Tatting, gingerbread and JYC

Today was a lovely day, visiting a local museum for their Victorian Christmas fair. I saw some extremely talented ladies making lace (another future hobby I reckon), and managed to get a tatting demo from a lovely lady who has been tatting for 30 years. This in itself was a good reason to have gone. I also managed to pick up a rather lovely salt dough gingerbread man decoration for the tree, which I think I'll replicate next year (again, when I've got more time!).

All of this loveliness put me in the mood for reminiscing about previous Christmases. I thought of last year, the first year of Christmas with my new family. My daughter was only 4 months old, and still at that stage where she slept for an hour, was up for a couple, slept for a couple.... Al and I each had our own traditions from our respective families, but also wanted to make this OUR Christmas. We managed very well - I asked him what Christmas means to him (food, drink, music, films etc) and combined it with my expectations. We ended up having three types of stuffing (my mum's, his dad's and good old sage-and-onion), four side dishes, and a massive turkey crown, but we ate like royalty for a week on the leftovers! It helped that I love cooking, and that we have two freezers, but I shall be doing the same again this year (though without the sage-and-onion).

What I won't be doing this year is eating a cold Christmas dinner - in 2007, Iz woke up just as we were tucking in, and so I had to feed and amuse her whilst Al got to have tasty hot grub. This year, she will be tucking in at the same time as us!