For some reason, Mark and I volunteered to do the cooking for Christmas dinner  this year. This was my second Christmas with Mark’s family... so at least I knew what the traditional Christmas dinner was like... but that didn’t mean that I necessarily knew how to make traditional things like Brussel sprouts (The bigger question is... who the heck actually wants to eat a brussel sprout anyway? Except, of course, for Chris... who always promises to eat ONE brussel sprout per year at Christmas as his sop to eating vegetables.), roasted potatoes and/or triffel.

Good thing we put off the eating time until late... that gave everyone the opportunity to have quite a few drinks before we served up the food. It also made people exceedingly hungry. We banned all eats after Christmas morning mass.... and so by dinner time, folk were so starving (well, they would’ve been, if they had stuck to the rule... Mum, Clare!! You know you cheated!!) that we could have fed them brussel spout casserole and they would have eaten it gladly. I have to admit, it didn’t turn out all that bad! Cassie (the dog) liked it... and at least most of the family said they enjoyed it... which is good enough for me. Chris did, however, say that his brussel sprout was horrible... but neither of us actually saw him consume it. (We speculate it may have been passed to Cassie! )

Gift giving was also a lot of fun! We got our niece, Eloise, a fire truck for Christmas. There were several reasons for this choice.... it’s big, it’s bright, it flashes, it does stuff... and it’s loud. Oh Lordy, it’s LOUD! Mark knew straight way that this would drive Chris up the wall... and what better Christmas gift could there be than that... after all, it’s all about the giving!!

Eloise loved it! However, We’re under the distinct impression that Chris and Sarah may pop the batteries out of it as soon as they get it home. Still, at least their torch (flashlight) will burn brightly for the foreseeable future.

As for us, our plan is to stay with Mark’s family through the new year... and then start looking for flights back to Europe. 

Previous Entry: December 20, 2003

This Page was last update: Wednesday, June 23, 2004 at 7:04:57 AM
This page was originally posted: 1/5/2004; 1:59:21 PM.
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