Christmas Day hits and misses

[RosieLeaLovesTea]

a surprising hit- we got a funny jelly bean roulette game where you spin the spinner and you don’t know if you will get a good or horrible flavour. The kids loved it and it cost about £2.

The turkey was a hit - cooked at 120 for 7 hours- just a half crown- came out lovely and moist.

my son said it was the best Christmas Day he has had -he is 9- said he loved the turkey. Mainly very happy with his small presents.

the wine - I bought some nice sparkling wine from a local vineyard and it was very nice.

we watched home alone - Home alone 1 and 2, and Bridget Jones. Plus the snowman.

come and tell us what was a hit and what was a miss.

Main hit: reverse seared rib of beef. Beautiful! So tender.

Miss: toasties not as good as usual. Put too many in the roasting tin.

The company was delightful!

Roasties!

Another hit my presents- I tend to arrange my own gifts. So this year I got a joules top £2 from a Charity shop. I found a sea salt Jean skirt on Xmas Eve. So the whole outfit £8.50. I have a thermal reuse mug. And my favourite Prosecco. Plus lovely hand warmers. I am so pleased!

Hits, pretty much everything but in particular DD's tymo hair curlers and proboscis monkey soft toy and the Tesco free range chicken which was fab.

Misses - got bought desserts this year as I was making for boxing day. Tesco pannacotta snowflake - tasteless and grainy and their panettone Christmas pudding thing was awful.

We usually spend ages choosing a new game for everyone to play after lunch. This year we played Imposter which the kids had on their phones - it's free and was a real hit with everyone - ages ranged from 16 to 60.

Many thanks for this, it looks really easy (and impressive to serve). Only query is the butter - do you just put it as a knob on top?

My hit was a diamond ring chosen by my husband- the miss is it's too small.
Hit was perfume but the miss was the wrong one.
Appreciated the effort and sentiment at the end of the day.

If you can't exchange the ring, get it resized. It costs £40 - £50 per 'size' to resize a ring and should be possible assuming he's not miscalculated the size by much.

I forgot one more hit over Christmas

An Aldi Christmas pudding that I bought last year (Marc de Champagne) that had cherries and whole almonds on top. I added extra brandy about two weeks beforehand and I even bought two individual ones in case it didn't look very good once I microwaved it and had to chuck it.

It was absolutely gorgeous, very boozy obviously but the pudding was really dark, very fruity and the cherries and almonds on top really made it special.

Hits - everyone enjoyed their presents. The food was cooked perfectly. I saw someone everyday so it has been a very social Christmas this year.

Misses - I seem to have a cold now, some of the guests had illnesses they didnt mention beforehand. I received a couple of duplicate presents, and it was the 'main' presents, so that's a shame.

@Advocodo hopefully the pic attaches. First time trying to do that.

Forgot to add in the recipe..just add your pinch of salt to the flour.

O the jelly bean game, usually comes out at halloween here lol We also do the chocolate chilli challenge.

We had lots of hits this year, I was very very happy. Last year we had a few moments we had to talk about gratitude and reality’s. This year was a 100% hit.

Big hits not on the lists - stranger things kinder joys, juicy couture track suit, handbags (all 3 DDs got new ones and were extremely happy), new Hollister clothes, Sabrina Carpenter and Zoey from K-Pop demon hunters funko pops, and stitch LEGO.

Misses - P Louise makeup, very much wanted but as soon as dd put the eyeshadow on her eyes started burning and the lipgloss she couldn’t stand the smell of.

HIT

In no particular order...

Having family altogether on the day. DH only had Christmas Day off and DD is home from uni. Best of all was the presence of our first GD born earlier this year, seeing DS and DIL loving being parents after years of heartbreak and loss is a memory I'll treasure.

Attending a midnight service on Christmas Eve, a bit of a bucket list item for me. I've wanted to do it for years, but DH always worked on Christmas Eve (hospitality), and we had 3DC. I've waited patiently until they grew up. DH managed to finish at 11pm and was able to join me and I was genuinely surprised when DS, his partner, DD and an adult nephew offered to come too. I have a life limiting condition, which may have helped gently sway them. It was genuinely beautiful.

A bit materialistic... DC clubbed together and bought me a Mulberry bag. I love the bag, but the thought and effort, subtly teasing out the exact one I wanted, whilst keeping it a complete surprise was pretty fabulous.

Simply being here to enjoy a lovely day with not just DH, DC, partners and GC. DSis, her DH and family managed to be here too. She lives three hundred miles away and works for the NHS. DH's DM died earlier this year, the last of our DPs, so it was not without its moments.

MISS

DH only having Christmas Day off.

The exhibition on Boxing Day., which meant I spent the day in bed. I am a chef by trade so the logistics of what most would consider a fairly complicated lunch for 13 people in a small kitchen (leg of lamb, whole roast chicken, ((we don't enjoy turkey)), loin of pork, vegetarian option for DD, specific sausages for ND DS, piggies, all homemade soup, bread rolls, cranberry sauce, Yorkshire salad, apple sauce, stuffing, gravy, Yorkshire puds, bread sauce, etc. eight veg, 3 potatoes, trifle, coffee and walnut, roulade, Victoria sponge, Christmas cakes and trifle... I know there's more) isn't difficult. I could cut back but I've always shown love through my food. I prepare over several days, but with my illness I think it's time to admit it's too much and consider eating out next year, if I'm fortunate enough to still be here.

I think this year reminded me there's beauty in simplicity, and the most precious things come without a price tag.