Christmas...so far..

Christmas Eve and I had a large glass of lovely Baileys while I was getting all the Christmas goodies prepared before our friends came round for a few hours....

The ham joint got cooked in Coka Cola....if you have never tryed it-you don't know what you are missing!It gives the meat a beautiful flavour and turns it a dark brown.......I would cook ham any other way now...

the cranberry and port sauce didn't take long to do...

and the luxury bread sauce was done in the microwave,,,I have to make enough for my sisters family as well.......its one of my favourite bits of Christmas dinner..

my special layered stuffing was soon prepared-mainly by Bill this time as I was busy getting the table done..

A black and white theme this year...

The Camembert was studded with loads of garlic and Bill made some mulled wine -and we had a lovely couple of hours with Marion and Phil, dipping crusty french stick into the gloriously melted garlicky cheese,then we started on the pate!  Christmas feel like its really here when we start on the mulled wine with our friends!!

My son Jim called by to drop off some pressies and Jake decided he was going to take advantage of Jim's slightly drunken state and try and tear the buttons off his shirt!

Christmas Day----The turkey this year was one of the smallest and cheapest we have ever had---only me and Bill for Christmas lunch this time so we didn't need a huge one----have to say it was one of the best we have ever had! Bill covered it in bacon , loads of butter under the skin and it was just beautiful and moist and very tasty--thank you Aldi! As it was only a small one we cooked it on Christmas morning instead of Christmas Eve which was another first for us! We had a huge piece of beef to cook in the afternoon ready for Boxing day..

the stuffing was cooked to perfection..lovely and crunchy outside...and moist inside.It was first for us to have just the 2 of us for dinner---its usually a very busy day--so it was nice to have a relaxed day with no pressure to get things done to a timetable...my lovely daughter Becki and Wayne called by for a couple of hours,which was lovely!

Boxing day we had 15 for lunch so we had a very busy time from when we got up...I got on and made a lemon and lime cheesecake, while Bill was busy making a beautiful cheese,ham and tomato quiche....

the table was groaning with food by the time we had finished--besides the heated food warmer keeping the buttered potatoes, bread sauce and other hot bits warm and another table with all the sauces etc on..

Bill quiche was still warm when everyone arrived---it really was scrummy

Bill got the cream done for the  trifle,,

while everyone was having a breather from all the food--my niece Natalie gave me a manicure, couldnt decide which colour I wanted so ended up with 10 diferent ones...

I wish we had a bigger front room,half of us were in the kitchen lol....

looks like my brother had enough to eat and drink.... we are having another quiet day today  .Hollie and Lucie are coming down from Sunderland with their dad tomorrow and staying for a few nights so the peace will be shattered then , but it will be lovely to see them and help them play with their huge sack of new toys they have off us for Christmas!