After The Holiday

    The family were here by 11:30 on Friday and they soon started on the presents under the tree. James was rather disappointed with his gifts but the other two were quite thrilled. Of course they had already demolished the presents at home and were very excited to find they will be going to Disneyland in February - their main gift! I got a beautiful framed photo from their cruise which I will treasure and display prominently.

    Lunch was a success although everything could have been a bit hotter, but I will definitely do most of the cooking the day before next year, it was much less stressful. Judy brought a nice salad which was very welcome and Steve contributed some starters. We will save them for New Year's Day as there was already an overabundance of food. The highlight, as usual, was flambeeing the plum pudding, which everyone had with custard and also a mince pie. After coffee Steve played Monopoly with the kids while the rest of us cleared the table and stacked the dishwasher - Dave's job, he's the expert. Steve left Lucy dog with me as he was going up north, so after everyone left, we had a walk around the block before settling in for the night.

     Saturday was spent cleaning up - unloading the dishwasher (thank goodness for that!) getting rid of all the wrapping paper, making a pot of soup from the carcass and taking down some of the decorations. Lucy and I had a couple of good long walks but, unfortunately, she rolled in something stinky so was rather unpleasant to be around. Steve decided she would need a bath when they got home! He came for her around 9:00 p.m. and I settled in with TV and some chocolates as a reward for my festive duties.

   Today has been quite restful with only some light chores and lots of reading and napping. I still have plenty of leftovers although I put some soup and chicken in the freezer for another day. Tonight I am making a sort of pot pie with the stuffing as a crust on top of meat, vegetables and gravy. I had some leftover smoked salmon and shrimp for an appetizer but the wine is all gone!

    I made a ginger cake this afternoon - not to be confused with gingerbread, this is definitely cake like, done in a loaf pan. It smells delicious and I will have a well-buttered slice for dessert later!