Good old NORAD

Merry Christmas! Are you having a good one?

With last Saturday’s sudden announcement about the change of tiers and new restrictions on numbers of households who could gather together, Christmas went from potentially being five days with three households to one day of two households together. That seemed like a very sensible decision, however we went from being guests to needing to buy all we needed for Christmas dinner. Luckily we had already ordered a turkey from the local butchers as usual, and the rest came in a grocery order I’d fortunately managed to book weeks ago for the first time ever. Everything else was found during an early morning run to the market and a dash into a supermarket on the 23rd. Despite there being only three of us for Christmas Day you still buy all the same things, albeit in smaller quantities. I made a loaf of sourdough to go with smoked salmon and champagne before lunch, made my usual marzipan fruit Christmas cake, rum butter to go with Christmas pudding and prepped some vegetables. It was all good and felt really relaxed.

I was wondering what it would be like not seeing family and felt quite sad about it. In fact, on the day it felt like a really jam-packed social Christmas Day! We had three different video calls with family groups through the day. It was really lovely to see everyone, see their Christmas trees, hold up favourite presents to show each other and waggle champagne glasses. Not the same as seeing everybody in person, but a good substitute. Thank goodness for technology!

I haven’t picked up a crochet hook or needles at all, for about a week. Today is our designated lazy day, after we walked 5 miles in the biting cold and rain yesterday. We ate a late lunch of leftover smoked salmon and cream cheese on sourdough, had a slice of Stollen, followed by a slice of Yule Log (!) along with a couple of mugs of tea in our ‘Social Bubble’. Then headed home for my favourite Boxing Day dinner of baked potatoes, home-made salads, cold turkey, apricot and chestnut sausage meat stuffing, pickles and spoonfuls of cranberry sauce and mayonnaise. I love this period now between Christmas and New Year… Crimbo Limbo! It’s going to be full of films, books, music, woolly crafting and a few strolls around to see Christmas lights, door wreaths and decorations. We’ll tackle another longer walk on Tuesday, but not a moment before!

Tell me about your Christmas?

What are you doing during Crimbo limbo?