The Giant Christmas Moth wishes you a Merry Chrimmas! Yeah, it's just a giant-ass moth that was on the wall when I went for my walk this morning, but you know... I posted it to Instagram with the same caption.
And since we don't really do a tree thing at Ma's place these days, you get what you get.
Because I generally report on the Christmas Weather... it was a warm one this year. It topped out at just over 36°C, and, of course one of those times was when I was driving home... obviously.
So... I headed out for my walk this morning, and much like last year, there were what felt like a far larger amount of people out and about also doing a walk than there is on a regular weekday, and certainly more than I remember from back in the day when I used to walk in North Adelaide.
I came back, threw myself in the shower, had indecision about what to wear before discovering that I had a pair of jeans shorts in the wardrobe that I'd never actually worn and have no memory of getting. Happy Christmas to me.
The run down to Ma's place was good... I didn't get caught by the majority of the lights on the way down, or when I did, they changed basically by the time I'd stopped. So I got there around 9:30.
Was the first little while a slight comedy of errors? Yes, yes it was. Did I put the breakfast croissants into an already hot oven without checking the temperature? Yes, yes I did. Did they end up with a healthy coating of charcoal? Yes, yes they did. Did we eat them anyway? Fuck yes. Did I go to shake the Farmer's Union Iced Coffee from Ma's fridge only to discover as I was doing it that one of them was already open and sealed back up with a bulldog clip? Yes, yes I did. Thankfully the spray was minimal. But was I already by 10am ready to just give up on the whole endeavour and go home? Slightly yes.
But we made it through breakfast. Afterwards I hooked my laptop up to Ma's TV and played the Critical Role Winter's Crest holiday album... which, honestly, is not bad... and then cleaned up from breakfast. Mostly I threw Ma out of her own kitchen all day... for a couple of reasons. One of them being that it was honestly just easier for me to do everything myself, and also because it gave her a day where she didn't have to do anything.
Then we did a very brief round of presents.
Honestly, there was also a few bits and pieces like a couple of packs of Bundaberg Spiced Ginger Beer, because it wouldn't be Christmas without it, but I didn't bother adding them to the photo. There was supposed to be a copy of the new Dungeons and Dragons Players Handbook, but due to retail stupidity, I never got around to picking one up, but I'll do that in January.
And the PS4 was something that got replaced back at the end of July, with the understanding that it was actually a Christmas present. So I just brought the box down for completeness.
So, the list looks thusly...
Afterwards, I set Ma in front of one of the movies I'd borrowed from the library (Wonka, more on that at the end of the week), while I started sticking things into the oven. Because we gave up on the Weber BBQ after last year's complete failure.
I'll also be honest, I have no idea who we specifically fit it all into Ma's oven last year. I mean, I managed, but it was slightly squished. Also, I really need to read the last year's Christmas Round-Up before the following Christmas, because if I'd remembered that I said last year that I didn't need to microwave the potatoes first, I might have actually listened to myself.
This Year's Me will tell Next Year's Me that we can probably take the potatoes and sausage meat out after about 75 minutes, and coating the turkey with some oil like the box says is a good idea. Also, just microwave the beans for like 30 seconds.
What I did do this year was not dump all the basil into the mixture, but added it to the bottom of the bowls, because honestly, it goes all weird in the leftovers.
It still looks pretty good though, honestly. Not bad for just throwing together basil, green beans, roast potatoes, cherry tomatoes, turkey, sausage meat and making a salad dressing with some cranberry, mustard, vinegar and oil. Voila.
Also, yes, that is essentially pretty much the identical photo I've posted for the last... I dunno, several years. On Instagram if not here on the blog. But these days I'm just lazy and reuse my Insta photos.
So, basically I dipped in and out of watching Wonka while getting lunch prepared. And then after we finished lunch (and the end of Wonka), I cleaned up while I put on the other library movie, Suzume, for Ma. The clean up wasn't too arduous honestly, because I'd been keeping a relatively clean kitchen throughout. But I did dip in and out of the movie a few times.
As is usual, we didn't have dessert directly after lunch, we never do. It generally ends up being late in the afternoon before we even bother. In this case it was after the movie. While I never really keep track of what time anything happens on Christmas Day, I do know that it was after 4:30, because when we turned the movie off, I just flicked through the TV and stumbled across the Christmas episode of Mythbusters from the first season, so we just threw that on.
I packed up afterwards and headed home sometime just before 6pm. Which was also around the time that the temperature spiked again. Good times.
And I got stopped at pretty much all the lights on the way home. Which is what you want when you're in a metal box that has been sitting in the sun all day.
So I got home, unpacked and then threw myself under a cold shower. As one does.
And that, mes amis, is Christmas 2024. For what it's worth.
