Christmastime!

Christmas arbour

Happy Christmas to one and all!  We were reticent about putting up a Christmas tree, as the kittens are still fairly young, around seven months of age, and they are curious about everything.  There was every possibility that they would go totally mental if we put up and decorated a tree, and as we have quite a nice collection of Christmas ornaments that are rather valuable (to us), we'd rather they not get destroyed by the demon cats.  So Maggie and the boys went down the street to the tree seller, and bought a bunch of mistletoe (which we promptly hung up in the front hall) and the seller gave them as many off-cut nordmann tree branches as they could carry.  We wired them together with tie-wraps and then I hammered some finishing nails to the wall, and we hung the completed half-arches up with florist's wire.  As it turned out we had more than enough LED lights and ornaments to fill it up nicely, without having to use absolutely every last one.  The smell in the house is nice and as they are Nordmann the needles haven't fallen off.  The remaining branches were hung outside on either side of the front door, on the iron plant hooks.

Christmas movies - The Little Drummer Boy with Bing and Bowie

We had a pretty relaxed Christmastime.  On the 23rd we went to a cool party at Craig and Deborah's, a sort of farewell for Andrew and Julia who are moving back to Dundee.  It was a great time with lots of spirited people of many different ages, with good food and drink and dancing and conversation.

Here at home we had our traditional seafood dinner on Christmas eve... this time we didn't do the lobsters but had a Thai red shrimp coconut curry.  It was sufficiently hot to make us all perspire, or perhaps it was the warmth of the woodstove?  Really we have had a pretty mild December so far, with only a few days with the night-time temperatures dropping below freezing.  I have been able to continue with my running routine of going every third day, and I've been up to 16 km distances at the most, with a kilometer and a half walk before and after.  Yoshi wants to stop and sniff every lamp post on the way to the forest, so I will allow him that as long as he is on the leash, but once we hit the treeline, off comes the leash, and he has freedom to run as far ahead or back as he likes.  So far I have had no issues at all with him in terms of aggressive behaviour with other dogs; I put him on the leash if we come upon another dog that is leashed, and if they are running free then they usually say hello briefly and then move along.  He is quite responsive to verbal commands even from a distance, so that for the short sections of my route when I am on the roadway, and a car appears, a simple command to sit will be obeyed immediately.  He usually does so at the side of the road, and then he stays until the car has passed. 

lazy cats

Christmas morning was very calm and peaceful for us; both of us were up quite early, long before the boys, and we had to kick them out of bed using the smell of breakfast.  I had mixed up some english muffin dough the night before and so rolled it out, cut it into square muffins, and let it rise another 45 minutes before stovetop baking them in frypans.

I did them in a square shape because I had picked up some square sausage at the British store while doing my Christmas shopping.  For those of you who don't know square sausage, it's a staple food in Scotland, but relatively unknown elsewhere.  It's a bit like the Bob Evans sausage patties that you get in the USA, but these ones are square.

 

They turned out really well, with a square of sausage and half a scrambled egg, with some mexican salsa.

My Christmas cactus has timed it perfectly, and all of our other plants seem to be doing well out in the veranda.  It is usually around five degrees warmer than the outside air, so it's been fluctuating between perhaps five and twelve degrees for the last couple of months.  The verandah also doubles as our outdoor refrigerator; I actually think that vegetables and lettuces last longer out there than they do in the refrigerator; I'm not sure why that is but it might have something to do with air circulation.

Later on Christmas Day afternoon we packed up our Christmas-y food (Haggis cranberry apple stuffing, shredded brussels sprouts with bacon and worchestershire sauce, roasted parsnips with parmigiano, and a pineapple glazed smoked ham, above) and drove to Bryan and Kiana's.  She had made truffled mashed potatoes, roast butternut squash with sage, and a big roast turkey with dressing.  We had a good time together and stayed over until the next morning, the 26th.  We all got up and had a beautiful run in the forest together (or at least, the four parents did, with the dogs), and then headed home.  The Hammers had to pack for their departure on the 27th for a few days in London, and I had to get home to warm up and sing through Messiah.
 

Yoshi herding the chickens at the Hammers'

I'm sure that Yoshi was sad to say goodbye to his friend Osa, but also to have to leave the chickens;  he has developed a habit of herding them into a group and then moving them into the chicken coop.  Bryan is hoping that some of the would rub off on Osa but so far, no luck...

next: final performances of the year, and NYE...