Boxing Day

Hmmm.....the hustle and bustle is over, now it's time to clean up a bit.  As I said yesterday, Christmas was a rather quiet affair, but there's still lots of flotsam and jetsam lying about the house, all pleasant reminders of a relaxing family time together.

We opened our gifts, rather late in the morning.  The girls are past the "get-up-at-the-crack-of-dawn" phase, and prefer to catch a few more winks.  The Missus and I were admonished Christmas eve, not to get up and start breakfast. Youngest and Eldest had decided that was a bit of their Christmas present to the parents.  Amid much laughter ( starting with "Christmas is a great day of......munching"), chocolate chip pancakes, with homemade blackberry sauce materialized, along with poached eggs.

I had mentioned that the gifts under the tree, were in a reduced fashion this year - perhaps I lied.  That was the noble goal, but I didn't see anyone suffering to any great extent.

Yours truly got a tie, tie clip, slippers and housecoat.  I know they are all the standard fare for Dads, but each one has a story, and were actually very carefully thought-out gifts.  The tie is another Christmas tie - which raises my total holiday ties to 9.  The slippers were lovely moccasins.  Unfortunately they were a size too small for my 'ugly little hobbit feet' (as my offspring lovingly refer to my lower appendages).  The Missus gladly traded me for her slightly worn moccasins, which were a bit saggy on her - so both of us are happy, with toasty feet.  The housecoat - well being the only male, in the house of estrogen, it is necessary for me to dress somewhat appropriately in lounging wear.  Even now as I sit at the computer, I'm wrapped up nice and snug in my new housecoat -- it may even save on the heating bill.

Oh yes and there's new jammy bottoms -- hah, like they'll be mine ever - I saw Youngest casting covetous glances their direction before the wrapping paper was even completely removed.  There were also a couple new bottles of exotic cooking sauces.

My brother and his dog, Abby and I went for a nice long hike through the back woods - trespassing all over the place, but we only left tracks and took pictures.

John and Abby, fresh home from our walk

Then we came home and prepared the Christmas feast pigout.  Because there were just the five of us, we bought a young, small turkey - really only the size of a largish chicken.  The Missus cooked it upsidedown in her usual fashion and it popped out of the oven at 6:00 pm, golden brown perfection, juicy and brimming with turkey goodness.  I also made Oven Roasted Vegetables (German fingerling potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions and carrots - drizzled with olive oil, garlic powder, chili powder, oregano and hot sauce).  When we went to open the obligatory can of cranberry sauce, low and behold, the last can had been used at Crozier Christmas a month ago - what to do, what to do?  There was a little blackberry sauce left over from the morning pancakes.  The Missus, ever the thinker, proceded to serve that up instead -- forget cranberry gloop -- blackberry sauce will be the new staple with turkey from here on in.

The Pud

For desert, I made my Christmas pudding (see my post on Dec 23rd).  On a whim, I decided to chop up half a cup of figs and throw them into the mix - another happy mistake.  I now know why the children all clamoured "Now bring us some figgy pudding, now bring us some figgy pudding......We won't go until we get some, we won't go until we get some....so bring some right here."  Figs just made it completely decadent.  Those who like poppy seeds, or caviar, would appreciate the little crunchy fig seeds, and that full bodied figgy flavour (I don't know how else to describe it).

Then it was just a pleasant evening of relaxing, dozing and lolling about in the hot-tub. 

I like Christmas.

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The Daily Quest

This is a daily feature on The Musical Gardener blog. Below is a question, or puzzle that will change day by day. Do not use the comment section of the blog for your answer. 

Answer to Yesterday's Puzzle:  presents under the tree

 

Today's Puzzle:

Fill In The Blank

Fill in the blank with one letter to make two common four letter words.  If you are correct, the four blanks will spell a holiday related four letter word as well.

  P A S _ N O W

 Q U I _ W I N

A R E _ V I D

S T A _ I S K

Please respond with your answer to the email below. I apologize but you will have to type my email address in manually (I'm attempting to avoid spammers).

Don't forget my Musical Gardener Contest

And that's about all I have to say for today.

Musings and Meanderings from the Musical Gardener.