Christmas 2018

I can't believe it has been nearly a month since Christmas, it just doesn't seem possible! Even though it was a little while ago now, I still wanted to add something on here as we had such a lovely day.

This was the first year that I hosted Christmas, so I was a little apprehensive about getting the dinner right and everyone having a nice time, especially with such a high bar set by my mum's amazing Christmas dinners! The evening before, I got all of the food out and noted down the cooking times and temperatures and made myself a schedule of what needed to go in the oven or on the hob and when. I even added what shelf and tray each item would be on as trays and oven space were scarce so I had to plan it out to make sure it would all fit in. 

I woke up early on Christmas morning and before everyone else woke up, so I took my duvet to the sofa and watched the rugrats go wild movie, which was a favourite from my childhood. Once everyone else was up we opened our presents around the tree. I was very lucky and received a dyson airwrap which I absolutely love and my hair has never looked better. A few other gifts were a lovely notebook, my favourite bubble bath and face mask and a sweet daisy necklace. My mum also put together a lovely wooden tray filled with all sorts of little goodies such as a festive mug, hot chocolate sticks, chocolate orange spread and a lush bath bomb as a Christmas Eve treat, which was so thoughtful.

After opening our presents, I served up breakfast which was croissants, jam, chocolate orange spread, strawberries and fresh orange juice and tea. I think croissants must have been a popular breakfast choice this year as I had to look in several supermarkets to find a pack on Christmas Eve morning before I bought the last one in a Tesco express. Once breakfast was done we all retired to the sofa to watch the television, although there wasn't a great choice this year, so by 11.30 am I started to prep the vegetables so dinner would be ready for 3ish. 

The timing preparation from the evening before paid off and dinner went without a hitch, apart from forgetting the Yorkshire puddings until I was plating up, but luckily I had bought frozen ones (is there a better Yorkshire pudding than an Aunt Bessie one? I don't think so!) so they only took a few minutes to cook and were ready by the time everything else had been served up. I was so pleased (but mostly relieved!) that everything turned out as I hoped and dinner was a success. There were a few leftovers which were plated up and put in the fridge for Boxing Day sandwiches (possibly my favourite meal of the year, as I think I look forward to this even more than the main Christmas dinner!)

We then all settled in to watch more television and although we had planned to go for a walk after dinner, one by one we each felt too tired to go, so we stayed in and relaxed for the evening with a few nibbles and before we knew it the day was over.