Hello Dear Friends!!!
How are you all doing this Monday?
Before I get into natter mode, I have to firstly say this....
Thank you, to each one of you, for the overwhelming response to my previous post "Thoughts on October". Your outpouring of friendship, love and encouragement has left me humbled and just a bit speechless. I deeply appreciate each and every comment and email that I have received. I have replied to every one! Just another indication of the spirit of paying it forward, that exists in Blogland, and I am so very blessed to be a part of it, not to mention proud!! You rock!!
Now, it has been a busy weekend, in spite of the miserable chilly, and at times wet weather. On Friday afternoon, I braved the home time traffic down to the beach to take a couple of shots for my new food blog! It was mayhem and the traffic cut into my cocktail hour but I managed to get a couple of shots!
Then, on Saturday and Sunday we had the Seasons of Sauvignon Festival in Durbanville, the wine lands where I stay, which was a blast, despite the miserable weather! Much tasting and eating and indulging....
Recently, during September, I scurried into Woolies to buy milk and bread, only to be halted in my tracks... Can't be, I thought... but there, on the shelf, a Christmas pudding was flaunting her raisins and orange peel unashamedly at me!!!?? Huh?? Its only September!! All wrapped up in a cellophaned skirt she was a temptress, with no regard for my frail thin resistance. It was quite a shock to my system, and I had to leave with her tucked into my shopping bag, forgetting the milk and bread for which I had to return!!
Does Christmas come faster and faster with each passing year? Do you have the same problem ? I can not even muster a single Christmas decor or menu thought, in spite of that pre-Christmas pudding indulgence!
That pudding threw me off course completely! Imagine, being derailed by a Christmas pudding?!
This year, I might be immersed in boxes trying to move and squeeze 28 years of living into a new smaller house, let alone brainstorming menus and decor. Or it might be boxed, with nowhere to move to...sigh!
In years past, I hosted my rather large ex-in-law family for Christmas eve dinner. A full on three course, sit down dinner affair, for around forty people (with all the trimmings and decor), depending on the hangers onners, and forgotten family emerging from nowhere, two hours before guests are due to arrive! The table, that you have carefully laid, has to be relayed to squeeze in two extra guests and frantic frazzle sets in...you recount the potatoes to make sure you have enough for the umteenth time~!
Foolishly in Housewifely Domestic Goddess mode, all this was single handily accomplished by Moi! Me, myself and I...
Being freshly divorced, however, this is no longer my responsibility and monetarily I felt a great sense of loss...
Understand please, that it was just a fleeting moment... until the towers of dishes that usually greeted me on my Christmas morn pre dawn tea making rounds flashed into my minds eye.
Amidst the festive debris of Christmas eve's dining, we normally settled in with tea to open presents. Not even children in their twenties seem to loose the knack of opening presents at dawn-o-clock!
Then, it was off to church and upon our return, I usually served brunch to the family and then the great tidy up started!! By which time, I am thoroughly pooped from the adrenalin rush of feeding a crowd and making sure that each and every roast potato is crisp and warm! And all that in the December heat!!! The way we stick to tradition! Crazy, isn't it?
Well, this year I am banishing the cumbersome old and winging in the sleek new and revised Christmas Plan.
Oh yes, I am!!!
I will be hosting a few pre-Christmas lunches for a small group of friends at a time, to give me the opportunity to enjoy each and every guest fully! Then, on Christmas eve, I intend to take my son out for dinner to a great restaurant and having a very relaxing Christmas day picnic.
There, the planning is almost done!!
Looks like that Christmas pudding merely altered my course and did not derail me entirely...
Live Well
Veronica
xxx
all images are my own
any thoughts on Christmas bobbing about in your planning yet...? Leave your comments below, I am all ears...with a mouth full of fruity Christmas pud...
