Christmas Eve and 1 day to go

With the family due to arrive this afternoon I needed to get up fairly early to finish all the preparations. The first thing I did was to wrap some presents before prying eyes could see. The rest of the morning was spent in a whirl of tidying up, responding to text messages from Beccy who was checking I had certain vital commodities in the house, taking a quick trip to the supermarket (this was specifically to buy fresh warm doughnuts which my grandson and his dad really love) and of course a few other things found their way into the trolley, particularly once hubby had walked down the drink aisles. We returned home for a quick snack and then Mike went off to the airport to meet the flight from Dublin while I did some last minute ironing and vacuuming. The fog had disappeared and there were no delays expected so I only had a couple of hours and if I'd forgotten anything it was too late to worry.
I decided I had just enough time to make the cranberry sauce before they arrived home, but I didn't quite manage it. Still Dillon (eldest grandson) helped with the stirring, and he did the tasting after I had added the sugar and port. His verdict was delicious so that's good enough for me. Now confession, with all those wonderful cooks out there I am almost afraid to admit that I've never made my own Cranberry sauce before. Don't ask me why, I guess I thought it might be difficult but it is so simple and I am now eager to try other cranberry recipes.

I thought I would share this photo of our family meal (my mother is feeling better but did not join us), we had Sam's Toulouse Sausage which I have made before and I knew Beccy was keen to try it. I served some hot crusty bread with the meal and it was washed down with champagne (oh forgot to mention the Kir Royale to help the chef along during the preparation and cooking). Ice cream to follow and anyone who read yesterday's post, I will repeat Green and blacks organic choc ice cream is deliciously rich, why ever didn't I buy an extra tub as I can see it won't last long!!



In case I don't get time to post tomorrow. I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and like me I hope you enjoy the time you spend with your family and friends. We miss you Sam and Fred but will be thinking of you xxx