And soon I was here, eagerly watching for my train, eyeing up the best place for a bacon buttie and a strong coffee and wondering just how much Hotel Chocolate my bank account would stand.  (Fortunately I have a very nice friend who bought me my Hotel Chocolate for Christmas, she knows me so well, it was very welcome, thank you.)

All the time I was waiting I was humming the tune to Homeward Bound by Simon and Garfunkel, which almost made me weep and I realised just how long it had been since I came home – I think my subconscious was giving me a sharp dig in the ribs.

 Soon I was home to be greeted by my parents, beautiful son and knitting group, what more could a girl ask.  It was lovely to see everybody,  unfortunately I had a trip to the dentist to attend which went well, if you can call antibiotics which meant a ‘dry’ Christmas going well.  At least I didn’t have to have a filling, the xray was squeaky clean and the antibiotics seem to have done the trick – all praise Alexander Flemming.

And shortly after that hubby gathered his things to come home with me.  And to be honest most of the time I have slept and slept and slept.  Shockingly I’d get up for three hours and then go back to bed for several hours then get up for three hours, etc. which has carried on until today.  I think the infection must have had something to do with it.  On the one day I was awake we ventured to Hamley’s (the largest toy shop in the UK)

Some window displays, as I know you love them. 

 These were cute, they spun around and around.

 And I rather liked this elephant.

 And of course when I wasn’t sleeping I was eating – well it was Christmas.  Tesco’s delivered my shopping mid morning Christmas Eve, I am always going to use them in future, they missed of the Christmas crackers which I could live without and no exchanges.  But to have the pleasure of Christmas being delivered, (how very Margo Leadbetter) with no hassle or exhaustion from fighting the crowds and half a ton of extra’s that seemed like a good idea at the time, was really very wonderful.

I made this ham glazed with orange marmalade, tesco’s super saver £3.50, it was the best ham we’ve had.

 Hubby had already gravalaxed a side of salmon, which we love.

 Its brilliant for Christmas eve.

 We had a very small frozen turkey from Tesco, British, which defrosted over night and it was the tastiest turkey we have had, the brown meat was lovely and tender, not like the big birds that need so much cooking the legs start to suffer.  Parsnips and spuds roasted and the usual carrot and swede mash, brussel sprouts mixed with bacon and chestnuts and sausages and stuffing with peaches and very good gravy, it was gorgeous – says the women that nearly killed Christmas with her idea of chicken fajitas, – I think I was just over tired when I thought of that idea.

And the boys did there Christmas dinner, I can’t tell you just how proud I am of them, especially son no.2 who orchestrated the recipe’s, shopping and cooking, I believe son no.1 was taking valuable notes on how it all came together.  They had if I can remember everything, minted peas which were cooked in the tasty meat juices from the bird which all juices were returned to make gravy, brussel sprouts with stilton and cottage cheese – which was delicious, honey glazed carrotts, pigs in blankets, a large roast chicken and roast potatoes and roast parsnips and yorkie puddings!, all with good gravy.  How impressive is that, I’ve already told him I’m coming to his next year. 

 And there has been a little bit of knitting in between eating and sleeping.

Gnarled Oak in Coastal Knits in Wollmeise Petit Poison No 5 (I think, I’ll check when I write my notes) in DK.

It was looking like this, and now its just about to be pulled back. I can’t quite talk about what happened, I think I lost some stitches at the end in between bedtime and this morning and in trying to fix it, its all become a bit of a tangle, which means I won’t be wearing it for New Years Eve, which was the plan. Its still gorgeous and I think I’ve just got to relax into the last few rows whilst knitting with such beautiful wool.

Happy Festivities everybody, hope you had a wonderful time.