Christmas Eve 2023

 I quite like Christmas being on a Monday. It means we collected our turkey and did the last bits of shopping yesterday, so today was - theoretically - a bit more relaxing. I thought of it almost like an extra Saturday. Not that I've sat down much; I've been pottering in the kitchen, making extra food, cutting up vegetables, washing up at least three times for items that won't go in the dishwasher. 

I made our Christmas cake at the start of November, put almond paste on it a few days ago, and iced it yesterday. I rarely do anything new or creative despite having many books with amazing looking ideas. Here's this year's effort, anyway:

I see, glancing through this blog, that it's very similar to the one I made in 2014. 

I didn't have any handy aquafaba and it seemed silly to open a can of chickpeas just for a few tablespoons of the cooking water. But I really don't like using raw egg white in royal icing. So I tried 'No Egg', something which is an inexpensive commercial egg replacer which we bought from Holland and Barrett a few weeks ago. I don't know how it works, but it was quite effective, though I had to add a tablespoon of extra water and another teaspoon of lemon juice to get the icing to bind together. 

We cooked the turkey yesterday, too. Well, Richard did most of the work. I just made the stuffing. It's now neatly sliced in a pan in the fridge, to be reheated tomorrow. 

I don't know why Christmas entertaining feels a whole order more complicated than normal evening or Sunday lunch entertaining. And I know the food and friends are not what Christmas is really about. But still, no matter how simple I try to keep it, I usually do some food preparation most days of December, with a lot on the last couple of days, and a full schedule Christmas morning. 

Advent was very short this year, only three weeks; today is the fourth Sunday of Advent. We put our tree up on December 1st, and hung up last year's cards. Fewer and fewer cards arrive each year, which is fine; electronic communication is more efficient, and considerably less expensive. Postage from the UK is shockingly high, and we know from experience that other cards will arrive next week, or later in January. So this year's cards will be hung up next year. 

This is a poignant time of year for many, a stressful time for even more. The world news is increasingly depressing. But I'll still take this brief moment to wish anyone who sees this a peaceful, blessed and encouraging day tomorrow, however you might celebrate - or even if you don't.