Saturday 23rd December.
Worked at the pharmacy. Was lovely as all the customers were cheerful
and all wishing "Merry Christmas" and showing the presents they'd
bought for their little grandkiddies and giving us home-baked goods.
Visited cousins in the evening for dinner.
Sunday 24th December. Christmas Eve.
Hubby did some last minute shopping with a friend of his. I sat down
and wrote out a cooking schedule for the next two days so I wouldn't
have to think when there's all guests around. (Like this: 10.30am -
peel potatoes. Assemble mini ham rolls. Wash prawns and marinate.)
In the evening, Hubby's friend came over for dinner with his family
who are visiting from England. Went to Mass with them and my family.
Poor priest looked utterly exhausted, poor thing.
Went around Borgnis St in Davidson to see the amazing Christmas
lights. (We go there each year. It's amazing how more and more people
do Christmas lights on their houses each year. We just had a few
strings of icicle lights dangling from our roof and colourful fairy
lights in the gardenias in the front garden). On the way home we saw
another amazing display in a house in Sorlie Rd, Frenchs Forest. Hubby
found out from the owner that he plans the display from September and
starts assembling it in October. It covered the front yard and there
was a path leading to the back yard which was also all lit up. And the
light display was set to music. Brilliant! (I think he raises money
for a charity with it).
Came back to our place and had Mum's fruit mince pies and my mini
Christmas puddings and drank the two bottles of Moet and Chandon which
the lovely guests brought with them. Watched the end of Carols by
Candlelight on TV.
Monday 25th December. Christmas Day.
Woke up and started cooking. Guests arrived from 11am. (Guests were my
parents, my brother, three cousins, an aunt and a family friend.)
Christmas Lunch Menu
Various Christmas biscuits
Cheese platter
Antipasto platter
Mini ham rolls with corn relish, baby spinach and green olives.
Chilli and garlic prawns
Mussels in coconut milk
Grilled ham and pineapple (for summery retro-kitsch touch)
Turkey with burgal wheat stuffing (with cranberries and pistachios)
Crispy potatoes with rosemary
Huge citrus trifle (hubby's specialty)
Christmas pudding
Lots of crisp and cool white wine.
The weather was perfect! We sat outside on the balcony and took it easy.
My brother brought some boardgame - The Settlers of Catan - which
turned out to be addictive. Very good game.
Visited some family friends in the evening. Ate pretty much constantly
all day and got some lovely, thoughtful presents along with some very
useful Coles Myer gift vouchers.
Tuesday 26th December. Boxing Day.
Aaah, Boxing Day. The day of recovery. Friend - Amanda and Jo - came
over for breakfast. Amanda is off to Egypt and we wont see her for six
weeks. She left mid-morning to get ready for her flight. Jo stayed and
we decided to go exploring and find a way to walk from home to Middle
Harbour through the National Park instead of along the main road. Got
lost off-track somewhere and found ourselves climbing down slippery
moss-covered rocks, as if we were stranded in rugged bushland and not
right near home. Got so close to the end - could see the water - and
realised we were on a cliff over 2 metres high (too high to jump off
without breaking something). Hubby slid down it onto a tree which was
sticking out the side and caught Jo who was then able to jump to the
ground. I freaked big time. Took ages to work up the courage to follow
suit. Thing is, I had no choice - it was impossible to go back the way
we came! Anyway, we finally made it and sat near the water eating
grapes and relaxing. Walked home - along the main road! - and had
lunch.
Later we went for a swim in our pool and did a spot of gardening. My
geranium cutting bloomed! The lavender cuttings aren't doing as well.
I really want them to work so I can have a hedge of lavender at the
front of the house.
I went through all the left-over food and froze what I could
(including little bags of ham, each containing just enough to defrost
for making sandwiches). Froze the turkey - could perhaps do an
English-style turkey curry. Also froze the turkey carcass and ham bone
for soups.
Went to my parent's house for dinner.
Wednesday 27th December
Went to the beach - South Curl Curl - only to find that there were
ridiculous cross currents and the beach was closed with no lifeguards
as conditions were too dangerous. Decided to walk along the shore,
ankle-deep in the water was was dumped by a wave. Yup, in ankle-height
water. Decided water really was dangerous and so went for a swim in
the rock pool. We brought a picnic and ate on the beach.
Thursday 28th December.
Back at work. Oh well. Tis only for two days.
My parents had friends around for dinner. She made a huge amount of
Malaysian dishes. Was very nice.
Yeah - all in all, Christmas was very nice. I'm tired, but after
today, I have three days off. No plans for NYE yet but looking forward
to it.
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