Okay, so it's Boxing day eve and Christmas is done and dusted for another year, thank goodness. No, I'm not complaining at all. It was a great day yesterday. I had my daughter here with her kids, and that was nice, and Shaunna had one of her nieces here to share Christmas Day when she otherwise would have save been alone. No, the thank goodness part is a thank you that all the preparation and effort is done for another year... not to mention the expense.
It would have been nice to have had the other grandkids here as well, another 7 of them, but not everyone could make it to bring them. However I'm grateful for those who could make it and we had a nice day anyway.
We kept thing fairly simple, though, and had the main meal of roast turkey, roast potatoes and garden vegetables at lunchtime. Yup, it meant the majority of cooking was done during the coolest part of the day and we could take the afternoon [the hottest part of the day] off. We even used plastic plates, bowls, knives, forks and spoons so they could all be thrown away and there was minimal to no washing up.
Our evening meal consisted of cold meats [turkey, chicken and ham] with an assortment of salad vegetables and a vareiety of dressings [French, Italian, Balsamic and Mayonnaise] so people could make a salad to their own liking. Yup, pre-prepared and self serve seemed like the way to go... though my daughter organised the kids meals to save them making an even bigger mess. Gotta love 'em but they can create a disaster zone in no moments if left to their own devices areound self-serve food.
Again, it was throw away plates and cutlery, and desert consisted of Pavlova with whipped cream and fruit salad; or Christmas pudding and brandy custard and/or ice cream; or fruit salad and ice cream or vanilla/brandy custard...or a combination of all of them if desired. Put it this way, there was plenty of food to go around - even the dogs got a few treats with leftovers - and there's still plenty of ham, turkey and other nibblies to last us a few more days yet.
Gifts were not the be all and end all of the day, for which I'm also thankful. A few inexpensive gifts were exchanged but the day was mostly about family togetherness and sharing a nice meal together, and that was far more important to me/all of us, meaning it was a success without all the commercial claptrap and excessive expense. Shoot, we didn't even bother with a tree or Xmas decorations this year... all those lights bumping up the power bill.
Bah humbug, some of you might say, but nobody here cared... or missed them. Besides, the money saved can go to more worthwhile things... like helping my daughter and grandkids, who have been doing it tough of late.
Anyway, we had a great day that went as planned and hope that you all had a great holiday, also.
