Well, that’s it. I am now resigned to the fact that it’s December and Christmas is inevitable. The work Christmas lunch is done (at The Wilmington, and very good it was too) along with the office Secret Santa, my Christmas cake is finally made and drinking all the rum, and I have even managed to do some shopping. The turkey is in the freezer, which is a relief on several levels – not least the one where it fits in the drawer – along with literally dozens of chipolatas for pigs in blankets, no less than seven boxes of stuffing for some reason, and the tin of Quality Street is stashed with strict injunctions against even looking at it before the big day.
Having missed stir-up Sunday and the chance to use my usual Mary Berry recipe, this year I’ve tried a no-soak recipe from Good Housekeeping and will just have to drink any rum that hasn’t got time to go in the cake. Oh dear, how sad. Ah well, etc etc. Pass the Coca-cola.
The theme for Secret Santa this year was decorations, and it was so lovely to be given something handmade in the shape of the adorable Moomintroll and Moominmamma you see below. One of the downsides of being a ‘maker’ yourself (“you mean, apart from all the paraphernalia required, the need for two sheds and the fact that the dining table is constantly under a pile of fabric?” – My Beloved) is that people often don’t feel they can give you something they have made so opening the package with these Moomins was such a treat. I can’t wait to put them on the tree later today, hung well out of the reach of the furry predators.
The downside of the week has been watching various members of the team topple like germ-laden dominoes as Covid and other seasonal plagues make their presence felt once again, like the Ghosts of Christmasses Past*. Please Santa, if I’m due for round 4 of the Covid-gift-that-keeps-on-giving, could it wait till the end of the week and be over by Christmas please – or at least until I’ve got the last of the school sessions out of the way! Also, this time round I could do without the associated ear problems that have topped and tailed the last rounds.
*Yes, I’m listening to A Christmas Carol again. Read by Hugh Grant, this was a freebie from Audible a couple of years ago, My Beloved is off at Copped Hall walled garden for his weekly stint as a volunteer today, so I shall also be watching the Muppet version while the tree goes up – he doesn’t love it like I do. Scrooged is also on the watchlist.
Other things making me happy this week
- Crocheting things that have nothing to do with Christmas
- Having a weekend with time to do things
- Working with lovely people
- A peaceful mooch round the charity shops of Epping
- Pretty Christmas lights
I must now go and do useful things with my day – especially some baking as Thing 2 has been demanding banana bread for several days, going so far as to check the cupboards for missing ingredients and writing them on the shopping list. Let no one say I can’t take a hint! There’s also Christmas Welshcakes on the cards, as I haven’t made any for ages.
Kirsty x
What I’ve been reading:
Bimbo/Mrs Pooter’s Diary/The Collected Letters of a Nobody – Keith Waterhouse
Bernard Who? – Bernard Cribbins
A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens (Audible)
What Kirsty did next 