Christmas Eve

What a whirlwind of a couple of days. I'll start with today just because I wanted to lead in with the photo above. I do love doing a bit of food prep for the festive feast. Fairy lights, candles, champs, and something good on telly and I'm happy to potter in the kitchen. But we've been stupidly busy today so I was later than usual getting into the kitchen, so all I've prepped are the roast potatoes. Better than nothing. And I've taken some serious short cuts this year. Ready made mashed potato, ready made bread sauce, and I could not believe it when we went to Waitrose yesterday morning and found they had our new favourite side dish on the shelf, I fully expected them to be out of stock. Only three left, but we got one. Yes!

It's insanely good, so pleased we can enjoy it tomorrow. Good luck all round really, I found a decent sized turkey crown at a decent price - some of the turkeys were so expensive and far too large for us - they had the chocolate fudge brownie that Bill and Violet like to have on Christmas Day, and lots of other bits and pieces that I feared I wouldn't get. It was really busy when we got there, and we arrived just after 8 a.m.
My plan is to have an easy day tomorrow, hence the buying of ready made stuff. [Ooh. Sadie, when you read this post after publishing go and see if the pigs in blankets need to be defrosted, and don't forget.]

The reason I didn't get to the kitchen until late is because Bill and I have been in the garden building our contraption to block out the neighbours. We've been waiting for them to go away so we could get on with it in peace. It was obvious they were going away for Christmas, and we weren't going to miss our chance. It took so much longer than expected, rather than try to explain it I'll get a photo and post it another day. we are just pleased to have got it done, it was delivered back in October and we've been waiting for our opportunity to build it since then.

Yesterday started with the fruit and veg delivery from the milkman. The arrival of it just says Christmas to me, it's something I really look forward to. I love their veg boxes and nothing gets wasted.

After doing the weekly/festive feast shop Bill had to go off to have his medical treatment. When it was done he came back to pick up Violet and I, and we returned to The Butt & Oyster for our Christmas Eve lunch after missing it for the past couple of years. A day earlier because it made sense to do it on Friday rather than today, I'm glad we did so it worked out really well. We all missed being able to go there during the Pandemic Days, it was so good to be back again.

Pub with a fantastic view.

After that we toodled off to Suffolk Food Hall, a lovely, festive Day.

I've just wrapped up Bill's pressies, don't ask me why but I haven't bothered to wrap them despite having them stashed away for weeks. Not like me to leave it so late, but it's done now. The plan is to have a relaxed Christmas Day, lots of good food and just enjoy the time together.
Last minute wreath I made on Thursday. Made from a coathanger, foliage from the garden and some roses that had seen better days. Bascially it didn't cost a penny to make. I had the urge to see a wreath hung between the garage doors, it looks rather lovely so I'll be doing it again next year too.

Off to follow my bossy boot instructions and check the pigs in blankets before I fall asleep!
Thanks for reading, and I wish you a very, very Merry Christmas.