Festive cheer?

Christmas has never felt so far away, and I have never wrapped presents feeling so tired. Outside the snow, or sleet, has begun, Sinatra and Bing are hijacking every radio station, and the sellotape is speedily selling out, but it's still a struggle to get out of bed in the morning. Because to be honest, Christmas can't help just being another day on which we are all human beings, and so normal amounts of people end up headachey, have appendicitus, have a house fire, and far more than normal prbably throw up, but then Christmas is ruined because we all heap so much expectation on that one day.

24 hours like any other as far as our bodies are concerned. Last year I was so tired by the time the big day itself finally rolled round I fell sound asleep in front of the doctor who Christmas special. Another time the oven broke, and we ended up eating turkey at 5. On your average saturday these would not be an issue, a good thing as far as the nap goes, and would be forgotten in a day. Yet becuase they just happened to fall on December the 25th, they remain ingrained in my mind as fluctuations from the set xmas routines.

So this year I'm going to get it perfectly right, by getting it wrong. Christmas will be a day for relaxing, whatever goes wrong, and as an annual lover of tradition, festive food, and the inevitable boardgames, this will be a hard challenge.
Because as scroogey as I sound (and I am probably just in need of a night's sleep before i'll be bopping alone, sprouting tinsel and good cheer like the rest of the country) I love Christmas. Lucky, then, that we're going away, so that if it all goes peep Tom, and I fail to stick to my it-doesn't-matter-it's-just-a-day resolution, I'll have some other family to blame.

Recipe number 1 - melty chocolate pudding

This took a few disasters to get it right, but the final one is quick and tastes like the real thing! Really good with cream...

1 mug serves two people - ate this with a friend and we were both full by the end!

In a really big mug (or it overflows, believe me!) mug whisk an egg, around 3 big spoons of milk and 3 more of oil. in a seperate bowl mix 3 big spoons of sugar (brown or white, whatever you have), 4 of self-raising flour, and 2 of cocao powder (we have the really strong green and blacks one). Add the dry ingredients to the mug and stir it all round a bit. Push a few squares of chocolate into the middle to make a melty centre, and cook for 2 minutes on 850w, or the equivilent on your microwave. Add some cream and eat whilst hot!

A few things I love more than ever this autumn

Lovers Walk. I pass it every day, but it never fails to amaze me with the red and oranges it displays in october. But I'm taking special care this year to drink it all in, notice every leaf and colour, because this could be one of the last times I see it like this for a few years...

There is something about autumn light, aumtumn sunsets. This was the view from the roof of my house last night:

 



A three year old I was picking up from nursery ran ahead and found a present for me on thursday. I nearly just subtly popped it on the ground, but something made me stop, and now it is sitting, probably rotting, on my desk. But I don't really care, because a bright fallen leaf is a nice present to get, as far as presents go.

Outside my dad's house, Oxfordshire

 

But my favourite part of the Autumn is the mornings. The first breath of air outside the front door, before December's chill, puts me in such a good mood for the rest of the day. And I am determined to be in a good mood all of this Autumn - after all, it's my last one as a child, so I will never get another change to kick clouds of leaves up into the air as I walk.

autumn, poetry and not nearly enough time

I am still alive, believe it or not. I have had the craziest few months I can remember for a long time, and so my poor blog has been forgotten under the endless to do lists! But now the university's have been applied for, the english coursework is safely underway and I have decided to stop all revision for the oxford entry in November and just let what will happen happen... either they want me, or they don't, and if i fail them I'm just not good enough to go!

But anyway, yesterday was pretty monumental, because the new kitchen was FINALLY finished. And I do not use capital letters lightly, but we have been living on a building site for 10 weeks. It wasn't only the washing up of lasagne dishes in the bathtub, the eventual conversion to paper plates, or hammering starting at eight every day of the summer holidays that was the real problem. It wasn't even been seen in the shower by a builder unexpectedly putting up scaffolding on the back of the house, or the dust that settled sneakily but firmly on every possible service. The worst thing, that made me crave roast dinners and apple crumbles and just plain old boiled vegetable, was the food.
But after the first few weeks we began to get pretty creative. When you know whatever you make is going to be strange, you lose any fear of messing up, so at lunchtimes, with the house to myself, I came up with some pretty interesting inventions, using just a microwave, a kettle and a toaster. And so, to honour the monumental occasion that was yesterday, I will be displaying one kitchen-free survival recipe every day this week.

Be ready, because some of these were so nice I might even be tempted to make them WITH a kitchen... once the novelty of cheese on toast has worn off.