Merry Christmas One and All That Muck

And so we have another Christmas Day. My 65th Christmas and I still end up sooner, if not more often later getting all excited and spirited. I love the anticipation just before the Day begins. I love looking at everything before it all gets torn apart.

The fire has now been lit in the dining room and the table is almost set. The pots and pans are sitting on the stove with vegetables and soup already prepared. All is in readiness. The presents wait to be given out and there is yet no disappointment; nothing has failed -- so far so good. It's the magic time of Christmas. This year we have even got a bit of snow still unmelted. Tomorrow it will probably disappear forever. Magic is still in the air.

Now it's Boxing Day and my mood is entirely different. Christmas dinner turned out to be a worse than mediocre affair -- and all because Someone Who Shall Remain Nameless wouldn't listen to She Who Should Have Been Obeyed. The menu was thus: First course: fresh leek soup -- turned out delicious; second course: fois gras with brioche and salad garnishes -- superb; 3rd course: Roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, honeyed parsnips and peas and carrots -- this was the disaster part.

For several years we had fillet of beef, which most of us enjoyed. Me especially because it meant that the menu could be completed the day before and the meat just needed a very hot oven for 30 minutes. However, He Who Shall Remain Nameless felt that it just didn't have the flavor and yearned for a more traditional roast beef meal. So last yearShe Who Should Be Called Nitwit in order to make Nameless happy prepared a sirloin of beef roast that even though it was a great deal more work for the new menu, was absolutely delicious. And the cut, though expensive was quite a bit less expensive than the fillet of beef. And so we come to 2009. It's Christmas around the corner and Nameless and Nitwit go shopping to Tesco for another what would have been delicious sirloin of beef roast. And there in the middle of the meat aisle began the argument/discussion. Amidst a flood of different cuts of meat -- all at a reduced price Nameless had discovered large joints of topside rump very cheap. So did Nitwit get the roast she knew would be wonderful or did Nameless prevail by quickly tossing 3 largish pieces of meet into the shopping trolley? Nitwit tried to convince Nameless that this was a mistake and indeed it was. A terrible mistake -- tough as old boots.

Did Nameless admit his mistake -- almost -- until he considered for a while and came up with blaming the supermarket for a 'con'. So its Boxing Day and Nitwit is fuming about being a Nitwit and sulking because of the long hours in the kitchen on Christmas Day when everyone else got to play with his toys -- or whatever!

Today's menu is duck. That's what Nameless should do -- duck!

Christmas hmmmmm bug -- Ahhhhh

Christmas again. I love the music. I am bored with the waiting. Waiting to get things done. Here I am today twiddling. My husband is farting around doing this and that -- he won't be bothered ('bovvered') until Christmas Eve. Then he will start asking me if I got 'something' for this person or that, or sent them a card. And did I remember 'whatever' ...

So on we trudge toward the 'big' day/week, depending on where you live in this world. In the U.S. I always feel let down after Christmas Day. Big preparations and the decorating splurge all feel flat by the 26th of December. On this side of the Atlantic Christmas is a two -day holiday and for most people lasts through New Year and on through Epiphany. Many Americans, in an attempt to stave off the 24-hour blow-out, keep their lights up -- especially the outdoor festive fare -- until Valentine's Day! Which seems to me rather pathetic.

Yesterday the tree went up -- we picked a nice bushy, traditional English Christmas tree -- which was also the cheapest! And imagine this, it's also our preferred type of tree. Smells good, too. I also managed to make a traditional Christmas log, for our dessert -- in the freezer (what a delicious chocolate mess I made) and am slowly checking things off the 'to-do list'. I think I've bought all the presents and wrapped what needs wrapping. Today ma belle-soeur arrives -- ah check off the list that I've made her bed!

Quite a bit of discussion this year in the media about Christmas cards. Personally, I love Christmas cards. Especially getting them. Sending them is a chore, but it is nice to think about the people we have managed to keep in touch with over the years. It is an expensive thing to do, however. I divide my cards into three parts -- across the oceans, Europe and the UK. The postage runs about £25 - £30 and on top of that there is the cost of the cards -- which cost less than the postage, for sure! I don't send cards to people because I feel I have to -- I send them because I want to, which for me is the whole point of the exercise and somehow makes each Christmas an inclusive time of the year.

So, now it's on with the decorating -- almost done!

Seasonal Scream

I've taken down my first seasonal 'ornament' today. It's one of my favorites: A plastic, blow-up of 'The Scream' --er -- given to me a few years ago by my sister. Christmas had become such a Herculean ordeal for me that I had taken to adding a parenthetical Scream! Scream! Scream! after each use of the word whenever writing letters or emails. I was delighted to receive my surprise replica in the mail!

The 'Season to Be Jolly' was weird this year -- rather overshadowed by the darker side of life. I don't much like these times. Doom and gloom. And the weather -- Nothing is 'the same' -- except maybe the sun and the hours of day and night. Otherwise the flowers don't know when to give up, the leaves don't know when to drop and the birds don't know when to fly wherever it is they fly.

And then we were all treated to the lynching/hanging/execution of that Iraqi guy. Well I guess the media rather looked at it like a Christmas present the way they went on and on and on and on and on ... We stopped watching the news and reading the papers -- just skipped the first several pages of the newspapers we did buy. Honestly, it was as if we were brought backwards in time to when executions were calls for public gatherings and celebrations.

So, it was with some relief that New Year's Eve, spent as usual lately at home, glass of champagne in hand, with husband at my side, I felt a surge of hope that 2007 has to be better and that I want to be better, too. To be honest, I don't often feel that way on New Year's Eve and given recent events, it came as a surprise that I actually had this rather positive feeling.

Now if only I could get blogger to upload my screaming picture ...