Aftermath

This has been possibly the most relaxed Christmas I've had since I was 10.

Normally we are either at my parents' house - lovely but bearing its own stresses, or we have a bunch of family at our house - so you spend the whole day running from sofa to kitchen to make sure everyone else's Christmas is appropriately fed and watered.

Today, we suited ourselves. And as a result had a lovely lovely family day. Everyone got up when it suited them to get up, the kids had their stockings to keep them busy, then we all had breakfast together. Katherine - who had planned the day out in advance - said that a walk was next on the agenda (before presents!!! sometimes I think she's not really a child at all but some kind of alien being deposited cuckoo-like into our family; but then the curly hair and sulky temperament remind me she is definitely part of me). Anyway, a look out of the door was all it took to make us agree that a walk would be masochism too far on Christmas day (that wasn't the kids' words, but it's what they meant). So we had the present frenzy instead. Mr B had bought me no presents at all (but I'm on a promise for the camera bag and rolling pin* of my dreams, so I'm happy really) but I had bought him a pile of books - mostly books I wished someone would buy for me - so, again, everyone's happy.

Then a late morning and early afternoon of building playmobil and Star Wars lego segued nicely into a teamwork (well, mainly Mr B really) turkey dinner. Oh, via a 20 year old Veuve Cliquot fizz. Nearly forgot that. Honeyed, smooth, delicious.

Dinner was a traditional mix of dry turkey ("never again" said Mr B - just like he said last year), perfect sprouts, roast potatoes and all the trimmings. Then there was Doctor Who (bit lame, I thought) and a slow drift into the evening.

Lovely. Hope everyone else had the Christmas day they hoped for too.


*My rolling pin (wooden) is warped. Resulting in uneven cooking of pastry and biscuits. I have been requesting a new rolling pin for Christmas for years - but no-one has taken me seriously.

EDIT: the joke in the cracker: What do you call a Boomerang that doesn't dome back?

A Stick.

Note to self: despite the classy jokes, grown up crackers from Costco are not so much fun for the kids: with gifts including a small flask, a wine stopper and a salt and pepper set. Mind you, Conor is delighted with his lipstick case, with integral mirror. He uses it for perfect application of his lipsalve. Mr B is determinedly relaxed about this development.