Marmalade Crisis

[strange_complex]

Uh-oh. We were going to do our Christmas duck with an orange and port sauce. But when you find yourself uttering sentences like, "Well, are we still going to glaze it with marmalade, or do that with apricot jam as well?", you know insufficient forward planning has been engaged in. Never mind. I'm sure apricot jam will be just as good.

The stockings this morning were well-received, and giving them certainly generated a pleasantly warm glow for this year's Santas. And my haul of tree presents this year was fantastic, too! More about those later, when I've had a chance to play with them properly. For now, a poll on Christmas-or-similar traditions in your household:

[Poll #640025]

Comments

[pne.livejournal.com]

When I still lived with my parents, Christmas usually included mince pies, singing around the piano, and playing Monopoly as well. (The Monopoly usually took about two days, so having my father have two days off for Christmas makes that the best time of the year to try to play it.)

[diffrentcolours]

I'm not expecting family arguments until the 27th when I get down to my parents' and see my younger sister.

greyeyedeve's son suggested Monopoly last night, but I threatened to disembowel him. I hate Monopoly with a passion.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

I like the idea of Monopoly. All those place-names that seemed so exotic and steeped in tradition to a litle Brummie girl all those years ago.

But you're right. The practice is painful.

Christmas spirit(s)

[megamole.livejournal.com]

The sprouts were forced on us by Dad (I got him an apposite Christmas card). Amazingly, given that it's a "family" Christmas, and Mum and Dad have been divorced for about 20 years, there have been NO arguments. None. Not even about the sprouts.

There was an odd moment of synchronicity in which I bought Dad a book called "Why Everything is Shit Nowadays" and he bought me, completely independently, the "Encyclopedia of Shite".

Of the family, only I went to church - Christmas Day Matins, so it's kind of my job. The rest of my family missed the marvel of the day - the early afternoon sunshine through the stained glass casting its sparkling iridescences onto the white pillars along the nave of St. Peter's.

Re: Christmas spirit(s)

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Sprouts are great, and they cure cancer, too.

I like the sound of the Matins experience, and I hope it went well for you.

[mr-flay.livejournal.com]

I should clarify that when I clicked "Running out of something important", I meant that I skived off work early in order to get back to Ed's and rejoin the festivities.

Work is also the only reason my Xmas involved the Queen's Speech, but unlike (I'm guessing) everyone else who included that in their response, I had to sign the Official Secrets Act (again!) to get hold of it...

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Nah - that's running to something important, isn't it?

[mr-flay.livejournal.com]

Good point, well made. Merry Xmas, hon :)

[meerium.livejournal.com]

i would merely like to add that the queen was foisted upon me, inexplicably, by a mother who felt a seizure of royalism for the first time in years. none of us are entirely sure what to make of this, including her.