How I normally do Christmas?

So on this snowy Sunday, I have to say I am knackered. Not only due to work, but also because I was busy yesterday on my only day off this week. Yes I work part-time, no I don’t know how that rota happened. Yesterday, I cooked all day for a lovely pre-Christmas meal for the fellas dad and it was great, even if I do say so myself. I made a nice 3 course meal, we had Christmas crackers, which you don’t really see in The Netherlands and plenty to drink. I mean this is what the Christmas season is all about isn’t it .Spending time with loved ones alongside eating and drinking the same amount of food that could feed a small village. Feeling full and lazy, is all part of the festivities. That and watching TV. I have to say you have to love the fact that the TV seems to improve around this time of years too. There are loads of films that will make you reminisce and TV series too. Not to mention all the new films and seasonal Christmas specials. I love it.

We have a tradition on Christmas day, where we drink a bucks fizz, or 2 for breakfast and the rest of the day kind of goes the same way. I go to my mams and then we start with the first round of presents. Tearing off the wrapping paper, I am still like a kid, I love this bit and giving people presents, to see their faces. Once it is time to eat my mams Christmas lunch, we normally have prawn cocktail for starters and then the full turkey with all of the trimmings for our main meal. With loads of stuffing, which is my favourite, that and pigs in blankets! We always pull the crackers before we eat anything, you need to wear your paper hat and tell crap jokes, right? I also have to have cheap crackers, those expensive ones are just no real fun. What is not to love about this? I am not really a sweet eater, so I am never bothered about dessert and to be honest we all eat so much, there is no huge demand for dessert.

What we do have later in the day is a huge cheeseboard of cheeses we bring from The Netherlands, with olives, crackers and everything. Let’s not forget the port either. We all sit around the table, chatting, playing games and having a laugh. There is no wonder I love this time of the year. Once the cheeses are eaten and the port is going down a treat, we go into the sitting room and watch some TV. We don’t normally watch full programmes, there is way too much noise and chat for that. There is also always time for snoozing, for my mam at least and she does this all throughout the day ha. All that cooking is a killer.

At the end of the day we all start packing up our presents into our gift bags and make our way “home”. For me and the fella that is a local bnb. When we get back it is straight into pjs and relax whilst watching some more TV and feeling heavily bloated, all while justifying eating and drinking so much due to it being Christmas. There is possibly even time to squeeze in some form of food from your presents, even though you feel like one more bite will tip you over the edge. I might even squeeze in one more drink, who knows. Then it’s another look through my presents and off to bed.

Waking up on Boxing day I am normally hungry (again) which is something, I never get, like how is it possible? It is literally like the season of food and nothing else, well maybe greed. While it is also the season of joy and happiness, it is worth pointing out that for some this is not the case. In fact it is the opposite. Some people are all alone, some have no home, they can’t afford to eat. This unfairness makes me sad. While I am not saying don’t enjoy your Christmas, what I am saying is spare a thought for those who aren’t as lucky as the majority of us and if you can help in any way, then please do. Let’s love each other, one and all.