The before and the Christmas that was...

Christmas is not restful. For me, and seldom has been. At this age and stage in my life, it's a choice. I don't relish having too much time on my hands to ponder.

That's not the only reason, and one is because it's the start of harvest which means I have produce to process.

I had the second proper crop of plums from the tree that The Husband planted and nursed through the last drought. It makes me so sad that he never enjoyed the real fruit of those labours. We chose that tree for an later crop; we also planted an apricot but we lost that during the drought four years after we planted it. Anyhow, now what that means is that along with the Christmas preparation - and for the Christmas market - I had to "plum".

That was a nearly all-day job ahead of an all-day job preparing for the Christmas market and which meant not only an earlier morning for a later start and longer trading.

Was it worth it? Yes. Mostly.

This was Sunday.

I longed to stay in bed, but it was a day of cleaning up and preparing for the

and having to be in my office to meet a deadline ahead of Christmas eve.

And the mandatory baking.

Christmas Day: there was a lot of food, wine and conversation.

The turkey did what turkeys do: didn't behave. Even though I started the fire at 8.30am.

T turned the braai room into another kitchen workstation to assemble magical salads, while other things happened in the kitchen. The table was simple because, well, eight people, five salads and turkey, ham and smashed rosemary potatoes. And T's special "Ho ho ho, Father Christmas" napkins that didn't lend themselves to fancy folding.

The smashed rosemary potatoes introduced T and C to the wonders of the air fryer (at her behest). Impressed they were, yes. Converts, p'raps... ahem...

I forgot to take more pictures: of the turkey (which turned out perfectly in the end) the delicious ham and sublime salads.

The first guest arrived at 11h30; the last, not staying over, left at around 5.30 - 6.00. The residents of The Sandbag House fell into bed at around 9.30pm.

Methinks it was a good day.

And yes, by the end of that, I was "peopled out", but things didn't end there.

Although I did not venture beyond the gate until I left on Saturday morning for the Christmas market, the 26th of December was "a-tidying up" and prepping for the market. Again.

Until next time

Post script

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