AA,you could point out that it’s pretty useless as they practice tax avoidance.

As do plenty of other corporations funded by the publics money.

Just me and mrs100th. It’ll be quiet as she’s in work tomorrow and that’ll be busy. It’s a no present Christmas, money to charities. Only a couple of minor moans. It’s a full Christmas dinner with a 12lb turkey, which seems excessive.
She’s taken a few days off so we can spend time together, oh and her step siblings are coming for a few days, festive 500 shot then.
And why, as your only gift, would you think I want a framed photograph of your children?
a_a we’ve an open door smoker too, when she’s had a few (I think she starts the day half ranked) she just flicks the fag butts around so days of finding dog ends and apologising to our neighbours.

….. and Christmas Day blown apart by my mother who’s been feeling rough for a few days and has now set me the task of tracking down a prescription for antibiotics.

Mil & sil down, one does everything with the volume set to 11 and the other an open door smoker (she now puts the butts down the drain rather than flick into the garden, an improvement I guess).

It’ll be ok so long as the wife dials down the enforced jollity, everyone is not right with that long lasting bug going around so tempers are a lot shorter.

We have an open door smoker also.

Moaned the house and the radiators were cold when they came back in.

“Yes they go off* when the door is left open – its an anti global warming feature”

seems to have cured that.

*Technically not a lie.

Last Christmas was a write-off as wife and no. 2 spawn came down with the ‘Rona the week before Christmas (I’d spent Christmas Eve in the Zona Corona at work, albeit in full noddy suit, goggles and FFP3…). So we are eating the beef that’s been in the freezer for 12 months.

Year before wasn’t great as MiL had newly diagnosed terminal Ca.

This year seems to be going OK aside from no. 1 having a bit of a moan as she doesn’t think she got enough presents 🙄 and I’ll be able to retreat to the kitchen soon and get on with cooking.

I can’t walk at the moment ‘cos of a **** up knee, so the wife took the dog out and left me in charge of lunch. I’ve got everything sorted to be ready in about 10 mins from now, and she’s now come back and has totally taken over but will ‘need a shower’ before she can sit down for dinner. I’ve been made to feel like a total incompetent, won’t even let me in the kitchen because she’s huffing and fluffing around. Still, nose off to spite face, yorkshires aren’t done yet so they’ll be ready about 15 mins after everything else. I could point this out but I’m being told to stay out of the way…..

^^^ sounds like an excuse to relax and watch some crap on the telly.

We’re off to the local for our dinner in about 4 minutes. It’s been a really chilled day. Walked the dogs, mushrooms on toast for breakfast, and a couple of glasses of prosecco so far.

Hope you all have a good days as you can.

Merry Christmas!

First cold I’ve had in three years…but

Went to the beach to walk the dog and then popped into to see a 90-year old woman who lives on her own in a remote cottage – feeling very virtuous.

Having moved 500 miles north, no longer having to worry about Christmas Day ruined by my Brexity SIL.

Round at the unlawfuls.. just wandered into the kitchen to check what delights we are having. It’s a boiled dinner!
Boiled swede
Boiled parsnip
Boiled cauliflower
Boiled potatoes
Boiled carrots
Boiled broccoli

Luckily the turkey wouldn’t fit in a pan so is in the oven. The highlight of culinary expertise and a special recipe is black pepper in the stuffing!
To make matters worse I’m driving so Mrs cloudnine can have a glass of boiled wine.

MiL used to cremate the beef much to both mine and my wife’s horror.

Hopefully will be a bit less well done this year with me overseeing but there’s always the possibility I’ll go too far the other way and it’ll have to be led to the table on a rope.

Kids and their cousins are now in the playroom playing the traditional MarioKart

All going well here. Picked Mum up yesterday evening, first Christmas together since 2019. MsBeej and mum getting on well, lots of lovely presents (I am now the foster father to a baby elephant), dinner only 15 mins late and I’ve got the Absolute Radio Country Ultimate Collection playing.

Oh, I seem to have polished off most of a bottle of French Sparkling wine. Proper sham-pain.

All good here. Just had a lovely Christmas* dinner/lunch. Washing up done & put away in 10 mins flat. Now sat with a glass of Port watching The Great Escape AGAIN.
Got the stepson coming over later with his GF & sprog (who’d better be quiet)
*glorified Sunday dinner/lunch.

I’m not a fan of christmas, memories of mum struggling to afford presents but not quite old enough to make her understand it didnt matter.
Massive family dinner(s) and the following bitchyness.

Today has been joyfull! Had son over last night, my mum came round this morning and we opened the presents together, watched muppet christmas charol, took son back to his mums, dropped my mum off home, just had hour and a bit on zwift now off down to mums house so we can have dinner, a drink and watch some tv together.
Pretty much perfect! Not in the spirit of the thread but was dreading it yesterday.

Boiled parsnip

This is just %##&^ insanity. Shooting’s too good für the type of person who does that. You have my sympathy.

