And so That was Christmas

It's the 28th today and life is getting back to some degree of normalcy after the juggernaut that was Christmas. For us the whirlwind began blowing on the 22nd when "The Grands" arrived from Kelowna and concluded this morning when wife headed back to work. I have been off since the 23rd, we go dark for the 24th-26th, and will decide later today if I will go back tonight or delay my return by a day.

There is much that I love about Christmas but almost each positive seems to have a countering negative; I actually like to do the Christmas shopping but I hate wrapping presents for example. Overall though the chance to spend time with family and friends is a rare opportunity, we can't dodge it as easily during the holiday season so the visits actually take place.

We have a traditional Turkey dinner on the 24th, a throwback to the days when I worked on Christmas day, which is to me much less stressful than having to cook a big meal in between opening gifts and long distance phone calls. The bird this year was a 15 pound free range and it was excellent,wife stuffs the bird with a bread/sausage/mushroom/onion/celery/sage combo and I use a traditional 350 degree roasting oven , basting every half hour and it turned out perfect in 3 1/2 hours. Sides were stuffing, mashed spuds with cream cheese and sour cream, green beans and brussel sprouts sauteed with bread crumbs and romano cheese, dessert was Christmas baked goods and the wines were Joie Farms PTG 2009 for red and Gehringer Brothers Classic Auxerrois 2009 for white. Coffee with Bailey's for wife and 15 year old Glenfarclas for Granddad and I post meal.

Christmas Day we opened our stockings and had croissant before the Grands arrived at 10:30ish for the full scale gifting. All lovely, not over the top but lovely, gifts all around then a quick cleanup before our Christmas day open house, featuring copious Mimosas, smoked salmon, rich cheeses and charcuterie along with more of those Christmas baked goods. As an added wrinkle this year we headed over to the R's house for a prime rib feast and much more good company.

Boxing Day should be recovery and was, with leftovers for dinner and then on the 27th our niece arrived from Winnipeg, in town for a conference, so one more night of revelry ensued before hopefully everything gets back to normal today. I feel like I need a week of nothing but sleep, steamed veggies and water, but New Years Eve is just around the corner before, hopefully, life returns to more normal patterns in the New Year.

In closing I hope the Holidays were happy for all and that the Mayans were wrong about 2012.