I like it when Christmas Day is a Monday. Although many shops will open tomorrow, we try to avoid shopping on Sundays. So rather than rushing to the supermarket for last-minute bits and pieces on Christmas Eve, we shopped this morning and if anything is missing, we'll do without.
I updated our family website yesterday, including this year's newsletter. If anyone reading this is interested (and has not already seen it via email), you can find it here: Family newsletter 2017. Observant visitors to the site may notice links to a couple of books in the right-hand sidebar. One is to the book Richard wrote a few years ago. The other is to my father's memoirs, which I edited a little and proof-read over the past few months. They were published via CreateSpace a few days ago.
I usually ice our Christmas cake on Christmas Eve, but decided to do it today, instead. I usually get terrible arm-ache making royal icing, gradually beating icing sugar into egg white or substitute (aquafaba is what I used today, and is my preference). This year I decided to use my food processor, ignoring the advice of purists who insist that royal icing must be beaten with a wooden spoon. It was quick, easy, and successful. I wish I'd thought of doing it this way years ago.
I also put a ribbon around the cake, which is much easier than trying to ice the sides. And since there was a little icing left over, I attempted to pipe a few roses on top. Not very successfully, and the puddle in front of the 'Merry Christmas' thing looks very odd in this photo, but I hope it'll taste all right.
The last few days have gone quickly; it's been great having Tim here. Tomorrow afternoon he will stuff and cook our turkey, so it can be carved and put in a roasting pan in the fridge, ready for re-heating on Christmas Day. We'll probably peel and chop potatoes tomorrow too, but almost everything else is ready. There will be eleven of us sitting down to eat lunch on Christmas Day.
As always I'm aware that this season is a difficult, poignant and sometimes painful season for people who have lost or are separated from loved ones. We will very much miss Daniel and Becky and the grandchildren, who are thousands of miles away. But we're very thankful to have Tim here, and good friends to share the day with.
Having written this a day early, I may well decide not to switch my computer on at all for the next couple of days. I'm one of the few remaining people who doesn't have (or want) a smart-phone, so once my computer is off, I'm unconnected with the online world.
So, although it's a couple of days early, I'd like to wish everyone a warm, love-filled and blessed Christmas (or whatever you celebrate over the holiday period).
I updated our family website yesterday, including this year's newsletter. If anyone reading this is interested (and has not already seen it via email), you can find it here: Family newsletter 2017. Observant visitors to the site may notice links to a couple of books in the right-hand sidebar. One is to the book Richard wrote a few years ago. The other is to my father's memoirs, which I edited a little and proof-read over the past few months. They were published via CreateSpace a few days ago.
I usually ice our Christmas cake on Christmas Eve, but decided to do it today, instead. I usually get terrible arm-ache making royal icing, gradually beating icing sugar into egg white or substitute (aquafaba is what I used today, and is my preference). This year I decided to use my food processor, ignoring the advice of purists who insist that royal icing must be beaten with a wooden spoon. It was quick, easy, and successful. I wish I'd thought of doing it this way years ago.
I also put a ribbon around the cake, which is much easier than trying to ice the sides. And since there was a little icing left over, I attempted to pipe a few roses on top. Not very successfully, and the puddle in front of the 'Merry Christmas' thing looks very odd in this photo, but I hope it'll taste all right.
The last few days have gone quickly; it's been great having Tim here. Tomorrow afternoon he will stuff and cook our turkey, so it can be carved and put in a roasting pan in the fridge, ready for re-heating on Christmas Day. We'll probably peel and chop potatoes tomorrow too, but almost everything else is ready. There will be eleven of us sitting down to eat lunch on Christmas Day.
As always I'm aware that this season is a difficult, poignant and sometimes painful season for people who have lost or are separated from loved ones. We will very much miss Daniel and Becky and the grandchildren, who are thousands of miles away. But we're very thankful to have Tim here, and good friends to share the day with.
Having written this a day early, I may well decide not to switch my computer on at all for the next couple of days. I'm one of the few remaining people who doesn't have (or want) a smart-phone, so once my computer is off, I'm unconnected with the online world.
So, although it's a couple of days early, I'd like to wish everyone a warm, love-filled and blessed Christmas (or whatever you celebrate over the holiday period).
1 comment:
I hope you had a good Christmas. We recently relented and gout ourselves phone.
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