How to Enjoy Christmas!

by Rona
(East Anglia)

We always celebrate Christmas, like many people, with a big roast dinner. As my mum was a vegetarian, we always cook a nut roast (as well as organic, free-range turkey!) in her memory.

We spend most of the morning preparing food with the aid of the odd nip of brandy and perhaps the odd chocolate. We don't bother with breakfast, as it's time to build up a bit of an appetite.

When everything is done - usually not before mid-day or a bit after, we go for a Christmas walk. This is a beautiful and quiet time, because, of course most people are by now eating their Christmas dinners.

When the kids were little we used to get them exploring by hiding chocolates on the trunks and low branches of trees. We told them chocolate trees only fruited once a year on Christmas Day... a shocking fable which they believed - or indulged - for a surprisingly long time!

When it's starting to go dark we finally get around to eating... and we don't really stop for the next two days!

I really like the idea of a big halt in the dead part of the year. Time to relax, enjoy family stuff, friends and company and to forget all the routine cares. And definitely no shopping!