Christmas n cream

One of the great joys of living in the family home is that things like Christmas meals are taken care of. All you have to do is unlock the door into the breezeway, cross what we think of as neutral territory and enter the main house, meander down the hallway and plop down in the lounge. To be honest it took a little more energy than normal this year, but there was presents and food so the incentives were excellent.

Now, one has a deep and abiding loathing of Christmas itself; something bad always seems to happen at Christmas and this year proves to be no different. On the other hand all the favourite food turns up on one table which goes a long way to offset the issues... wibble wobble flip flop. As a person one adores any meat that is roasted, glazed or stuffed. Anything with fruit in it is a winner so mince pies, plum pudding, Christmas cake are all loved with an equal fondness.

Unfortunately that was family Christmas food and that was done on Monday this year so His sister could attend. And one was too sick to care about any of it.... though one did nibble at a small plate of treats and rally for a large slice of Pavlova adorned with masses of whipped cream and strawberries. For the record pleurisy gives you one hell of an appetite unlike pneumonia. This Christmas we did the simple thing of salad, fresh baked bread, prawns and sand crabs followed by His grandmother’s tipsy trifle.

Her trifle is a thing of family legends mainly because when adding the alcohol to the sponge, by the time she has done one or two she can never remember which ones she has done. Being a person who enjoys a drink, her idea of two fingers of alcohol involves the index and the pinkie fingers, she is inclined to err on the side of caution. Needles to say some of the trifles go into the family like small macerating time bombs. This year we not only scored the drunken trifle, but some extra sherry in case she hadn’t added enough.

Santa’s elves were generous and thoughtful... His mother always comes up with something you didn’t know you needed. This year it was a tiny watch, shaped like a cat, that clips onto your bag (one never wears a watch) so you can find it. Santa was particularly generous in the form of a naughty girl .... See one wasn’t lying the other day in the letter to Santa. He also gave generously of himself...

Though one refuses to repeat the pun He used... let us just say it involved the words Santa and sac :(