The joy of Christmas

Noel, Noel,

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ, to others it is the time of the year to shop, while some find it as the only time of the year to act nice.
In the retail world, its the opportunity to have mega sales and attract shoppers from far and near to spend their hard earned money on goods. In the fashion world, hey its the release of the special collections.
All in all the Christmas season is a very busy period time of the year regardless of what religious, commercial or financial view you plan to take.

In the fairytale world, Christmas always is white and snow filled and looks beautiful and garland. In the real world of Bradford, Christmas is a cold chilly morning but with a freshness in the faces of the folks on the streets. Oh! I forgot to mention, Christmas also makes people smile more than usual.

Well how did my Christmas unfold... Two weeks to Christmas my girlfriend and I bought our Christmas tree and it was a landmark event as the setting up of the tree and the decorating of the tree had many pauses of 'I love you' being exchanged 'This is our first Christmas together' being repeated. So the tree was set and we waited for Christmas eve to get the traditional turkey and the stuffing; the menu had been discussed and sketched and re-sketched depending on our moods. Finally, Christmas morning dawned and we eagerly started the food preparation. First was the washing and dressing of the turkey that I christened 'Edward'. He was a big one so cleaning him out was no small deal, then the next thing was to mix the marinades and marinate the bird. While that was being done... the chef goddess, Lebo, was began making steamed bread, cheesecake, and trifle 'all from scratch' just like her mum had taught her. In that time she had also seasoned chicken wings.

Edward was then put in the oven for bout three and a half hours with the stuffing joining in from the last half hour. In that time the cheesecake, trifle and wings had been prepared along with fried-rice and potato salad.

Joshua, in his usual self arrived and easily mde himself comfortable with the turkey and a very sharp knife. The feasting could now begin after eight hours of preparation; we sat with good food, ate and watch the classic Eastenders Christmas Day special with Wollis and Gromitt as intermission. Before Joshua left, he was presented with his Christmas gift as Lebo and I had decided to exchange ours privately... He smiled all the way home.

Well, that was that for the eating part, it was now the highly anticipated exchange of gifts and an engraved ipod, a wristwatch (that was later exchanged) and silicon heating sock (that only worked for that night) went down well with my one and only, a jacket, a watch, toiletries and a pair of plimsolls blew my mind away. In her words the look on my face was priceless.

I know this is a late documentation of Christmas but all that food had to settle before I could write about an Unforgettable Christmas and now I can't wait for Christmas 2009.
Adieu!