It will probably be the spring before we catch up on all the recorded Christmas TV specials hahaha. We did enjoy the Strictly final, mainly because they were all so good and we didn't mind who won. Much the same for the Celebrity Masterchef winner too. I'll not name names in case you haven't caught up yet and want to.
Son and fiancé recovered enough to make their rescheduled flight on Monday. So relieved for them but still worried, well that's a mum's job to worry isn't it.
Daughter drove them to Heathrow, after she had taken me and O to our dental appointment, just a checkup for all three of us. O got a clear result, Daughter has another appointment for a filling and a hospital referral for a root removal this dentist can't do and I survived the trauma of someone poking in my mouth and pleased she found nothing that needed treatment. She could tell it was a trauma and became extra gentle.
Tuesday morning was another blood test, yes life gets that exciting!
By Tuesday evening our travelers had arrived in Brisbane, which was Wednesday morning for them. Hubby of course had tracked their flights including the nearly three hour stop in Singapore. That leg stretch is so appreciated after such a long first flight and I've been told Changi Airport is amazing in places and worth seeing. Sadly I never saw it like that when we were there in 2006 as it hadn't progressed beyond a large and very efficient airport then.
Christmas Eve Daughter and O came over and helped with the veg prep, so helpful. At 2pm our time we wished Son and fiancé a very merry Christmas as they are 10 hours ahead and got some lovely photos back on the group chat.
We set the table just before we went to bed.
MERRY CHRISTMAS DAY EVERYONE!
Daughter brought the rest of the food here and along with the eating crackers were the pulling crackers for the table. No tacky useless plastic toy, these ones had a pair of Christmas socks inside each one. Brilliant aren't they!
We have never had as few as six round this very large table for Christmas Dinner before, so pulling the crackers was a fun arm stretch (especially for me) but it did mean there was room to put all the food on the table rather than me dishing up and everyone who wanted seconds (or thirds) having to go to the kitchen worktop and get it.
I enjoyed all three courses (a little of each) and everyone else tucked into a lot of each and as always so much left over. It would have been mean not to share.
It was definitely time to do nothing in the lounge for a while and let it all digest.
No board games this year as that's E's thing and she wasn't here, so tea, chocolates and chat then when it was time we watched the Gladiators Celebrity Christmas Special. After that O and M were ready to go home. Not much later there was the Strictly Come Dancing Celebrity Christmas Special that Daughter and R wanted to stay and watch with us. That seemed a really good time for Daughter to bring out her cheese and crackers buffet. None of us needed much but it's amazing how extra room is found for tasty nibbling hahaha.
When we waved our last guests off home Hubby and I dealt with all the leftover food, he carved all the turkey while I was boxing and wrapping then trying to decide what's best used very soon so fridge and what's good for freezing. After that it was a cuppa and more tele and the rest could wait. A lovely day all round.
Friday morning Hubby ran the dishwasher again and tackled all the roasting tins by hand (quicker when there's lots). Cutlery was put back into canteens, posh crockery back into it's dining room cupboard, extra chairs back round the table, table mats back in the drawer and the hot dish trivets too, then the table cloth went back on and our lovely table can go into hiding for another year.
We did smile when congratulating ourselves that we don't have to do it all again on Saturday on the grand scale as this year my nephew E and his wife N are hosting family day that we have held here for many many years and definitely all of the last 14 apart from when we were covid restricted. All family of varying ages and has been as many as 34 people some years. This year Hubby and I are taking Daughter and O as the rest of our immediate family can't make it which is a shame.
For the rest of Friday Hubby had a couple of jobs to do. One of the garden wall lights wasn't working but he couldn't get the cover off to see what size bulb, hopefully just too cold so he'll try again another time. There was also a big problem with a fuse and routers and hubs up in the loft and buying a new 18 port something to replace the 24 port something......... and that's about all the explanation you'll get from me as I didn't understand the rest.
Saturday and the 27th which had been my dad's birthday, which is why our family day was usually held on the 27th when Christmas Bank holiday and work structure allowed. So the four of us are driving off soon to Canvey Island which should be about 1hr10 ish from here. You'll hear about that next time. So have a good weekend and keep celebrating through to the new year.
No comments:
Post a Comment