Day 647...
Not only have we reached Christmas Eve but it is also Ethan's birthday!
Our day started rather early as Simon had an appointment at the barbers at 8.00am!
But after he'd arrived home we had our traditional birthday breakfast of Mickey waffles - sausage, bacon, waffles, ice-cream and maple syrup! Although it was mainly the 'kids' of the family that indulged!
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| Molly's plate!! |
We had a little Christmas miracle happen this morning as yesterday I'd received an email and a text to say that a parcel we were due to receive by today at the latest was delayed and wouldn't be with us till the 29th! This was rather annoying as the parcel contained Christmas presents! But this morning I had a text to day that the parcel would be delivered today...and by mid-morning it had arrived - phew!
Next on the agenda was a trip into Nottingham which has also become a custom on Ethan's birthday; a chance to have a wander around their Christmas market. Molly and Dan also wanted to head over to the ice stadium to get their ice skates sharpened. We all jumped in the car which was the first chance we'd had to show off the new electric car to the kids, and we think all were suitably impressed.
We walked over to the ice stadium only to discover that there was no-one working who could sharpen the skates for Molly and Dan. It was slightly annoying as there was nothing on their website to indicate that the service wasn't available. But we were still able to have a wander and a stop for coffee and cake!
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| Walking through the Christmas market |
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| Indulging in coffee and food! |
Once we were back home I decided to get the small pile of ironing out of the way before Simon and I spent a few minutes wrapping the presents that had arrived this morning.
I was also able to get some photos of a 'present' that had arrived for me yesterday. Last weekend I had been perusing the offerings on the Shop Disney website and had shown Simon a jacket that I really liked. Simon then insisted that I bought it...
...a varsity jacket that has been released to mark the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World in Florida, and more specifically the Magic Kingdom park as that was the only park open on 1st October 1971, and I love it!
As we get into the last few hours of today my thoughts begin to turn towards the big event tomorrow...and the cooking! I don't mind cooking but for some reason cooking a full roast meal for Christmas Day always feels quite daunting. I think it's probably due to wanting to make it just right; we are bombarded with images of the perfect Christmas Day celebrations and food is always such a central part of that and therefore for those of us tasked with the cooking we can feel the pressure.
I have to write out exactly what I'm cooking and work out all the timings; once I've done that I feel more confident that all will work out alright. In years gone by I have slaved over prepping vegetables, making stuffing, ensuring all the necessary sides and sauces are complete and had always made from scratch our Christmas pudding and cake.
But nowadays, and because our diet has changed, I try to take a more laid back approach and recognise that there will be food on the table and that what will be, will be. I now buy our Christmas pudding for those that want to indulge and don't bother with a traditional Christmas cake although I do enjoy a little piece of Stollen as a treat.
And as a treat for the 'kids' this is the only time of the year that I buy potatoes so that they can have mashed potatoes!
But now I need to think about food for this evening and need to stop writing this and get cooking so that we can settle down in a little while to watch a suitably Christmassy movie.
See you all tomorrow.
xx
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