Allotments 4 All

Honestly, you would think, as we are not entertaining anyone over the festive period I would be able to sit back and relax, but I have decided, it isn't in my nature!  What is wrong with me!!??  Today I finished the Chrissy cake, cooked the ham, took various things out of the freezer and put them in the fridge for the holiday period, cleaned both bathrooms, freshened up the hamster cage, made mince pies, fed the kids, sorted some seeds for my sis and Ruud, and am now up here to tidy the kids rooms! I still would like to clean the car in and out, then I need to think about the evening meals!  I need a large chill pill....anyone??

Grab one for me too Emma ...

Derekthefox

Do you know now is the time to look around and say wow aren't we lucky. Been for a fantastic walk the scenery was just unbelievable weather gorgeous. Best chill pill that there could be. And what will happen if we forget something don't think we will starve. Turn around and give everyone a cuddle or smile and make their day too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;D

After an extensive search of house, loft spaces, outhouse etc, we have no tree!
How can you lose an 8 foot Christmas tree  ;D

I seem to recall chucking it out last year when a branch fell off but was not sure so have left it til last minute to check.   Like yer do  ;D

Will I venture into town to get one?  Er, no! My old man will be thrilled when I tell him he's got to go and get one  ;D  I can imagine what will be left in the shops  ;D ;D   Christmas starts here  :)

Well house going on the market so have decluttered and totally blitzed the garden, as have left key with estate agent just in case anyone fancies a look whilst we are away, flying off tomorrow so washing, ironing etc. Have not even started packing yet, then there are all the rooms to clean, (In case of a viewing and because ........see next comment) our bedclothes to wash cos Sis is staying here, dinner to cook, fire to lay, cases to pack, guinea pigs to sort out, clothes to pack, floors to wash, cases to pack, water plants, oh and did I mention I need to pack?? ;D  Nervous breakdown to have..................., Bottle of wine to drink.........DP wanders off shaking head and muttering loudly! ;D ;D

Quote from: EJ - Emma Jane on December 23, 2005, 13:10:53
Honestly, you would think, as we are not entertaining anyone over the festive period I would be able to sit back and relax, but I have decided, it isn't in my nature!   I still would like to clean the car in and out, then I need to think about the evening meals!  I need a large chill pill....anyone??

Yes please,  if I give you my address you can come over and fulfill your nature any time you like!!  ;D ;D

Not having a tree to decorate decided to have a bonfire (like you do)  Anyway I've only gone and set fire to my husband's co-op vouchers which he was saving for his Yuletide beer  :o  Saw them disappearing into the flames, screamed out loud, tried to retrieve them, and although one whole side of them has gone I think all the vital info is still there.  Bloody hope so as he's going to be in a bad enough mood when he gets home from work and finds out he's got to go and buy a tree, and then to find out I've torched his beer vouchers.  Eek  :o  Think of me kind people tonight as ye gather round your Christmas trees and toast the festive season with a glass of foaming Bass  ;D

Phew, glad it isn't only me!  I saw your house had gone up DP.  Impressive!  ARE YOU MAD!!!!!!   ;D  Cleaned inside the car.......my darling can do the outside tomoz I think.  Do you know, I think I have done enough.  The kids are playing with the playdough, so I might go join them!  ;D ;D

Wardy.....how can you loose a tree!?!?!?!?  We have friends who threw all their old decs away as they were getting tatty, and they planned to buy new ones in the sales, except they didn't get around to it......ended up costing them a fortune come Christmas week!

I know, an 8 foot one at that!   ;D No tree and no beer! 

LOL EJ and DP  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

YO EJ... playdough? do u make your own?? if not get u the recipe etc... tis fun for sure LOL

ozzy

:-* :-* :-*

My Governor is likewise engaged in the mad frenetic Christmas charade.
I was dragged to the shops this morning to pick up the groceries....I have never seen the car park so full...it was manic...surely people can't really eat all the stuff they are buying?
Visited eldest daughter and two grandchildren this afternoon to take gifts.

I think that I am surplus to requirements tomorrow having been told to "keep out of the way" whilst the Governor finishes her nervous breakdown..

soooo....I shall pack my hot flask of tea and box of sandwiches and retire to the comparative sanity of the lottie

Derek

EJ..DP..Wardy.  I feel quite guilty. I have nothing to do as I am out to one or tother of the kids all over the holiday. Just have to shower, make myself presentable each day!!!!!!!! Did mosey down to Sainsbury's with young Lorna this morning, mainly because Joshua was packing customers  bags with several other scouts.
We plan to go to Tesco's at 6am in the morning. Daughter Alyson popped in and she had been to Tesco's at 6am today and  she said it was packed.


