christmas bits + pieces

Earlier today, I returned from a very christmassy week long stay at my parents' place. A week of family, festive tv, cooking, pressies, card games and mountains of food. It was a very different Christmas this year - my parents were both away and so the responsibility of hosting and catering for the family on the big day fell to me and Mitch. Although it was a lot of fun, it was also absolutely knackering - clearly I'm just not used to being on my feet for 9 hours. I would have been completely buggered without the help of Mitch and my sister, mostly due to the fact that we decided to cook waaaay too much: turkey, pigs in blankets, stuffing, roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips, swede, green beans, squash and brussel sprouts. I also made bread (for the first time ever!) and served it with paté as a starter, and then made three different puddings: mincemeat and chocolate pudding with salted caramel and rum sauce, chocolate brownies (just in case the first pudding didn't work out, which it did) and a gluten-free white chocolate cheesecake for my sister. Obviously we were a little over ambitious. If we do xmas again I think I shall definitely make less. Of course the best thing about cooking too much on xmas day is that there's plenty of turkey and stuffing sandwiches to be had :) 

As I'm not back to work for another 5 days I shall be mostly lazing around the flat and getting on with a few crafty bits and pieces (thanks to a few christmas presents). Hope you all had lovely christmases and are enjoying some time off too!