Christmas Day

I awake this morning ready to face the world - there is an uncanny feeling of peace and calm in the Wiseman household.  I have, for once, adhered to the 'Seven P's' (proper prior preparation prevents piss poor performance) and am benefiting from this.  Oh how Elena used to laugh at that saying and wanted a sign made to hang in her kitchen - her request came too late sadly and no amount of prior preparation prevented her from leaving us far too soon.  She is often in my thoughts when cooking.  So I digress, as I say I am up and feed the cats and wander outside to catch the early morning sun beginning to poke its head above the hillside.  It looks like it will be a nice day - I hope so because it makes all the difference even if Mum and Dad no longer wish to sit outside to open their presents it is nice to think that we could.  There is little for me to do save get out my notebook and check timings.  As has become our tradition we plan for a little Christmas drinkie at the Droushia Heights Hotel before the meal is cooked and we eat, drink and open presents.

I check the laptop for messages - we do still get a few cards in the post but people find all sorts of ways now to get their greetings across and they are all welcome - the video above was sent to us by Nitsa from C&A apartments in Polis and is lovely - the one below was sent to us by an ex-Droushian gentleman who now lives in South Carolina - the wonders of technology heh?

John and I grab a coffee and get the house sorted and the table laid, fire lit and music on before showering and getting ready in some decent clothes rather than our normal scruffers!

Every year Mum and Dad, John and I, say we don't want very much and we wont go mad because, to be fair if we really want something we will generally save up and go and get it rather than wait till Christmas but even limiting our spend by taking time to wander around some of the less familiar shops and picking up a bargain here and there we still seem to amass a fair pile of presents to open on the day.  Who knows how much longer we may be able to enjoy times like this together so my view is we should make it the best we can with what we have while we are able.

Everything is organised save for the cooking of the Turkey which this year is a massive breast piece which I have defrosted and allowed to come to room temperature which depending on which room you are in, in our house could be anything from 23 degrees to 10!  I wash it and take out a large pyrex which I partially fill with a stock/orange juice solution then add a large piece of greaseproof and then lay in the booby which has been smeared with butter, tarragon and black pepper and slices of gammon.  This will need about an hour to an hour and a half at a low temperature so I tent it up with tin foil and pop it out of Charlie's reach and decide to bang it in as soon as we return from the Hotel.

It is with fingers firmly crossed that Big Bird's Booby will cook and be nice that I leave with John and we walk down to the village on what turned out to be a super-bright day albeit with a bit of a biting wind up here.  I had fully intended to have a swim in the pool this morning and a couple of days ago the temperature was at 52 degrees but the recent storms and hail had made it drop to 48 degrees and that was a step too far although I was disappointed it didn't last for long!

The view from the terrace of the hotel was stunning and in the distance you could see fresh snow had fallen recently on the Troodos.  It was lovely to be joined by Di and Rob who can make this part of their Christmas tradition now!  Mum and Dad arrived safe and sound and we enjoyed an hour with a drink and a chat before going back to tackle the turkey!

We started with some mulled wine in the conservatory using the new double skinned thermal glasses which I had purchased specially for the occasion.  The conservatory had the sun pouring in and so Mum and Dad found it very pleasant and then we had our duck and orange pate starter before returning to the conservatory to tackle the pile of presents whilst the turkey did its thing in its liquid bath.

Then we tackled the pile of presents as we always do by taking it in turns starting with the eldest, Dad and finishing with the youngest, John.  My gift to Dad of a DVD box-set of House of Elliot went down well because that night when they returned back home they binge-watched three hour-long episodes!!!  Lot's of 'oooooh's and 'aaaaaaaah's' and 'thank-yous' followed before the timer pinged for the turkey to be removed and rested.

Everyone agreed that this was probably the BEST Christmas dinner I have cooked and it might have been because I had nothing to panic about apart from the Turkey and I shouldn't have worried about that either as it came out absolutely perfect, soft and moist and tender and delicious.  The best part of the meal and my best Christmas present was Dad declaring that I had cooked his Brussels perfectly which is high praise indeed!

So we munched our way through, Turkey with roast potatoes and roast parsnips, dauphinoise potatoes, carrots, leeks, peas, red cabbage, green beans, Brussels sprouts, Yorkshire puddings (I didn't make sorry Janet), bread sauce (I made), sage and onion stuffing (I made), sausagemeat stuffing (I made), pigs in blankets (I made), cauliflower cheese (I made) and gravy which I also made!  No-one had any room for pudding so those bloody things will go back in the cupboard for another year!!!

We managed to Facetime my sister and Jack managed to speak to his Great Granny and Great Grandad which made their day before Mum and Dad set off in daylight to wend their way back home and to Fred and to contemplate the pasty making for our traditional Boxing Day Walk and Pasty-fest!

John and I relaxed belts, kicked off our shoes (or new Christmas slippers in John's case) stoked the fire, poured a shandy (yes shandy!) and settled down and watched what was to have been our Christmas Film with Mum and Dad had we not run out of time - Victoria and Abdul, just the right thing when you are feeling warm, full and happy.

We went to bed feeling blessed.