was ready to come out of the oven and rest while Chef John and assistants finished off the rest of the meal preparations.



And here's my traditional yearly photo of my Christmas dinner!



The tree looks magical after dark.



Unfortunately I went down with the virus on 27th and spent 36 hours throwing up and rather longer than that with the runs. Ah well, guess that about sums up how this year has been in a way!

At least am beginning to eat again now, though still struggling to get up and down the stairs as rather week and feeble.

Christmas Day 2006

Sarah left about 10.30 to fetch Mum and Dad over from West Kirby. Meanwhile Helen arrived and dysoned the hall and living room, and she and David carried piles of boxes of books up to Sarah's room so that the living room was relatively free of clutter. John slaved over a hot stove, and finally the turkey was ready.



The Girls did a grand job with the table, and rushed around dishing up while John carved. Sarah acted as Wine Waiter, a bottle of Mumm Champagne that she bought when she went champagne-tasting in Paris in the summer. It proved to be a bit on the lively side, but the only casualty was a soggy paper serviette. And the champagne was delicious.



We had all the trimmings with the bird - sprouts, carrots, parsnips, roasties, cranberry jelly, bread sauce (with a clove-studded onion in of course!), chipolatas, sausagemeat stuffing and herb stuffing. This was made according to Mum's recipe, Sarah was curious where it came from. "The Radiation Cookbook" was Mum's reply. Conjures up strange ideas now, but her first cooker was a gas cooker, and I think the book came with the cooker.



There was some talk of Christmas Pudding when we'd cleared our plates, but everyone was too full.



So we headed to the living room to open some parcels. Lots of chocolates! Dad was feeling pretty tired I think, seemed to be falling asleep all the time. Of course they both have a snooze in the afternoon usually, so I guess habit caught up. They left quite early - about half three I think. I had a feeling that there was a parcel missing, so checked under the tree. And there was one last present for Mum and Dad - Jacobs cheese footballs too, so it would have been sad if they'd missed it! But I hammered on the window, and John came in and fetched it. At least it meant they had another parcel to open when they got home.



Tree finally went up on Christmas Eve - it's not enormously tall, but it's sure WIDE! We couldn't find the tinsel, or the crib. Think there must be another box lurking in the loft still. Let's hope we find it next year!