Family Day

There is no official name for today (unlike yesterday, Boxing Day), so I will refer to it as Family Day. I was up early and, having taken a tea up to Di, spent a quiet hour contemplating the overnight news and the plan for today's meal preparations. Once Di had emerged, I took the opportunity to go out for my morning walk. Like yesterday, it was very quiet as I wandered around my usual route.

Once I was back home, I grabbed the spare chairs from the garage and expanded the dining table. I then took the naan breads from the freezer so that they would be ready to heat up when needed. Rice was left to soak, and onions were diced and fried gently until they began to caramelise. Everything was on track.

Zoe and Ellie arrived first, soon followed by Kim. (Jon was at work). We gathered in Ellie's bedroom so that she could open her remaining presents from us... and see the dressing table and stool we had installed in the bedroom. She was very excited.

Jane and Trevor had been delayed by poor SatNav guidance, but that was no problem as we had a very flexible menu which I could "activate" whenever they arrived. In the end, they weren't significantly later than originally planned, and it was great to have them and Mark here for the day. As drinks were passed around, I fired up the hob. The rice baked in the oven, Ellie's curry simmered on the hob, the salmon for Jane and Di's pasta was flaked into the white wine reduction with some prawns and a huge glug of cream, and 7 chicken breasts (cut into chunks) were added to the onions and cooked in a Bhuna sauce. After the main dishes were tidied away, there was a selection of sweets (which Jane had kindly brought). 

After the meal, we sat at the table and played a card game that Ellie had received for Christmas. This seemed to be great fun. I wasn't quite clear on the rules and am not sure if I won (because I cleared my hand first) or lost (because I cleared my hand first). Once I was out, I continued to observe and saw the game until the last players fought to discard their remaining cards. It was clearly a lot of fun.

We retired to the lounge where some more gifts were exchanged, and Ellie and Mark sat on the floor assembling a Lego model. Ellie got bored after a while, but Mark finished the model without her valued input (he's become such a clever boy!!!)

Everything broke up early in the evening, and we wished everyone a safe journey home. We then spent some time tidying up and reloading the dishwasher before settling down in front of the TV. It had been a lovely "Family Day".