Christmas is done. Presents visited, food opened and relatives cooked... erm... never mind... it's been one of those Christmasses. The kids had fun though, and according to the eldest monkey, it had been the best Christmas Day ever. Ok, he's only 10, so he can't actually remember that many, but I thought I'd let him get the credit for lifting my spirits, if only a little. Working in retail has definately killed off my Christmas spirit, leaving me feeling decidedly Scrooge-like in my bah humbugness! Where was the excitement of putting up the decorations, the joy of baking Christmas cakes and biscuits? Where was the fun in wrapping the presents, and bringing them downstairs in SAS secret mission style? This year I made my Christmas pudding in October, and my cranberry sauce on Christmas Eve. That was the extent of my seasonal culinary preparation. Those 2 things. Nothing else. Not a Norwegian Christmas bikkie in sight. Not even gingerbread. I didn't even do my Norwegian roast for Christmas Eve. Bleurgh. I wrapped the childrens' presents at the last minute, late on Christmas Eve. The rest of the family presents were wrapped earlier that morning, and dropped off by my husband to their respective destinations.
A couple of days off, and it was back to work on the 27th. Now I just have to get through New Year's Eve, then middle monkey's birthday on the 2nd, FIL's birthday on the 4th, and then the monkeys are finally back in school on the 6th. And that means that I have to take all the decorations down while the boys are still at home. Not a tempting thought.
To counteract all this miserable doom and gloom, I'm attempting to bake my way back to happiness... this time a Clementine Cake, a Nigella Lawson recipe, and given to me by my friend Sally - my sister in dessert consumption and baking, and knitting/spinning... and other things girly. The simmering clementines made the kitchen smell absolutely divine! Now they are cooling, waiting to have the pips removed, and then to be mushed with the other ingerdients and made into an actual cake. Then the consumption.... I can hardly wait! But alas, I have to wait, because I have to go and buy some party food for tomorrow. New Year's Eve in our house usually consists of the 5 of us stuffing our faces with finger food, then going to bed to sleep the new year in. Fireworks-schmireworks, bah humbug and all that jazz :)
