Christmas this year was a strange affair in our household. For the first time in around 15 years I was actually working right up until 6 o’clock on Christmas Eve. Surprisingly it was actually very busy at work when it is usually notoriously slow on that particular day.

When I got home all the family were already there and it was time for me to throw off my uniform and start to relax. Mum had arranged the evening meal and we were all looking forward to a lovely joint of Gammon.

This was when the first disaster struck.

Going to the oven to check on the roast potatoes we realised the oven was not working. It was stone cold and so were the vegetables.

Catastrophe!

Now we are nothing if not resourceful. Out came the pans, things were transferred to the hob and in the steamer and we were good to go.

It was only a small setback after all. After a relaxing glass of wine, even I was able to see the funny side of things. The one thing we had on our side was that we don’t have our main Christmas Dinner on Christmas Day. We actually have ours on Boxing Day.

This meant that there was no pressure or worry  due to the fact we didn’t have a working oven. I took my turkey over to my Mum’s house on Christmas Day afternoon and she cooked it for us and I collected it on Boxing Day morning.

The vegetables that we had planned needed to have their cooking methods altered. Instead of goose fat roast potatoes, we diced them up and tossed them in melted butter and garlic. Parmentier Potatoes – done.

The rest of our vegetables were either steamed or boiled. The whole meal was as tasty as ever and there were no complaints.

The only thing missing was that we did not have a variety of stuffing as we normally would. But it was not the end of the World. As they say, there are far worse things that happen at sea.

For many people, a broken cooker could have caused a total meltdown. We are lucky in the fact that we do not have our Christmas Day Dinner on the 25th. We sat with snacks and buffet party food and played board games all afternoon. It was a lovely time and very stress free.

There seems to be so much pressure on people to provide a luxury banquet that they have slaved over all day. I am the first to admit that I usually eat far more than I need or want, and end up with an uncomfortable feeling for the rest of the day, rather like the proverbial stuffed turkey.

This year due to the complications and being able to cook mounds of food, that didn’t happen and I can honestly say I felt so much better for it. In fact I think it is the way ahead!

Since then there has been a serious of catastrophes mainly injury or illness, which means the festive season has been a little unsettled and disconnected. Going back to work for most of this week means I have missed out on the lazing around relaxing during that strange in-between period between Christmas and New Year.

However it also means that I have cherished the time that I have had with my family. Chatting until the late hours with Little Chick who is home from University; painting Baby Bears nails; arguing over the television remote control; playing board games for hours on end.

These little things are sometimes taken for granted. We rush around cooking, cleaning and organising. We spread ourselves very thinly.

This Christmas we put our mobile phones to one side. The television hardly turned on. We enjoyed being in one another’s company and these are memories that will stay with us for years to come.

Being a blogger, my family is amazingly supportive of the time I spend writing, promoting posts and being online. I can easily spend several hours in a frenzy of writing. But I have hardly written over this festive period. Literally I have been unable to even think of writing.

Whilst around 80% of me has missed it intently, the other 20% has been very glad of the break. The benefits I have reaped from relaxing and being offline have been numerous. I think that it has been such an incredibly busy and successful year, that I just needed to have a little break.

And spending that with the family I love has been wonderful…

As a New Year starts I would like to wish you and yours the best wishes for 2017. I hope your New Year is successful, healthy, happy and above all loved. Thank you for your support during this past year, I hope to see you still reading me in the coming months.

Love T xx