DP have a wonderful break.(where to?) you are not by any chance buying my old home are you? :)
 

To one and all Have a Wonderful Christmas, any one seen an8ft tree?? ;D

Lorna   You have a computer!  You can get Tesco to bring the whole thing to your kitchen.  No 6.00 am slog.  Honestly tis the best thing since sliced bread.  My Christmas grub and drink all arrived safely with no effort from moi other than to key in my old man's credit card details.  He'll be livid when he finds out  ;D ;D ;D   Nah, only jokin.  Told him it cost just over fifty quid.  He knew I was lying  ;)  My sister has been battling at Morrisons this afternoon and has phoned me to say it's mayhem.  I was smiling quite smugly. 

Mind you she does have a tree which is more than I've got  ;D  Russ will be most miffed if we get no tree as you know ..............  ;D Ahem  ;D

Lorna not your old house sadly! And we are off to Bermuda to visit the rellies! Best thing is we are dragging my Mum with us! ;D

Wardy I am with you on the Tesco front, do all my grocery shopping online now, tis grest, also don't come back with those "oh that pack of 20 donuts look nice" stuff! ;)  Even though we are going away we have a tree, well, a ficus actually decorated with lights n snowflake decs, and the best thing, it doesn't shed! ;D

Wardy. I agree about on line shopping but unfortunately it wasn't until 5pm this evening that Lorna could work out what she wants. Joshua's other Nan  saves in three different places ready for Christmas and she kept saying to Lorna I will have some of this for you I will have some of that for you!! However she didn't know quantities. Lorna did try to order her cold meats from Tesco's but they are not taking orders this year..So now all is clear and have just made out her list for her..
Joshua's other Nan always orders over the top and as she is also invited to Lorna's for Christmas day she wanted Lorna to take some food off her hands... That all sounds as clear as mud!! Joshua is sleeping at his Dads tonight so that we don't wake him up early.

Now did you find that flipping tree? Did OH have to go out and get one....how was he?????


DP. Have a wonderful holiday. Love Lorna.

Wardy, I'm trying not to laugh, not doing very well sorry..will get control...but 8ft??? Quite intrigued! I'm sure Russ will come up with an alternative..
I daren't do supermarket shop online, I tried it once, and bare, oops bear,  ??? which ever, that there are 6 of us, I didn't know what I was doing and ended up with one tin of jersey potatoes...in fact all the veg (pre lottie I hasten to add) were in tins....one tin each for the week... :P
But I'm chilling quite nicely here....don't know why cos 16 arriving for tea, and at the min, I have virtual parsnip mince pies, and sprout souffle....

I just love this time of year - it's my absolute fave dispite the work involved.  Today has been a whirl of grocery shopping and preparing for my annual Christmas eve party - about 18 of us this year at the last count.  Will be cooking, baking, polishing etc etc etc all day tomorrow in the lead up to this.  It's definitely my best day of the Chrissy season as I have all my family around me.  We start at about 7pm and go on until we're all worn out from eating drinking and playing charades, with the highlight of the evening's entertainment being the 'Christmas dance' prepared for weeks in advance by my daughter and niece and perfomed in front of adoring mums, dads, aunts, uncles and grandparents.
Christmas day is a quieter affair with just me, hubbie and our 3 kids, although we do have visits from both sets of parents who drop in to share our kids' delight. Cooking on the day is usually shared between Mr P and myself - this year he's working (police officer) until 2pm so we're planning on a late lunch (about 4pm)
Then Boxing Day we have a leisurely start to the day, a light lunch and then off to my parents for buffet tea and more games and fun
All the presents are now wrapped and I'm so exicited as it's finally here.........I wish you all the happiest of Christmases wherever you are and whatever you do.
Plottie  :-*

Plottie. Great time ahead for you. Have a wonderful Christmas with your family. My middle daughter is having buffet and drinks for all the family (15/18 of us) depends if all the Grand children turn up on Christmas eve and youngest daughter is doing same on Boxing Day evening. I love the get to gethers. 4 kids and partners/husbands 8 grand children  and grandsons girl friend. It was always a Boxing Day get together here but after losing Charlie the kids sort it all.

I braved M&S food this lunchtime - 20 mins queuing to get in the car park, 15 minutes of sharp elbow fighting inside, 20 mins queuing to get through the tills and made it back to work (just!) inside an hour. Only to get sent home almost immediately!

I am glad I'm not in the main bunfight this year - have left everything bar the lottie stuff to Mum in law, and we get our goose on the 28th and intend to cook dinner at New Year.  Of course by then the shops will have restocked so it will be far more painless.  Usually I run a 2 pages of A4 checklist!

Off to lottie tomorrow to gather leeks and stuff, and there will be lots of food prep at home so I can take it on Sunday. 

