Christmas

Our Christmas went really well. It was a pretty low-key day with just family over during the evening. Normally we go to a breakfast that is hosted by family friends on Christmas Day but it was cancelled this year and we were home all day. Actually, that’s not entirely true because I went out to a shop at some local markets that was open to get a couple things needed for food preparation. The shop was pretty busy, probably because aside from another major shop and some food outlets, every other place around was closed.

While the annual breakfast is nice, It was also good to sleep in and not to be rushing off early in the day. I wanted to do this when the kids were younger but it kind of became an obligatory thing and so it has continued.

While the boys enjoyed their Christmas gifts, the Scientist and I worked on various tasks before family came over in the evening. The evening went really well with everyone enjoying the food. There was too much again and I can’t help thinking I might only make one veggie item next year instead of a salad and veggie item. I usually do veggie chickpea patties but changed to a different type this year. The new recipe was a lot easier and less time consuming and it came out well. I was going to look for the recipe but now I can’t recall it and it’s been so long I don’t know if I will find it again. I also made tabbouleh this time and it came out pretty well for a first try. Most of the works seems to be chopping up the herbs. The wheat bulgur is pretty quick and easy to cook. The Scientist prepared a turkey and also a roast beef because Lego Lover doesn’t like turkey.

We ate outside on the patio and had a nice relaxing time with the family for a long while afterwards. Then Game Fanatic had organised some party games to be played using his laptop and the tv. That turned out to be lots of fun and before we knew it, 9pm rolled around and everyone was still here and wanting to play a bit more. But soon afterwards things did wrap up and almost everyone left. It was at this point while saying goodbye to the Scientist’s brother that we realised we hadn’t done the birthday cake for this BIL. The Scientist and I did a quick sing of Happy birthday and then we cut the cake and sent him home with some. The rest was left here for us to eat. We’ve never forgotten before so it was pretty embarrassing and I think the Scientist felt the worst about it…just that we were all so wrapped up in the other parts it got overlooked. Anyway…

After that there was tag team clean up with the Scientist and I taking turns washing dishes until he finally went to bed. Almost everything was cleaned up so it looked pretty good in here. Then it was just time to relax a bit until the evening was over. And then it was done and dusted, as they say around here.