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farnamThis year it was a christmas as christmas should be. Low key, stress free, and enjoyable.
In preparation I hadn't thought much further than the food, and refused to decorate the house or put up a christmas tree, since I didn't have the money/wasn't in the mood. Conan, once he arrived, rebelled slightly, and strung up 2 forlorn looking peices of purple tinsel over picture frames, in response to which Conor hung 2 'Happy Hallowe'en' ornaments. Oh, the humor of 17 year olds. Which must also make me mentally 17, as I thought it was very funny too.
And there was that inevitable lesson about buying things for people with the identical sense of humour as yourslef - to be learned again on Christmas day. Conan arrived bearing 3 black 'bah humbug' hats, while I, in my turn, had also sourced the same things. So, we had nothing even remotly red or white in the house, but six black santa hats with 'bah humbug' on them. They came in quite useful, too, as they doubled as stcokings.
We didn't get up too early, I think it was after 10 when all three of us were up and about. The 'stockings' were filled with the nick nacks and waiting on the table. Being very frugal this year I'd filled them with nothing more than sainsburrys rubbish - tubs of bubbles, bendy snakes, pencil sharpeners and rubbers, light up balloons and the inevitable chocolate santas. Conor of course got his teddy bear sticking out of the top of his - a penguin that I had to buy on christmas eve, as I realised I'd left the orriginal one in my desk drawer in work. And as with every christmas that has gone before, the stocking rubbish caused greater hilarity and fun than any of the 'proper' presents that came later. Conor was still playing with the stuffed penguin late that night, having found an old dinosaur teady and trying to pose them so it looked like the dino was eating the penguin - with the inevitable result of creating a tableu of inter-species love, as despite his best efforts it just looked like they were kissing.
We showered, dressed, stuck the dinner in the oven, and opened proper presents. Conor seemed particularly happy, if not more happy than usual with his gains, despite the fact that nothing had cost over twenty quid. He got a dressing gown, jammies, a book, a poster, a DVD and an ornamental hunting knife. And was utterly delighted with every parcel he unwrapped, with more glee than in years gone by where he would have had a lot more spent on him.
I gave Conan his gifts, socks and the latest Terry Prachett book 'Unseen Academicals', and Conan gave me .... wait for it ...
yup, you guessed it ....
...the latest Terry Prachett book 'Unseen Academicals'.
I'm already half way through and really enjoying it. I think we are kind of keeping pace with eachother, as he seems to be about the same number of pages into his copy.
Conor, in the spirit of 17 year olds the globe over, chose three presents for me that he really liked for himself. It also explains why his pocket money has been evaporating so fast - I'd asked him for a scarf as I really needed one. But he added to that an Evanessance CD, as apparently my music tastes still need broadening and improving, a throw for the sofa thats perfectly purple and 'goffic' and is something he really wanted, and of course season 5 of Angel. He already owns season 1 to 4 himself. We will have a few wonderful evenings in the near future curled up on armchairs in the living room watching them, and I will be remined once again that I have a great son, caring and considerate, who puts in the effort to find things I will like (even if he will like them himself), and that its fantastic that we still have so many interests in common and can spend enjoyable time together like this.
Dinner was cooked at a slow pace. No turkey this year, being officially the year of the 'frugal christmas' (TM) Conor and Conan both prefair the ham anyway, so it made more sense to just get one big ham that would be really nice, with no risk of left-overs not being enjoyed. Along with the ham I also prepaired the inevitable sprouts - I actually love sprouts, and don't cook them the rest of the year because they normally come in packets that are too large for one person, and Conor hates them. Anyway, we also had carrots and celery, of course, a big pot of ratatooy (I've no idea how to spell that, sorry), spiced red cabbage, roast potatoes, and a huge tray of stuffing. Conor also had a raw pepper sliced up and put on his plate. He's just weird like that, and with the exception of carrots and celery, doesn't really like his veg cooked.
All this was preceeded by fresh melon for the first course, chicken soup for second starter, and followed by deserts all evening, whenever we felt like we could possibly manage more food. There was a plum pudding, ice cream, fresh cream, merrangues, and a giant bowl of fresh fruit salad. Conan thought I was making too much fruit, but I did warn him. Conor doesn't really do desserts, but turn your back, and that bowl of fruit salad will magically drop a few inches per hour. And I was right, of course - somewhat to Conan's chraign later in the evening when he went to get some more and found it almost gone.
The biggest problem with all of this cooking was that I discovered that, despite having bought a new sauspan specially for the event, and asked Conan to bring one too, we were still one short, and needed to do a bit of troubelsome rotating - taking things oout of pans, and keeping them warm in the oven just to cook the next type of veg. But we managed, and I can't imagine that happening again until next christmas
With all of us truly stuffed, the house decended into its usual introverted contentment, with all three of us hiding away and taking refuge in computer games on our respective computers for a few hours, before deciding to be a bit more sociable than that. The DVDs came out,a nd we all watched the first to episodes of Angel together, before heading to bed about 1am.
And that was the christmas that was.
Ruairi is on his way from Ipswich now to collect the three of us for a second christmas dinner with himself and hazel, and I'm expecting a much more noisey day, since we will be with too much more bubbly personalities. And once today is out of the way, Christmas will be thankfully, finally, over and I can turn my attention to the assignments waiting to be written and the class prep work I have to do.