:-)

moonbells

That will be my first job tomorrow Moonbells.  I have bought home 'snips, leeks, sprouts (green and purple), kale (black and red) and carrots so tomorrow will be clean up and sort out.  They are currently all out in the garden in buckets and tubs looking chilly!  ;D  mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm sprouts!

8hr shift at work, 2 1/2 shopping afterwards, down to mum's for a flying visit (and to pick up groceries stored there last week) back home at 21:30 put shopping away, cooked dinner, sorted out what's what for food preparation over Chrissy weekend (working again tomorrow!) and then continued with present wrapping.  I'm so beat today, I need my bed!! 

Awww sleep tight, Petal, how is your Ma? Hope she's OK and enjoy your day, is yours too you know....Happy hols!

Pay attention.  Did anyone else pick up on the fact that (whispering here so get close) Plottie's husband is a policeman?  Shhhhhhhhhh, keep it down.  No more talk of nicking Tesco baskets from now on.  Got that?  Good  8)


Still not found me tree.  Had a further search.  Lost me cheese grater later on so had to turf cupboard out and it had fallen down the back.  Shouts to niece to get the torch and she quipped that while is was rummaging in there I might find the tree  ;D

Husband went out after work to buy a new one but it's not trimmed yet  :)

I heard that Wardy!!!  Would you like me to ask him to get his finest and bestest officers on to The Case Of The Missing Tree?

Sure they'll only be too glad to help!!

P  ;)

Well, I'm completely confused now....had all the kids running round yelling Happy Christmas....sat bolt upright in bed, thinking OMG!!! Thought it was tomorrow.....brain overload.... but forgot, it's Christmas no 1, for 2 eldest who go away for week today... :'(, Christmas no 2 is tomorrow, Christmas no 3 in a week....I'm so relaxed.......she sobs in hair pulling manner... :o ??? :P ;D

Down to Tesco's at 6am. Got all the shopping Lona needs ( I'm OK Jack I didn't have to get any, good this is being chauffeured and dined all over the hols) Came back filled Lorna'S fridge and mine with food. Took Elsa to kennels for hols. on way back Lorna whizzed in to a restaurant car park and said "Ok we are going to have breakfast"  Blimey what a breakfast, 2eggs, 2rashers, tomatoes, mushrooms  fried bread hash brown, bread and butter and coffee for Lorna and pot of tea for me. Back in to our local town for last min things not too many crowds. Visit to cemetery then home. Had 3 cups of tea and a chat.Off again at 4.30pm to middle daughters for evening grub and drinks with all my lovely kids and grand children. Lovely day!!!

Talk about confuddled Lottie...........................is it catching? :-\

Lorna enjoy your day you deserve it :)

Been running around like headless chuck today and guess what I've forgotton to do...................................ice the cake................no time now off to pub soon ................don't think Mother in Law will be too happy with un-iced cake...............Oh Dear I'm in trouble now :o

Well my day is organised... prepping as much of the dinner as possible, and any other activities related to that. The vegetables are all in, three hard hours this morning digging and lifting parsnips, leeks and potatoes that evaded cropping in september ... then dropping my wife off for her nightshift, finally staying online until I fall asleep ...

Derekthefox

Thanks Delilah. Soon off for fun and games with the family. Hope ma in law doesn't read the riot act to you, I am sure if you give her your dazzling smile she will melt. Have fun. BTW I think they are waiting in the panto room for you ;D

Well i am kn&&&ered, i have made 60 sausage rolls , 42 mince pies, iced the cake , made the trifle, will do the veg tomorrow, have got all the potatoes in from the pots and washed them they look brilliant. so now i am going to watch come dancing and have a rest. washed the spuds not the pots Hehehehe!!.

As well as everything you did yesterday and this morning??   >:(  Hmmmm, I feel a ticking off is in order here!  Oh ok, praps just one mince pie then......  ;) ;D

Just torn my hair out.  Been busy busy today as well, even went back to Morrisons cos I forgot the brussels sprouts!!!  they didnt have any left.  Aw well ne'r mind.  But, my main moan is tonight after doing the dishes I started to make tomorrows  Pavlova Cake.  I had a feeling an egg would burst into the egg whites but no, it didnt but what did happen was the battery operated d**n and blast hand whisk ran out of power. and I had to resort to the good old fashioned hand whisk for making the Pavlova.   Heck, its hard work.  I got OH through to take a turn.   Hope nothing else goes wrong with the cooking.

Merry Christmas to everyone in A4a, hope you all have a super day .

:-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-*

I've done the last of the shopping, spent the rest of the daylight hours on the allotment, and I'll season the meat later. I'll do a lentil curry and the trimmings to go with it tomorrow, when I won't have exhausted myself digging out loads of ground elder.

