Saturday was the day that bateleur and I attempted a three course meal for my parents and chrestomancy (who arrived on Saturday evening to join us for Xmas). It was also the day that we finished the Christmas food shopping in Tesco. Despite a fairly early start (09:30) the place was still packed out when we arrived (no parking spaces, no trolleys) and complete murder to tackle. I got bateleur to leave his cooking ingredients for the evening meal until the end and then park me with the trolley in one of the huge queues whilst he went to get those final things. Twenty minutes later he was back - and I had barely moved (although the queue shifted fairly promptly after that). However, we got it done and got out again with still some morning left.
The afternoon involved Granny Iris and the duo playing railway in the playroom whilst my dad read the paper and I finished wrapping presents. Come evening we fed the duo their tea and then packed them off safely to bed before laying the dinner table for The Meal. The first course was giant-sized vol-au-vents, in this case salmon and cream cheese in puff pastry. The second course was a meat and vegetable stew with rice (which was much nicer than it sounds) and the dessert was chocolate pots, partly because they taste wonderful and partly because they can be easily prepared earlier in the day. White wine was Sancerre - which I'd tracked down in Fortnum and Mason after we'd been given a wonderful bottle of it and red wine was a fine Rioja from chrestomancy with gold wire netting (for some reason).
Sunday lunchtime, my parents took us all out for a meal and so we got to watch Bea tackle adult-sized portions of pizza and ice cream. The afternoon then proceeded with the Hornsey part of the family heading off to the park with Ryan, whilst bateleur stayed in with Bea. My small son seemed very pleased to have four adults to himself! The evening involved the rest of my family disappearing off to Feltham cineworld to watch Casino Royale. Back at the house, bateleur and I bathed the duo, put them to bed and then I broke out Shadow Hearts II (a birthday present that I was meaning to get into right after I finished Final Fantasy X again - and I finally did that on Thursday evening) whilst bateleur watched. Then the cinema crew returned for mulled wine and bread maker bread before we headed bedwards, with a brief pause to sort out Bea and Ryan's stockings.
Yep - my computer died over Xmas, so I'm still catching up with advent entries.
My parents arrived last Friday with the duo. They appeared at about half-four, allowing bateleur and I to beat them home - in our case from the unofficial Xmas meal organised by people from bateleur's work place.
I had a happy morning in a nice warm staff room reading The Crown of Dalemark and chatting with venta about life, the universe and the fact that both kitchens were about to run out of milk. For the meal itself I ended up sitting next to bateleur (deaf side) and onebyone (hearing side). I had venta opposite bateleur and Dave beyond her and then Andy (the organiser) opposite onebyone and conversation (well, the bit I heard/was involved with) came from them (and me). I'm ashamed to say I don't remember the name of the guy opposite me, only that he was very quiet.
Dinner was smoked salmon and avocado, Christmas dinner (but no cranberry sauce or pigs wrapped in blankets!) and profiteroles and I thoroughly enjoyed it all. There was also a nice glass of white wine (mine) and a nice glass of red wine (bateleur was driving). Plus conversation about the Video Game Live concert, New Year plans and cracker puzzles.
The drive back involved fog and Queen. The latter of which could only be persuaded to play on what seemed to be the six-hundredth attempt.
Yesterday began with presents and cards to mark bateleur's thirty-fourth.
It also included: * Cakes from the local bakers - a cherry cookie for bateleur and a chocolate truffle log for me (complete with tiny sugar holly - three leaves and a berry). * More house stuff - The end of Diablo II (killing Baal with the weapons I used to kill Diablo - 'cos I didn't pick up anything better - took ages), more washing up and the continuation of The Playroom Tidy Up. * Internet usage - Because it was back. * Patchworking - Over in the Museum, everyone is on the stairs. * Absolutely no deliveries - because we were mistaken about the two we were expecting. * Annual Xmas card news - From some old and dear friends. I used to loath the "newsletter" things that came round, but I now grudgingly admit that they are useful (although I still can't bring myself to produce my own).
Session notes * The investigators (well, three of them anyway) headed into the dreamscape being guided by Rainbow Kelsey to discover that they had additions (Anton's cat rooted into his shoulder, Greg's pair of cocooning moths and Matthew's spider-wasp) in that land * The Barry family disappeared * Major Hendry was assassinated (and the party got to read her diary) * Fen Castle hosted dinner and there was a plan to locate Lucy Myers (both body and soul) * Max reappeared for the first time since prelude and promised to investigate Fen Castle and the MPs
Saturday saw the arrival of Granny Jo and J-J and the departure of three generations of Camuses to a wedding in Vauxhall.
The bride was my cousin-in-law Ellie (take two) and it involved a lovely, old church (St Peters), a large red wedding dress (I'd have hated to stand through my own wedding service at seven months pregnant) and a collection of little bridesmaids and page boys (of which half were children of the bride). The little people coped remarkably well with the service - it was over an hour and they were all primary school age (Jess, the little manga girl, was the youngest - approaching her fifth birthday).
Once the service was over, photographs were taken in the church (no confetti please!), mostly around the high altar. I personally felt that I was committing sacrilege by standing there, but it certainly made excellent pictures.
The reception was held in the Quality Hotel at Victoria involving what was billed as champagne on arrival (I'm no authority on champagne, but various other people opined that it was more likely to be sparkling wine) which was very nice (and orange juice for those not drinking). However, by this stage, it was five pm and the duo had missed their afternoon snack - so the half-hour waiting for the rest of the guests was punctuated with "Is it dinner time yet?" and "I'm hun-gry."
Dinner (finally) arrived in the form of a buffet dinner. We started with melon and samosas and finished with tiramisu cake and fruit salad. There was, unusually, vegan options (sister of the bride was vegan) and plenty of white and red wine to go with (both good). Finally the speeches, more champagne and the toasts. Oh, and home-made wedding cake.
A disco was scheduled for the end of the evening, but it was late and the duo were already heading for three hours past their bedtime. So we said our goodbyes and caught the train back home (which, like the journey in, was an hour long due to engineering works at Barnes). But I was happy - I'd filched four helium balloons in pink and gold.
Do you display your Christmas cards around the house and, if so, how?
I've been pegging cards (almost all Bea's) to long pieces of striped string and then attaching them to hooks on walls to hang them down vertically. bateleur has admired my efforts and commented that his parents always went for the "washing line" effect. I also like putting them on the mantelpiece, but this requires a mantelpiece and a suitable number of cards.
On my journey home from work I pass a garden with chimes (hanging from a tree, I assume). The wind has to be just right to ring them clearly, but tonight it was. It brought back memory of my sixth form days when I had a set hanging up in my room.
chrestomancy's Final Fantasy Tribute Game.
amused
awake
complacent
tired
nostalgic