We cooked a big old meal for Christmas day, which we'd planned to be the more restrained one as we were going to be doing it all over with Mum, but still ended up making enough food for 8 when there were only two of us actually eating. It was a lovely meal though, and rather than stuff ourselves with the leftovers for the next few days I decided to freeze it all. I made the extra veg and cheese sauce into a crumble, and froze the rest of the pie and cabbage as they were. These will make a lot of extra meals. I also made a tiramisu trifle as a big treat which I wasn't sure about freezing, so have instead been eating this 3 times a day since Christmas - it's a hard life!
Although Will and I only made Ivy a couple of little bits, friends and family still gave us some gifts for Ivy and she had a lovely time opening the presents herself. She got some very sweet things, and only one gift that we will have to pass on, a really sweet gift from neighbours who just don't know us that well and have bought us something noisy and plastic.
I have saved all of the wrapping paper, stickers and ribbons for next year.
We had a short walk on Christmas morning but it was a grey, mizzly sort of day, the corker was Boxing Day which was crisp and bright. We went for a walk wit a couple of friends and Ivy had a mammoth nap (which unfortunately refreshed her so much that she had very broken sleep in the night!)
Lastly, I've done a little knitting over the last couple of weeks, not a lot. I finished my first proper fine gauge pair of socks made from a jolly cotton with elastic that a friend gave to me for helping her with some sewing. In the event, with a 4 month old baby each it was definitely a team effort and I'm not sure I deserved anything for it! But I am very pleased with my socks.
I also finished a pair of chunky socks which I actually started before I was distracted by the cotton yarn. They are a little big but lovely and warm. The heal is too deep - I thought I'd cast on 48 so was doing short rows from 24, but actually I was only cast on 44. I was at the toe before I realised my mistake so went with it and did the same for the other. It's fine, roomy.
Lastly, I made a toy for a friend's son's first birthday. It's meant to be one of three - I brontosaurus, stegosaurus and triceratops. I'm actually going to redo it so that they are all smaller. It only took and evening to make and Ivy will like the first one I made.
I hope everyone is having a lovely break and enjoying their homes, families and a bit of peace. It can be a fraught time of year - in fact this is our most enjoyable Christmas, where we've hidden away and declined visiting anyone - and it has been a struggle for us, more so at Christmas than any other time, not to feel a little hopeless about the level of consumerism and animal slaughter that has become traditional at this time of year. We are far from perfect but we hope that our actions make some difference to everyone alive now - humans and other animals - and to future generations.
With that I'll be off, with love and peace to you now, and for the New Year.
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