It's New Year's Eve as I write this post and a mild and bright day. We've had a lovely Christmas with just the right mix of entertaining family and time to ourselves. My brother and sister-in-law visited us on the 19th December and we had our first buffet lunch and present exchange. On Christmas Day, I dusted down my 'proper' camera, eager to capture some of the day. I love reading other people's Christmas blog posts and it's also great to have a record on my blog to look back on. It's our 9th Christmas in this house which I find hard to believe. Our youngest son came home for 4 nights on Christmas Eve and it was wonderful to have both our sons at home for Christmas and for them to see their grandparents on Christmas Day.
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to see my mom since the beginning of December due to ongoing positive cases within her care home. I'm grateful that I've seen a lot more of her this year though.
Some sustainable swaps were made by reusing paper from packaging collected over the year, using ribbon and carefully separating any sellotape from gift wrap after it had been used. I didn't want to open my presents from Tim, which were beautifully wrapped in cloth, like the Japanese furoshiki style. I'm hoping this will become a growing trend next year both in our home and elsewhere. We've saved the fabric for next year.
We were very busy in the kitchen both in the days before Christmas and on the morning of the day itself. Tim did most of the cooking, helped by me and our eldest son.
My favorite part of Christmas Day is before lunch when we have Prosecco and some nibbles. These were our eldest son's creation. They look like smoked salmon but they're actually shaved carrot which has been marinated. I've never liked smoked salmon but these are delicious.
We cooked turkey and pigs in blankets for my in-laws and the 4 of us had vegan food. I had some Waitrose jewelled nut roast and the others had a Linda McCartney vegetarian chicken roast (it's vegan as well). The gravy was homemade by Tim. As well as being very tasty it was vegan and gluten free. My favorite new vegan find this year were these M & S no chorizo pigs in duvets. Absolutely delicious.
The table looked fairly minimal to start with but soon became cluttered with a plethora of festive drinks, dishes and condiments. This was most welcome after having less people around the table last year.
Christmas pudding, a bought vegan Yule log and fresh fruit and ice cream were the desserts on offer to cater for our varied tastes and diets.
Oh dear, I didn't mean for the deer to be facing the opposite way to Santa and the snowman! We all enjoyed spending the day together, opening presents, feasting, snoozing and a bit of festive telly. Three days later we did all again with my brother-in-law and his partner plus my in-laws, only this time it was a buffet lunch. It was so nice to see Tim's brother and partner as we haven't seen them properly for almost two years. We also enjoyed a mammoth game of scrabble on Boxing Day with our youngest son.
The last few days in between Christmas and New Year have been slow and restful. New Year's Eve will be a quiet celebration for just the two of us.
I'm looking forward to continuing my blog next year and I have lots of ideas to share. Thank you for reading and wishing you all well for 2022.
