The Christmas Weekend.


The tree has just come down at SSG Manor 2.0.  It’s been pulled apart or perhaps disassembled is a better description of the care I took.  The branches for each tier have been tied together with pipe cleaners from an arts and craft kit.  Everything’s been compressed and defluffed to make sure it all fits back into the box.

Those decorations with their special memories and their own stories to tell have been boxed up ready for our next Christmas which will be as special as the one just gone.  Because despite or perhaps because of the year that was, our Christmas weekend was every bit as special as it was different to Christmases past.
The nativity in the front garden of a neighbour’s house.  
Apologies in advance for the litany of cliches and truisms that I’ve drenched this post in.  I’m one week deep into some annual leave, the living’s been easy – mimosas have been had mid-morning and dessert has done for lunch.
Hand sanitizer for Santa and floury / snowy footprints at the fireplace.  Christmas 2020 for parents in the Southern Hemisphere.

This Christmas was magic.  That ‘joy in the every day and in the ordinary’ kind of magic.  I was apprehensive as I shopped and planned – wary of the fact that it would be a holiday celebration apart from many of the people that make Christmas for me.  However.  When you have a nearly eight-year-old in the house who shrieks and jumps at you daily about just how excited he is that Santa’s nearly here – well, you just fake it ’til you make it and Google reindeer footprints at 4am Christmas Day so that you can draw the real deal on Santa and Rudi’s thank you note.

Or perhaps it wasn’t magic that made this Christmas for me but time instead.  An embarrassment of it.

Time on Christmas Eve to take all day to make my desserts and have everything well chilled in the fridge ahead of lunch the next day.

Time at breakfast to ponder the new-fangled rectangular shape of savoirardi.

I’ll admit, the new shape does add a certain precise geometry to trifles in a round dish.

Time to sit back at Christmas lunch.

Sangria and prime position next to the cheeseboard?  I was definitely living my best life.

Don’t worry, there was some proper food in between the cheese and dessert.  Tray baked salmon with risoni and broccolini plus oven-roasted chicken.  It was the perfect food for the weather (grey skies, a bit of rain and cool), the leftovers were manageable and neither were a stress to prepare.
Similarly, dessert was two made ahead options and cut fruit.  All on point in the colour department.

Master SSG did the honours and decorated the jelly cake with glittering sprinkles.
Boxing Day was a breeze.  Time remained fluid.  Holidays was the theme, dipping into my stash of hotel toiletries and samples was the game.

The cousins came for the day and I was on Aunty duty.  After a coffee run, that much-needed coffee sat with me as I came to grips with Fimo all over again.  The cars stood up well to baking but I think a couple of the tyres look a bit flat now.

Lego was built, with practically no involvement from me.  Which explained why I dipped in and out of the online Boxing Day sales throughout the day – with quite a few purchases to show for it.  Things like new pillows, pillow cases, photo frames and bath mats….  Exciting things.

Except when it came time to set up the backyard slip and slide.  Yes, the boat did float in the splash pool end of the slide!

These fancy water balloons fill from the tap using a hose attachment.  Filled balloons just drop off their straw when they’re filled and ready to throw.  I had a bit too much fun doing the filling.

Pizza subs using leftover bread rolls are a Friday night dinner I remember fondly from primary school.  I think we used pots of tomato paste way back in the 80s.  These days, pizza sauce comes in a very convenient squeezy packet.  And there’s a special pizza cheese blend.  It was Coon back in the day.

We didn’t stop all day.

But when we had to, there was popcorn, dry clothes and fluffy towels waiting.

Time has even been found for some crochet.  I’m learning a shell stitch at the moment.  It looks more complicated than it is in an ombre yarn.  It’s a very restful stitch to crochet.  The repeats are easy and while the turns are a bit tricky at first, they make sense in the context of the pattern which makes it easier to remember what to do.
Did you receive the gift of time this Christmas?  
So many of us have had plans and traditions disrupted this year.  I hope you’re still managing to enjoy the season in a way that’s special for you.


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