Animal Madhouse Christmas

As I don't like to spend my time with misogynists, bigots & racists, spent the day alone at home. Not a bad thing if it hadn't have been for the lousy weather. I suspect the combination of wind, rain & temperature were probably the worst in living memory.

Luna's morning walk was awful, leaving the house in the dry & dressed more for wind protection, halfway through the rain came - horizontally!

But took cheer with a warming coffee & the photos coming in from Ireland & Worthing of the events happening with children & grandchildren. Son J had been out before the sparrows to do a 10km run to make room for the turkey - extra photo of the sunrise as he went along the seafront. And then the animals. Stanley, I suspect, now a professional poser in Xmas gear and the tiny Ted who son-in-law Barry had rescued from the golf course on 8th December aged about 4 weeks.

8th December was a Sunday & not a great day to get food for an undernourished kitten, so daughter Kate had to go to the vet to get some special formula food. Ted has clearly done well on it & is now truly integrated into the family including other dogs & cat.

Munched the lovely homemade Christmas "Plätzchen" from sister in law, Siglinde. These traditional baked goodies are always a work of wonder. Loads of work making the various doughs, toppings, designs & a huge balancing act getting it all coordinated.

And somehow the day passed nicely with a bit of more sociable Twittering than normal, keeping track of Nogbad's Christmas banquet preparations in Kent. He needed some help, keeping an eye on the Brussel Sprouts which I was pleased to do.

I unwrapped my non-wrapped self-presented pressie & was delighted to find I had gifted myself with an 80cm long shoehorn made of stainless steel which should last a lifetime. Stupidly the price label was still on it €3.99. I hope I can live to fully amortize the investment.

And then came time to think about the roast dinner before setting off for the second drizzly, windy, cool dog walk. Get all the ingredients together only to find not a single potato in the house!

How can Christmas Dinner be dinner without a roast potato? Answer double the amount of bread sauce!

Guten Appetit