Disaster- all the pigs in blanket have gone so there’ll be none on the Boxing Day Pizza 😱.
Have sausages but no bacon so could do blanketless pigs!

I said I’d make Christmas dinner. Everyone told me, several times because every other Christmas dinner has been late, that they want it at 2.30. So I plan out my schedule, get my Delia Christmas recipe book ready and meticulously plan the cooking to have everything ready at 2.30.

At 2.30 when everything is cooked, my mum and sister barge into the kitchen, take over and say they’re making a smoked salmon starter.

My dinner that I slaved over is served fifty minutes late, cold and crusty.

I drank two pints in 8 minutes to numb the anger.

Bunch of pricks. I’m going for a bike ride after presents next year.

Disaster- all the pigs in blanket have gone so there’ll be none on the Boxing Day Pizza 😱.

Piss poor planning, I have another 24in freezer!

take over and say they’re making a smoked salmon starter.

What happened to the starter you had made ?

At 2.30 when everything is cooked, my mum and sister barge into the kitchen, take over and say they’re making a smoked salmon starter.

I feel for you i honestly do. I think i must be a fairly nasty person because I see lots of folk rolling over to things like this, if it happened to me they would be getting told *no you’re **** not*

Go for your bike ride now no point waiting for next year!

Boiled swede
Boiled parsnip
Boiled cauliflower
Boiled potatoes
Boiled carrots
Boiled broccoli

At some point you’d think they’d have to roast something just because they’ve run out of room on the hob.

Piss poor planning, I have another 24in freezer!

Round to yours then! I blame me mum keep loading my son’s plate #feeder

When your other half has the whole hormone grinch thing going on, and there is hee haw that you can do to break her out of it. Cue lots of passive aggressive silences all day. Grr. Started off well too with a lovely bike ride as the sun rose (and she was still in bed). Utterly fed up.

Go for your bike ride now no point waiting for next year!

I think if I rode a bike now I’d immediately crash into something.

Iainc – I’d made enough to feed the five thousand without a starter! Now none of them will eat the desert I’d made 🤦‍♂️

Big Dave (dog) wandered back through to sit in front of the fire and gracefully farted a salutation to the sun.

Went through to start the roasties and 13 pigs in blanket are now 10. Now I’m no Sherlock but….

Boiled swede
Boiled parsnip
Boiled cauliflower
Boiled potatoes
Boiled carrots
Boiled broccoli

Not to sell them short, we also had..
Boiled peas
Boiled sweetcorn
Boiled Brussels sprouts

This has to set some kind of boiled bland record!

Power cut for an hour half way through cooking Christmas dinner. I knew my collection of Exposure lights would come in handy for lighting the kitchen. Trying to pan fry finish turkey, roast potatoes and pigs in blankets whilst simultaneously cooking 3kg of veg on the gas hob was a bit stressful I’ll admit though.

Wife has just sat down next to me on sofa with a thump, and drink which was resting on the arm is now all over me 🤦‍♂️

@tuboflard – Everything in a wok. If it’s not fried in hot oil how do you know you’ve killed all the germs?

@ratherbeintobago ended up pan frying the lot. Roast potatoes were surprisingly good!

One of my mates was BBQing his Christmas dinner. I’m not clear of this was a gambit to avoid family.

Mil found an Xmas pudding in the back of the cupboard best before date 2008…

A mini-moan that I have nothing to moan about.

Three days at my BIL’s, was genuinely anxious at the prospect but it’s been alright. He’s properly tanned the red wine today and has finally relaxed. My MILs dementia wasn’t too bad today either so we seem to have survived.

I love my wife, she’s a brilliant, forward thinking, kind and intelligent person and I therefore have no idea why she decided that we were going to start toilet training our youngest child on Christmas Eve when we had 18 people coming over for lunch today.

It’s actually been fine, but fuuuuuccccckkkking hell, only just…

I’m totally in awe of people who don’t get stressed cooking for lots of people.

@sanername When we did no. 2 spawn, nursery had been telling us we should really do it.

Turned up on Monday morning with nappy off and bag of spare clothes.

“How has she managed so far?”

“No accidents since I took her nappy off half an hour ago. Over to you…”

@Merak definitely. Getting everything ready for seven people here, at the same time, was bad enough. And even then I used every roasting tin and the sausages were 15 min behind everything else.

Asking my sister if she would like some ‘burnt offerings’ as she cremated the apricot stuffing into tar was possibly a touch rude.
Cold serving bowls, cold plates, cold bread sauce meant by the time we sat down everything bar the roast potatoes was cold.
Still, the re gifting from charidee shops has yeilded a giant avro vulcan jigsaw, a water filter jug without a filter, aka a jug. A terribley plastic roulette wheel.. Wtaf and a book on enigma code machines

Seeing my 89yr old mum being unable to move unaided was upsetting but she lit up when presented with a family tree and photos from between the wars of the family shop in pontefract and their own brand Vaux products

My MIL passed away this afternoon so we’ve had a properly shit Christmas.

Sorry to read that.
Thats such a shame.

Sorry for your loss..

That’s Dreadful news.