Christmas(es) Recap

Happy New Year!  I can't believe yet another year is over!  The run up to Christmas was not surprisingly quite busy and hectic but that's what you get for working in retail!  

Mr Jones headed up to visit his family this Christmas and my mum came to stay here so although I missed Mr Jones like crazy, I got to celebrate two Christmases!

My alternative to a star/angel at the top of the tree...

I had to work all the way up to Christmas Eve but was lucky enough to leave work early so headed home and started work on a festive Asian feast for me and mum...sticky rice with pork wrapped in a leaf, char sui bao, tofu with shiitake mushrooms in a mushroom sauce, gyoza and a seaweed salad.  I was hoping to introduce mum to some of my favourite foods and was pleased when she asked for seconds of the char sui bao!

Christmas day started with freshly baked croissants and bucks fizz...

...And a massive roast chicken with all the trimmings for dinner...

...With the leftovers also making an appearance for our Boxing Day "nibbly buffet".  Oh and see the wooden board - that was from mum!  It's made of maple from Ohio (where I grew up).  It has little dark circles where the sap was tapped and the dark streaks are where the syrup ran down the tree.  Pretty awesome, right?!...

Father Christmas was very good to me this year!  I was lucky enough to get some lovely things including the tray you can see in the picture above, a bento box, little bowls egg/rice moulds and some delicious soaps.

My second Christmas with Mr Jones was equally enjoyable!  The day started super early (4.30am!) to take mum to the bus station as she was off to see my sister in Finland.  After a little nap once I got home it was time for presents round 2!  Mr Jones is an excellent present buyer and this year was no different and he surprised me with a fantastic tiffin box, a set of hot sauces, zombie feet socks and best of all, an amazing knife set!  No more blunt knives for me!

We had an epic "nibbly buffet" for dinner which included yet more leftovers, Chinese and Indian starters and some brie, tomatoes and crackers for me.  We have a selection of Christmassy films that we watch every year so got stuck in to those - "Elf", "Die Hard"...we'd watched "A Christmas Story" before he left - what a great film and another link to my Ohio past!

Thank you Mr Jones and mum for making my two Christmases so lovely!