Happy New Year

Well, that's another Christmas gone. I am always surprised by the amount of build-up to it and then the speed with which it passes. For months beforehand, I'm planning what presents to buy for whom, what meals to cook, food to buy etc and then suddenly it's the 25th December and it rushes past in a blur. Although this year was considerably different.

Traditionally I have always hosted Christmas, since my parents were too frail to do so, which is probably around the 2001 era. Even as a child, there were never many of us. Just me and my parents with the occasional sprinkling of grandparents, but certainly never more than 5 of us at any one sitting. It was usually the traditional turkey with all the trimmings and Christmas pudding, then an afternoon and evening filled with watching all the TV favourites. I took over Christmas hosting when my father died in 2001 and the tradition pretty much followed on. When my husband died in 2010 we were down to three and when my mother died in 2017, it was just down to Kay and me trying to make the most of it together.

This Christmas was entirely different. Kay is now married of course and had received an invite from her in-laws to go to them for Christmas.  They have three grown-up children altogether. They thought this year might be the last chance to get them all together, before they pursue their own careers and relationships. Two of them doctors and one a dentist, so they might even have to work over Christmas, although this year was not the case, hence the chance to grab at them all being free. This meant of course that I would be celebrating Christmas alone, so they very kindly invited me to celebrate with them.

This meant of course that I did not have the need to plan what food to get in or cook the meals. It felt very strange indeed. On Christmas Eve, Kay and her husband Darcy drove me to the in-laws in deepest Kent. There were six of us to start with and the seventh joined us by late evening. On Christmas Day, Darcy and his father did a park run first thing, apparently beating Dame Kelly Holmes, who was there, in timing, then we all went to their local church for a service which was both relaxed and led by a hilarious vicar, who used all sorts of props such as a fire extinguisher, jug of water and lifebelt to illustrate his sermon. The church was packed and there was almost a full orchestra up by the altar.  

The rest of the morning was spent peeling vegetables and all joining in with the food preparation. Lunch was my starter of brie and cranberry puff pastry parcels , then roast duck with a cherry and sherry sauce which was absolutely delicious. I had provided red cabbage made to my German grandmother's recipe which was received with praise. Then chocolate and pear sponge pudding. We swapped presents and played many games during the rest of the day and evening right up until midnight. 

As an only child, with a father who had a day job and also worked in the evenings as well to save up for a mortgage, it just left my mother and me for a lot of the time, so I grew up not playing games at all. It was therefore very novel not to be watching all the Christmas favourites on TV. (Fortunately I had recorded what I wanted to see so that I could catch up once home). Boxing Day was very similar but with different meals and we were joined by one of the sibling's girlfriends, making us a party of 8 altogether. I realised just how much living on my own has made me rather reclusive, as it was difficult to get a word in edgeways at times. That is not to say I did not enjoy it, but merely an observation of how cut-off I have become.

We returned back to London early on Friday 27th and they dropped me off. Kay has a very important (and stressful) exam to do in a week's time, so wanted to get back to continue revision. She has to go to work tomorrow and next weekend , so needed to grab as much free time to revise as she could. So I am back to being on my own again, which in itself seems strange after seeing so many people over the last week.

My best friend is coming to stay overnight with me on New Year's Eve, so I am looking forward to that and in the throes of planning food and entertainment. This year has been a very special year in that Kay got married and Darcy and his family joined with ours. I look forward to what 2025 might bring and wish you all a happy and healthy New Year.