Christmas Leftovers

I think that all the Christmas Stuff is finally out of the way now! 

There was a stack of linens waiting to be ironed - tablecloths, hand towels, two aprons and a few other bits. These have gone into a carrier bag to go up into the loft. Rosie had taken the little reindeer over to their cottage before covid struck, but he is back now. In 1989, I bought a length of fabric printed with two Christmas aprons, ties and pockets, to cut out and sew up. 

One red with a green pattern, the other green with red. I had the green one, and gave Gillian the red one. Now I have them both, and wore them alternately for preparing festive food. Happy memories of working together in the kitchen...

I spent a couple of afternoons sorting out my cards. Top tip - I do this with my phone beside me. If there is a card with important information inside like "from March, we expect our address to be...." then I take a photo of it. 

I used some card and envelopes already in my Stash, and cut up the 2021 cards with my vintage deckle guillotine. My rule is that pictures must be related to the nativity Story [no santas, snowmen or robins] I had some beautiful pictures. Thank you Eleanor for the one which was printed inside with a dotted line and "cut here to use this as a postcard" I shall do that!

I wanted to make 60 cards but had less than 50 suitable pictures - so I used an angel diecut for the remaining dozen or so. They are in the labelled "cracker" box, along with some gift tags made from "non-Nativity" cards. 

The fridge and freezer were sorted, and leftover turkey meat went into a splendid curry, Bob produced a sag aloo with potatoes and frozen spinach, and I found a recipe for dhal on the BBC Good Food site. This used up some red cabbage, and cauliflower. This made a splendid feast. I usually buy 'basics' mango chupney [Rosie is very fond of this] but as it was Christmas, I splashed out on the M&S one, which was very nice. Top tip - the dhal recipes calls for coconut flakes as a garnish, I did not have any. But I tipped my jar of 'tropical granola' onto a large platter, and picked out lots of the coconut pieces with my teabag tongs. They worked well.

Another Christmas success which is worth a mention- Bob is very fond of Stilton, and said the Lidl one was particularly fine, It is made at the Long Clawson dairy in Leicestershire, and he thought it was excellent value for money.
We loved the Fortnum and Mason Dill & Mustard Sauce too [a gift from Steph and Gaz] - but that was a little more expensive!

So the food is all eaten up, the decorations and linens are put away, and the cards have been recycled. And we sit in our smart green lounge, with much improved lighting all round. The festive season is over, the New Year begun...