Xmas eve feast

December 28      2017

This has been a very busy week.  The family gathered here for a traditional Xmas meal on Christmas Eve.   I spent most of the day cooking.   Luckily the temperature outside was only in the low 20s so I was able to cook the turkey in the wood stove and use the gas cooker for vegies and everything else.  The wood stove cooked the turkey perfectly so that it was moist and juicy but cooked evenly right through. 

I even managed to toast another month’s supply of muesli whilst all the cooking was going on.   We like to make our own muesli with lots of nuts and different grains and toast it with just a bit of coconut oil and honey so that it is not too sweet.   We have it for breakfast every morning with fresh fruit and freshly squeezed orange juice. 

Josh drove down from Brisbane and arrived at midday, and Al and Pip came up from the coast in the evening.   Indi picked up her younger brother from his mum’s house and Bo, Simon and all their kids drove in from Yarra Glen.  Wayne and his family were at his in laws and Arj is still in Germany but we still had healthy numbers present.

We all sat round a big table in the farm kitchen and enjoyed our first feast of the season.   Silkie managed to get most of the chocolates from the crackers and was most upset when she was told to share them out.  She had helped me make them earlier in the week and she had chosen the chocolates, so temptation to horde was strong.  The kids opened their gifts and we adults exchanged small home made food gifts.  Well. That is the idea.  In practice, after the oven door crisis, I decided I had the perfect excuse to buy everyone cakes instead of baking them.    Bo cheated too, and gave me a voucher for a massage, which was much too nice a surprise to quibble about.

On Xmas day we all drove up into the forest and had a BBQ lunch by the river.  The heat was building up again but it is much cooler in the forest and it was a perfect day for playing in the water.   Josh helped the younger kids move rocks around to dam half the river and create a pool.    Bo brought seafood and salad to go with the sausages and we all relaxed.    It was one of those perfect days.