We weren't dreaming of it, but...
...we got a white Christmas anyway!
We finally dragged ourselves out of bed (we'd stayed up to watch the Christmas Story on TV) at about 10am. This seems to be about par for the course these days. We arrived at the Adams's house at around midday as arranged.
While everyone busied themselves getting lunch arranged, I made myself scarce and dug out a PC to Skype the folks back home (anything to get out of work!).
Once fully fed, we settled down to open prezzies. This year, we on the Thompson side of the family had arranged a "secret Santa" scheme without the secrecy - basically we only buy one present for another member of the family - and as long as we all stick to the plan, then we all get presents from only one person, but it's a good 'un. Luckily, everything went to plan and everyone got at least something.
We wound up with a whole heap of REI gift certificates and Tracy got some books she wanted. I'm kinda tempted to buy dog boots for Dexter... but they are quite expensive.
Anyway, it was soon time for the main event: dinner. In the UK, it's quite traditional to have turkey for dinner, but it's less traditional over here where turkey is always served on Thanksgiving, but not necessarily at Christmas. This year, it was lamb on the menu - although falafels were available for us veggies. The table was straining under the weight of the potatoes, sprouts, peas, sauces and bread that we'd piled on top of it - although, luckily it didn't have to bear the full weight for long.
Once we'd made a dent in the main course, the table was cleared for dessert. With great ceremony (and greater quantities of brandy) the Christmas pudding was set alight! Being my first Christmas pud burning, I wasn't sure if it was going to burn properly, so I ladled on the brandy in huge quantities just to be sure that something would catch on fire. Fortunately, I'd not gone too over the top and although it did burn for a good couple of minutes, at least I still have my eyebrows.
So there was just one more thing to do - and unfortunately I was one of the ones stuck doing the washing-up. I dunno who did most of the cooking, but I'm convinced that we had about twice as many pots and pans as we had items on the menu. It seemed that way to me at least... and half of us were eating off paper plates too!
Anyway, I'm now writing this back at the hotel - and it's now Boxing Day, so Christmas is over for another year. It's getting close to New Year's Day and 2008 - so I'm starting reminisce about this past year. Expect a post soon about the year we've just had and our (perhaps optimistic) hopes for the near future.
Merry Christmas everyone and a Happy New Year to come!
We finally dragged ourselves out of bed (we'd stayed up to watch the Christmas Story on TV) at about 10am. This seems to be about par for the course these days. We arrived at the Adams's house at around midday as arranged.
While everyone busied themselves getting lunch arranged, I made myself scarce and dug out a PC to Skype the folks back home (anything to get out of work!).
Once fully fed, we settled down to open prezzies. This year, we on the Thompson side of the family had arranged a "secret Santa" scheme without the secrecy - basically we only buy one present for another member of the family - and as long as we all stick to the plan, then we all get presents from only one person, but it's a good 'un. Luckily, everything went to plan and everyone got at least something.
We wound up with a whole heap of REI gift certificates and Tracy got some books she wanted. I'm kinda tempted to buy dog boots for Dexter... but they are quite expensive.
Anyway, it was soon time for the main event: dinner. In the UK, it's quite traditional to have turkey for dinner, but it's less traditional over here where turkey is always served on Thanksgiving, but not necessarily at Christmas. This year, it was lamb on the menu - although falafels were available for us veggies. The table was straining under the weight of the potatoes, sprouts, peas, sauces and bread that we'd piled on top of it - although, luckily it didn't have to bear the full weight for long.
Once we'd made a dent in the main course, the table was cleared for dessert. With great ceremony (and greater quantities of brandy) the Christmas pudding was set alight! Being my first Christmas pud burning, I wasn't sure if it was going to burn properly, so I ladled on the brandy in huge quantities just to be sure that something would catch on fire. Fortunately, I'd not gone too over the top and although it did burn for a good couple of minutes, at least I still have my eyebrows.
So there was just one more thing to do - and unfortunately I was one of the ones stuck doing the washing-up. I dunno who did most of the cooking, but I'm convinced that we had about twice as many pots and pans as we had items on the menu. It seemed that way to me at least... and half of us were eating off paper plates too!
Anyway, I'm now writing this back at the hotel - and it's now Boxing Day, so Christmas is over for another year. It's getting close to New Year's Day and 2008 - so I'm starting reminisce about this past year. Expect a post soon about the year we've just had and our (perhaps optimistic) hopes for the near future.
Merry Christmas everyone and a Happy New Year to come!
posted by Iff at
12:26 am
2 Comments:
How many plates of christmas dinner did you manage. I managed 9 heaped plates ;)
By
Anonymous, At
9:25 am
I believe one of these alleged plates had only a MINT on it? Shocking.
By
Trace, At
5:54 pm
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