In preparation I hadn't thought much further than the food, and refused to decorate the house or put up a christmas tree, since I didn't have the money/wasn't in the mood. Conan, once he arrived, rebelled slightly, and strung up 2 forlorn looking peices of purple tinsel over picture frames, in response to which Conor hung 2 'Happy Hallowe'en' ornaments. Oh, the humor of 17 year olds. Which must also make me mentally 17, as I thought it was very funny too.
And there was that inevitable lesson about buying things for people with the identical sense of humour as yourslef - to be learned again on Christmas day. Conan arrived bearing 3 black 'bah humbug' hats, while I, in my turn, had also sourced the same things. So, we had nothing even remotly red or white in the house, but six black santa hats with 'bah humbug' on them. They came in quite useful, too, as they doubled as stcokings.
We didn't get up too early, I think it was after 10 when all three of us were up and about. The 'stockings' were filled with the nick nacks and waiting on the table. Being very frugal this year I'd filled them with nothing more than sainsburrys rubbish - tubs of bubbles, bendy snakes, pencil sharpeners and rubbers, light up balloons and the inevitable chocolate santas. Conor of course got his teddy bear sticking out of the top of his - a penguin that I had to buy on christmas eve, as I realised I'd left the orriginal one in my desk drawer in work. And as with every christmas that has gone before, the stocking rubbish caused greater hilarity and fun than any of the 'proper' presents that came later. Conor was still playing with the stuffed penguin late that night, having found an old dinosaur teady and trying to pose them so it looked like the dino was eating the penguin - with the inevitable result of creating a tableu of inter-species love, as despite his best efforts it just looked like they were kissing.
We showered, dressed, stuck the dinner in the oven, and opened proper presents. Conor seemed particularly happy, if not more happy than usual with his gains, despite the fact that nothing had cost over twenty quid. He got a dressing gown, jammies, a book, a poster, a DVD and an ornamental hunting knife. And was utterly delighted with every parcel he unwrapped, with more glee than in years gone by where he would have had a lot more spent on him.
I gave Conan his gifts, socks and the latest Terry Prachett book 'Unseen Academicals', and Conan gave me .... wait for it ...
yup, you guessed it ....
...the latest Terry Prachett book 'Unseen Academicals'.
I'm already half way through and really enjoying it. I think we are kind of keeping pace with eachother, as he seems to be about the same number of pages into his copy.
Conor, in the spirit of 17 year olds the globe over, chose three presents for me that he really liked for himself. It also explains why his pocket money has been evaporating so fast - I'd asked him for a scarf as I really needed one. But he added to that an Evanessance CD, as apparently my music tastes still need broadening and improving, a throw for the sofa thats perfectly purple and 'goffic' and is something he really wanted, and of course season 5 of Angel. He already owns season 1 to 4 himself. We will have a few wonderful evenings in the near future curled up on armchairs in the living room watching them, and I will be remined once again that I have a great son, caring and considerate, who puts in the effort to find things I will like (even if he will like them himself), and that its fantastic that we still have so many interests in common and can spend enjoyable time together like this.
Dinner was cooked at a slow pace. No turkey this year, being officially the year of the 'frugal christmas' (TM) Conor and Conan both prefair the ham anyway, so it made more sense to just get one big ham that would be really nice, with no risk of left-overs not being enjoyed. Along with the ham I also prepaired the inevitable sprouts - I actually love sprouts, and don't cook them the rest of the year because they normally come in packets that are too large for one person, and Conor hates them. Anyway, we also had carrots and celery, of course, a big pot of ratatooy (I've no idea how to spell that, sorry), spiced red cabbage, roast potatoes, and a huge tray of stuffing. Conor also had a raw pepper sliced up and put on his plate. He's just weird like that, and with the exception of carrots and celery, doesn't really like his veg cooked.
All this was preceeded by fresh melon for the first course, chicken soup for second starter, and followed by deserts all evening, whenever we felt like we could possibly manage more food. There was a plum pudding, ice cream, fresh cream, merrangues, and a giant bowl of fresh fruit salad. Conan thought I was making too much fruit, but I did warn him. Conor doesn't really do desserts, but turn your back, and that bowl of fruit salad will magically drop a few inches per hour. And I was right, of course - somewhat to Conan's chraign later in the evening when he went to get some more and found it almost gone.
The biggest problem with all of this cooking was that I discovered that, despite having bought a new sauspan specially for the event, and asked Conan to bring one too, we were still one short, and needed to do a bit of troubelsome rotating - taking things oout of pans, and keeping them warm in the oven just to cook the next type of veg. But we managed, and I can't imagine that happening again until next christmas
With all of us truly stuffed, the house decended into its usual introverted contentment, with all three of us hiding away and taking refuge in computer games on our respective computers for a few hours, before deciding to be a bit more sociable than that. The DVDs came out,a nd we all watched the first to episodes of Angel together, before heading to bed about 1am.
And that was the christmas that was.
Ruairi is on his way from Ipswich now to collect the three of us for a second christmas dinner with himself and hazel, and I'm expecting a much more noisey day, since we will be with too much more bubbly personalities. And once today is out of the way, Christmas will be thankfully, finally, over and I can turn my attention to the assignments waiting to be written and the class prep work I have to do.
