Christmas Eve

Adam and Anna arrived last night so this morning we had a fuller household - but we are missing Tommy!

My Waitrose delivery arrived as the sun was rising at 8am and as I feared, they had to omit brussel sprouts and fresh cranberries from my order as they had no stock. Well, brussel sprouts are essential to a British Christmas dinner - and we all love them the way I cook them with pancetta and chestnuts - so after breakfast Gavin went off on a mission to find brussel sprouts! He found a stalk of brussel sprouts at Sainsburys, but no fresh cranberries to be had anywhere and I wanted them for my cranberry sauce. The staff member at Sainsbury's said they have not had stock for weeks. I did see them in the middle of November and considered buying them to freeze, but I thought I would get them later as I prefer them fresh. Luckily Gavin managed to find the last tub of homemade cranberry sauce at the village deli so that will have to do, and I am saved the job this year of making the sauce.

I walked Xena while Gavin was out chasing down these missing ingredients, Luke worked, and Adam and Anna relaxed. After lunch at home I showed the family a selection of my photos from the Vietnam trip, I did not linger too long on them as there is nothing as boring as looking at someone else's holiday photos. We discussed ideas for our next big trip - hopefully Gavin's retirement trip? But our next shorter trip will be to San Diego next year to see Adam.

These are some of the presents around the Christmas tree. I always smile at Luke and Meriel's presents as to save a waste of paper (and the planet) they use newspaper to wrap presents, but of course posh newspaper like the Financial Times which is pinkish in colour. I think they look lovely.

Now to start cooking the Christmas Eve dinner - roast side of salmon with roast baby potatoes and a selection of veggies - butternut, asparagus and broccoli. Tommy and Inca are currently in Noosa (I think glamping) and had a curry for their Christmas Eve dinner. It still doesn't really feel like Christmas.....