The Day Before the Big Day

      Phew! I think all is done but I am relieved to put my feet up for the evening. The capon is roasted and dismembered and the stuffing dug out, the gravy is made as is a bowlful of mashed carrot and sweet potato. The tables are set (we are having a `children`s table as I can`t quite fit 11 people around my dining table) and to my relief, I have enough plates, glasses and cutlery. I`m sure everything will go smoothly tomorrow and everyone will get fed.

    Tomorrow I will prepare the shrimp for the first course and cook two kinds of potatoes, roasted and mashed. There`s also another stuffing to cook. Luckily I read the instructions today as it requires quite a long time in the oven, cooked from frozen. Then there`s the plum pudding to heat up and flambe and mincemeat tarts to heat up. The oven and the microwave will be in constant use! The bird looked great but I forgot to take a photo before I carved it up. Well, I`m sure there will be another opportunity next year.

    I doubt I will be blogging tomorrow so let me wish all my readers a wonderful day tomorrow with family and friends and a restful holiday.

An Early Start

   Everything went, more or less, according to plan this morning. I was up, fed,  showered and out by 8:10. The weather was cooperating with near zero temperature, and the traffic was reasonably light. I think quite a few people took the day of work. Arrived at the mall in 15 minutes.

   I was up and down the aisles at Loblaws, found everything I wanted and was through the checkout by 9:00 so decided I had time for a coffee and treat (chestnut and praline latte and a double chocolate brownie from Starbucks). Next stop was Pusateri's for the bird but when they brought it out I decided it was too small since we have three extra for the meal. So they went hunting in the back room for a bigger bird and I left the shop with a 9lb. capon. That should feed us all!

    The extra wait for the bigger bird put me a little behind schedule and I really had to boot it up to tennis - just made it! The first set was a corker - I was playing with Tracey and we went down 2-4 right away. But we fought our way back and took the set 7-5. The second set I played with Virginia and Tracey teamed up with Carol. We started out strongly, at one point we led 5-2 but, just as in the first set Tracey dug deep and finally took the set. She is by far the best of our group and plays almost every day.

   Fish and peas for dinner with the rest of the morning's brownie. It was very rich so I only ate half. Since it was mild today I clipped some evergreens and decorated the mantel in the family room. That's about it for this season!

Brain Overload

    I had a break from Christmas preparations today as I was at the Senior's Centre from 9:30 to 2:30. I arrived rather early for the Mah Jong class as I had misread the notice but it is just as well as no one had turned up for kitchen duty. I made a pot of coffee (it's free this week ) and by the time it had perked through and I had poured myself a cup, the others had arrived. I was very lucky today and, with Pauline's help, won twice. I really don't know what I'm doing yet but it is becoming somewhat clearer.

    We went straight from Mah Jong to Bridge. Margaret was my partner and I'm afraid to say she was rather disappointed in me! Well, who cares. Tomorrow is another day but I'm sure she won't want to be my partner again. We were all brain dead by 2:00 and decided to call it a day. It took me a while to clean up the kitchen but I was quite happy to go home and spend half an hour outside (it was 3C), clearing some snow off the driveway and clipping evergreen branches for my mantel display and my front porch planter (photos to follow). Now I am pretty well finished with Christmas preparations.

   Tonight I will make a list for grocery shopping tomorrow, my last shop, hopefully, before the big meal on Sunday. There will be three extra for the meal so I will have to shop accordingly. I plan to go early - will try to be out of the house by 8:30 - as I have to be at tennis by 10:00. Hope there will be time for a coffee at Starbucks before then!

Playing Catchup

   I went to a movie yesterday afternoon so it was too late to post a comment when I got home and got straight into fixing something for dinner. The movie was "Manchester By the Sea", a very moving story of families with quite a satisfying, although sad, ending. I would highly recommend it. Casey Affleck had the main role and he was excellent.

   I had spent yesterday morning dusting and vacuuming so felt I deserved a treat, and today was more of the same. This time it was cleaning the carpets, a chore I have been putting off for months. There's nothing like expecting visitors to get you moving! Steve phoned last night to see if he could invite some friends for Christmas lunch but will let me know if they decide to take him up in the invite. Seemingly they are out of their condo for some reason and staying in a hotel - not the best place to spend Christmas with their youngster

   While the carpets dried I ran a few errands and got everything I was looking for. I bought two new lampshades for the lamps in the family room and they look very smart. I was a bit early for my shift in the coffee bar but went there anyway and found no one had arrived for the morning shift so went right to work. There were very few people there and I only got through two pots of coffee. But the card group was having a pot luck lunch and invited us to join them. There was a ton of food so I may have over indulged again. So far I haven't felt the urge to prepare any dinner but may have a little snack later.

   I recently received the following photo from my holiday earlier in the Fall. It was taken in Valencia by the tour rep.

A very friendly and compatible group! I'm in the front row, fifth from the left.

A big improvement on the earlier version! Too many plants - they live outside during the summer.