Christmas Blessings Blog Friends!
I doubt that many of you are spending much time reading blog posts on Christmas Eve, but since it is Saturday I thought I would just check in with a weekly wrap up.
Of course it has been a zooy week around here although there have been some peaceful pockets of time, like watching a beautiful evening Carol Service from Canterbury Cathedral while waiting for my guests to arrive for the Spanish Inquisition High Tea. Sadly they were nearly an hour late but the whole event went off quite well although, needless to say, Thomason was APPALLING and twice escaped from the kitchen barricades and had to be hauled out from under the dining room table. Sigh.
The work of Day Camps and CTM in general has still required daily attention so, each morning, I have carved out the usual 3-4 hours to deal with insurance invoices, one or two donations and finalising the poster for the Epiphany Team Gathering.
Tuesday morning my work was interrupted by a visit from Randy Howarth, who I had not seen in person since before the pandemic. Randy is a Day Camp Team alumnus, as well as a former committee member and has been involved in virtually all of CTM’s ministries for over 30 years. He was actually a Travelling Team Member the very first summer I was directing Day Camps; suffice it to say, we go back a long way 😊. A couple of weeks ago he and his daughter contributed a musical presentation to Carols & Cocoa and it was very special to catch up and hear what he and his family are doing these days. We had coffee in the kitchen while Thomason ran amok but fortunately Randy is very fond of dogs and since no china was broken I considered this visit to also have been a success!
Jessica came on Wednesday afternoon and we shared an early dinner together. That day I had made 156 Danish Meatballs as part of the catering order I was preparing, so I just kept on going with some of my own meat and made an extra batch for Jessica and myself to enjoy along with sweet and sour purple cabbage, steamed broccoli, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce (it should have been Lingonberry but I think the only place that can be found in Canada would be at Ikea!)
All of the catering food was supposed to be picked up yesterday but due to the impending storm the pick up was pushed back to Thursday afternoon, causing quite a rush that morning. My friend will be serving the meal to her family members this evening and, as always, I shall be anxious to hear if it was well received. While I was packing up the order I had a text from family friend Brian , saying that his son would be over at 11am to deliver and put up my Christmas tree. At that point I had to down my kitchen tools and scurry around to move furniture and set up the stand for the tree. With Jillian also expected for lunch it was quite the morning. But everything got done in the end and after a lovely visit with Jillian, I was able to decorate the tree before cooking my supper😊.
Jenna was here this morning for brunch and each of the visits this week has also included the exchanging of gifts so that, even though I have been emptying the basket that held all my outgoing gifts, it has filled up again with some interesting parcels! On our daily afternoon walks I was also able to deliver some gifts to friends who live nearby and have made arrangements with others who will be coming for visits over Christmas week at which time we can do more exchanges 😊.
As the darkness draws in this afternoon I shall be preparing a small pot of salmon chowder. Our family ALWAYS had some type of fish or seafood chowder on Christmas Eve and so I carry on the tradition, even when eating alone (with, of course, a furry attendant waiting to lick out the empty pot 😊).
I was looking forward to a lovely treat tomorrow as Bishop Mary’s husband was scheduled to be delivering a plate of delicious (all organic!) Christmas dinner but they have been out in BC visiting their married daughter and a freak blizzard has caused the closure of all the airports. They cannot get a flight back to Montreal until late on Christmas Day and so my “feast” will now be transferred to St. Stephen’s Day. Obviously I have never cooked a turkey for just myself and it is very difficult to find organic turkey pieces so to receive such a special meal I have not cooked myself, is pretty exciting, meanwhile I guess I’ll enjoy a cheese omelette for Christmas Dinner 😊.
This morning I welcomed Jenna to brunch. We weren’t quite sure if she would still be able to come because we are in the midst of another winter storm that has included snow, freezing rain and rain with high winds and flash freezing. Her family was supposed to be driving up to her sister’s chalet in the Laurentians this evening but the roads are now impassable and the Provincial Police have asked that people stay off the highways. She also had a report from her sister that the power is off at the chalet so it looks as if the family members in Montreal will be staying put, as that is by far the safest option. Even though it is Christmas Eve, I still need to bake gluten free loaves for my friend, Sue, so I decided to do a baked brunch for Jenna and made a chocolate chip bread pudding, which we both really enjoyed.
As a last Festive Recipe I decided to repeat a real favourite, which is also a long time tradition in my family- Mormor’s Meatballs. Just click the link for the recipe, below is a photo of the ones that Jessica and I enjoyed for supper on Wednesday.
May you enjoy a peaceful and holy Christmastide.