Friday, December 29, 2006

Natale

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and lots of nice things to eat. I didn't really eat much this Christmas but I still had that constant bloated feeling nevertheless. It must be all the lack of air from staying indoors for so long watching endless repeats of The Two Ronnies. Why does Christmas day feel like the longest day ever? What do we do that's so different to normal?

I often spend Sundays at my parent's house and we sit around, have dinner, watch TV etc and it feels like a normal day. The board games rarely come out. Why do they always make an appearance on Christmas day in houses throughout the land? Why is it that at Christmas people feel naked without a drink perpetually clamped to their hand? And stuff themselves silly with nuts and various nibbles despite the fact they feel close to vomiting? Who knows. But that's Christmas.


I had four Christmases this year and enjoyed them all. The first was Sunday evening at M's aunties house as his Grandma was off to Ireland for Christmas. We exchanged presents and had a delicious starter of prosciutto, mozzarella and rocket followed by Delia's Boeuf Bourguignon, cheese and biscuits, coffee and grappa. Thursday evening M & I had our own Christmas at home and opened our pressies over Cava followed by homemade Beef Wellington. On Christmas Eve at my parents' we had various antipasti followed by roast beef and roasted winter vegetables. On Christmas day itself we had a bottle of Prosecco followed by a traditional Christmas dinner which I just love. Prawn cocktail, turkey and all the trimmings; potatoes roasted in goose fat, leeks in cheese sauce, carrots and swede, parsnips in honey, pigs in blankets (sausages wrapped in bacon) and the star of the show, sausagemeat stuffing.


We couldn't manage any Christmas pudding until 10 O'clock (which I don't even really like, but always have anyway). We didn't even have room for any panettone so we had it for breakfast instead. Then finally Boxing Day at M's parents for a delicious turkey and ham pie with all the trimmings. Even Casper enjoys Christmas as he always gets a treat of a prawn in exchange for a photo with the Christmas hat.





The exchanging of presents is my favourite part of Christmas. Seeing people's faces as the paper is ripped off to reveal something you spent hours agonising over and traipsing the streets for is worth every minute. And receiving lovely pressies too of course. I got some lovely pressies this year. Here are some of the best ones:

From my parents, a handbag and a cute little Alessi wine stopper for those unfinished bottles of wine (which, er, is a rare occurrence in our house but it looks cute anyway).

From M, some great DVDs including Tsotsi, Coffy and the fantastic comedy series Look around You. Cds, Gwen Stefani and The second album from The Magic Numbers which I'm not sure about at the moment – certainly not as good as the first but might need a few more listens.

I hope next year's Christmas will be as good as this one but next year I must remember to do a new background for my Mum's nativity. At the moment she's still using the same one I made when I was 8! Enjoy the rest of the holidays everyone and have a great New Year!



14 comments:

Red said...

Hmm... Casper doesn't look at all amused in his Christmas hat. But he is gorgeous!

Sounds like you had a great time... and a lotta beef over the holidays! We went the other way, with several veggie dishes (including veggie stroganoff on Christmas Eve) and roast chicken for Christmas lunch. And no Christmas pudding, which we both abhor, but plenty of panettone and pandoro. I was going to make a tiramisu', but got lazy so decided against it.

* (asterisk) said...

Wow, you had a real feast over Christmas, several times over!

Casper is very cute. He's loving that prawn!

Happy '07 to you, ACT.

aidanrad said...

"The board games rarely come out. Why do they always make an appearance on Christmas day in houses throughout the land? Why is it that at Christmas people feel naked without a drink perpetually clamped to their hand? And stuff themselves silly with nuts and various nibbles despite the fact they feel close to vomiting?"

You (almost) make them sound like bad things.
Glad you enjoyed - happy seeing-in-the-new tomorrow...

a.c.t. said...

Red, he was about to scratch my eyes out when I took the hat off. What do you put in veggie stroganoff?
Asterisk, he forgave me when I gave him that prawn.
Aidan, I know it sounds that way. I do kind of enjoy it but at the same time...feeling close to vomiting is not a pleasant experience. I do of course, love Trivial Pursuit for a while until nobody seems able to land in the middle!

Travel Italy said...

I love the presepe!!!

Red said...

The veggie stroganoff is one of *'s dishes. He puts in mushrooms, peppers and courgettes, and serves it on a bed of rice. Yum...

ginkers said...

I am glad you had a good Christmas and I hope it continues into the New Year. Also happy to see Heston Blumenthal knocked off the top of your page.

Camie Vog said...

Happy New Year!!

martinobhoy said...

Happy New Year A.C.T. from stormy Edinburgh.

Anonymous said...

have a creative 2007! (act and all)

b x

Spangly Princess said...

Auguri! and it sounds like you had a great Christmas (with a really phenomenal amount of food!!)

I hope 2007 brings much happiness to you & yours. And Casper looks adorable.

me said...

can i just ask, did you wait until xmas day to put your baby into the nativity scene? we do!
(or should i say the wife and boy do)

a.c.t. said...

Cappy, my Mum does yes. She even puts the three Kings at the bottom of the garden and moves them closer until they arrive on the 6th! Only joking, she puts them around the side until their arrival.

Martha Elaine Belden said...

such a pretty kitty :)

and i like your school-girl nativity

(merry very late Christmas)