My tiny tree is on the end of the kitchen bench - it's the only flat surface in our living area, but as it is enormous, the bench not the tree, it's not really in the way. It's actually the top third of a 7 foot tree, and David cleverly made it fit in the base with corrugated card. Kiwi ingenuity. I finished my day job last Friday and putting up the tree helped to flip me into holiday mode.
I had the most delicious late thanksgiving dinner at my friend Emily's where she just cooked the turkey legs and they were so good, I decided that was going to be our Christmas dinner. Then Jamie Oliver got on TV last week with boning and stuffing them. So, David boned them all out for me (we joked that he would have made an excellent butcher, which would horrify his lifelong vegetarian mother!) and tonight I stuffed and rolled 12 of them with pork sausagemeat, apricot and sage stuffing.
This year I have refused to bake any dried fruit foods as it is too hot! So I've made a trifle, experimenting with raspberry, rhubarb and orange flavours, with a dessert wine and Cointreau as the soak. The sponge is gluten free, and a bit dry but hopefully the booze and fruit will sort it out.
Late on Wednesday, having sewn up all the semi-constructed masks on my sewing table for the shop, I decided that masks were the new hats for Christmas crackers and made 12 more. They are all gorgeous, but sewing 30 masks was a mistake and my back is not happy with me. So on top of my knee, I'm hobbling around, getting on the floor every couple of hours to do stretches and hoping it will stop spasming. Cooking sitting on a bar stool is quite tricky!
On the News we are told that retail spending is down this year, but in our tranquil little shop we've had our best week ever in ten years. For this we are very, very thankful.
It's a funny time. Covid and bereavements and weather events and bad health - I don't feel much like celebrating. But because of this it is important to celebrate anyway. I'm sitting with things as they are - the good, and the bad. Rather than focus on either side, just to be with it.
So on this Christmas Eve, I'm relaxing, contemplating bed and thinking of you all. Natalie if you read this I hope you are ok with the terrible tornado ripping through Kentucky. Sending love your way.
I wish for you all some peace and replenishment among the ambiguity. xo
Dear Mrs. C.,
ReplyDeleteJust being with it...yes, that's what to do. Anything else doesn't really work. Am so happy, though, that the shop is tripping along well. Now, to get your back in order...
Thank you so for thinking of us here in Kentucky! Lexington had thunder and that's it, but a pair of smaller tornadoes hit not far away, and the massive one about 4 hours from here. Lots of our townspeople have family and friends there, and the next morning as my son had his hair cut at the barber, the mother sitting next to me said her uncle in one of the hard-hit towns had been digging with his hands all night, working alongside others who were seeking survivors. He was to get out his big construction equipment that afternoon...backhoe and bulldozer, I guess, while her aunt was helping feed survivors and emergency workers.
Since then, we've all pitched in, along with folks from all over, to see that people have toiletries, blankets, food, tools, and toys for the children... There's enough to last into the medium-term, but I am not sure how housing will be found...many folks are staying at park lodges owned by the state, for now. The storms are having another add-on effect: the farmland there is rich and the loss of livestock and crops was pretty bad, I understand.
It's Christmas day there, so I hope that your your stuffed turkey legs were fabulous and the trifle was magnificent! Nom, nom, nom!
Hugs to you,
Natalie in KY
Good morning, such a relief to know you are ok but yes so many ripples through the community.
DeleteTurkey kegs in the oven, my stepson is on the phone with the hubby and we're very close to being on schedule xo