I'm going to church in a bit for midnight mass..  I happened to say I was going and then my husband said he would like to come, then my niece, then my sister and then my son turned up and said he'd like to go too.  We're still mourning the loss of our beloved ma who loved Christmas so we're going to church to sing the carols she loved.  Gets us closer to her some how  :) She won't be with us tomorrow at the dinner table and we're all going to be so sad cos we miss her so  :'(

Thinking of you,, Wardy.. :-[ :-*

Wardy. I know what you mean. We lost Charlie on Jan 9th and each year this time of the year is real hard. I joke and laugh with the kids cos thats what Charlie would have wanted. He was a very positive person. When I am on my own it is a different story. God Bless you all.

Cos lost Christmas tree had to buy a new one. This took me hours to put up and trim today but kept me out of mischief  ;D

Beautiful Wards... you've drunk the wine... ::) ;)

We ought to organise a midnight service one year; it's something we've never tried. Either a midnight mass or a watchnight service depending on whether we've got an amenable minister or the control freak type. The current one's OK, but you never know.

Have just come back home to retire for the night. Have been up since 5.30am and have told Joshua he can knock on wall at 6.30am. What a kind chap he said "I will give you 5mins to get dressed Nan and then I will come round for you" As I can never go to sleep without reading for an hour I thought I had better get some shut eye.
Wardy the tree looks beautiful. I hope you enjoyed midnight mass with your family.

And now to the not busy.... ;D, kids asleep, lights low, glass of wine, music in background, feet up and soooooo chilling.. 8)

I am now home for the night. Had a lovely day. Son John & Donna turned up they had been to Donna's Mum for Christmas dinner and just popped in to say hello (we were with them at Alysons yesterday) anyhow Lorna asked them if they would like to stay to tea. So all in all Lorna did us proud (I helped by preparing all the veg) dinner was lovely, Lorna doesn't like turkey so we had a beautiful piece of pork and chicken legs. I cut the joint with electric knife.. Have eaten far too much but did go steady on the wine and brandy. I am shattered. Just going to listen to Queen's speech which I recorded then off to bed with my book.
Such a lovely day and fantastic presents. Hope you all had as nice a day as I did. Lottie hope you are enjoying you rest. Night.

Went to church, spent ages getting the heating system working since someone had messed it up and the place was freezing when I got there. Then cooked, and stuffed myself on roast mutton seasoned with Indian spices, mushroom and pepper dal and naan bread. The kids had gone off so we had a nice peaceful day on the whole.

Robert how could you make such a "pig" of yourself? I thought it was only me who had to loosen their clothes through eating too much.??!!

You should have seen what Namissa took; she had so much meat she couldn't handle it, and she habitually eats unbelievably gargantuan meals. But what else is there to do at Christmas? It's a bit boring really, once you grow out of being excited over presents; I was even down to telly-watching last night, though I did enjoy 'The Importance of Being Ernest'.

Robert. Glad Namissa enjoyed the grub!!!! I have been next door to Lorna to help her get food ready for all the family arriving tea time (15/18 of us) we are not having lunch today. To be honest I have done so much "picking" as I have been preparing salad, sausage rolls ,  cheese and onion etc etc that I don't think I could eat lunch.. Have a lovely day, best wishes to Namissa and rest of your family/ Yippee I see all my lovely kids and Grandchildren again today. xx

Have a lovely time, Lorna....behave this time..ok? I'm never eating again..... :

Me too, I am still stuffed after yesterday ... and the kitchen is overflowing with food, I am sure the vegetables are multiplying as I speak ...

Derekthefox :D

UC Sorry I can't give you that promise. Who wants their Mum and Nan to behave?? No fun in that mate!!. Off now to help Lornna again, the mob will be arriving shortly"" Byeeeeee

Very true Lorna, my mum loses the plot comletely, and her grandkids love it, as for my sis..... well she'll killme for this....but there we go... ;D ;D ;D

UC.  :) :) :) Does your sister visit A4A if not give me her email address and I will forward it to her, and you thought I was your mate..
Just  returned from Lorna's;  lovely time again had by all. Some rotter drank my lemonade (can't tackle neat brandy) . Without me knowing my lovely Grandson (19) and his girlfriend went in the car to get me some more. Jodie had to drive as Lee was a LITTLE under the weather ;
I know it is not just me (thousands of lucky people around) but I cannot think of anything more wonderful than having a loving caring family and I try to tell my kids and grandchildren how much I love them, don't  know why but they usually laugh and say "Has  Mum been at the brandy again?"
Hope you have had a wonderful Christmas  with your family. Love Lorna.

Coo eck no, Lorna!! LOL! Can you imagine both of us on here?? Her spelling isn't quite up to my standard either....... ;D
Glad you had a goodtime.... mind the table..... ::) ;)