Hey this time next week

[miasmum]

I don't cook one little thing well unless heating up mulled wine counts as cooking

[Kaz]

[Fugitive]

Oh Kaz, I used to make my own mincemeat, fudge, pudding and cake, stuffing, mince pies, petit fours and even my own marzipan but that stopped!!! It's just Lozzles website is amazing for buying in ready to Pop In The Oven. Even the vegetables look gorgeous!

My favourite Christmases were when we ran a pub. It was exhausting but lots of fun and much wickedness and the family all loved it because there was ready entertainment and company in the bar and so much food and we just kept working

[Kaz]

Hey if you enjoy cooking then great!!!! I just don't My family get their five fruit and veg and decent food on the table, but I really don't get anything out of cooking these days - and never mind Life is Too Short to Stuff a Mushroom, mine is defintiely too short to make my own mincemeat

[Fugitive]

Hey if you enjoy cooking then great!!!! I just don't My family get their five fruit and veg and decent food on the table, but I really don't get anything out of cooking these days - and never mind Life is Too Short to Stuff a Mushroom, mine is defintiely too short to make my own mincemeat

No! I don't do that anymore. This was years ago and now I do it all the easy way

[Kaz]

[saundra]

must say xmas day is just normal for me and i treat it as such
like you all know im on my own here
its just how it goes
neighbours do there own thing and i dont knock on doors its not me
and im sure i wont change
i could join a club but i know i wont
so when my family visit i enjoy there visits
MM enjoy a glass of wine and think sod the world
dont look back or forword
its just one day
and we all feel your hurt
with love and understanding to all us VV ers xxxxx

[Osc]

Shell, I just wish I could give you a big "real" hug, but I'm afraid a cyber one is all I can manage ((((((Shell)))))) Is Mr. Shell an only child and that's why you always have the inlaws? I know it's not easy, especially if Luke is now nocturnal, which will be hard if he is up every night of the time he is home. Wish I could say something consoling, but then you don't want anything banal because that's no help to you at all. Have you told Tim a little of how you feel? Christmas Day used to a bit tense for us some years back, especially with my mother who wanted it all run her way (that didn't happen though), and then agitated to go home as soon as she had eaten her last mouthful so she could settle down to drinking, with the result that she broke up whatever fun we were having as I had to drive her home. But life moves and shifts and changes, and maybe next year will be better xxxx

All the years we were working hard, between the two of us we made the cake, pudding, mincemeat and mince pies. Must have been mad We've eased right back in recent years, we don't need to eat that much food anyway. This year we got a friend who makes cakes to make us a cake, haven't had one for a long time, but she is going through a bit of a hard time and needs the extra few bob and we know it will be lovely. Having roast pork on the day, and my sister is doing a smoked salmon starter and a dessert.

[miasmum]

Aw thanks Osc and Saundra

Tim has a brother, but when he was married they never had the inlaws as my mil and sil did not get on. They had us all one year, which was ok, then the following year I had them again. The next year she said I will have the inlaws and I said are you having them because you want them or just because its your turn, to which the reply was 'obviously because its my turn', so I said leave it they can come to us. My mil said when they were invited she just sat on the sofa and read her book and ignored them.

Tim really goes to town, because he enjoys cooking, but it costs a fortune and to be honest they don't appreciate it. Luke only likes the pigs in blankets and the parsnips and I am too stressed about Luke to eat anything anyway.

[Lozzles]

Christmas can be stressful can't it, for all sorts of reasons? Mum is going to my brothers, but she is getting so forgetful and confused I am worried about her future care. My FiL has called to say that he is too concerned about the bad weather to drive down to us, so he won't be with us. I was hoping for a quiet Christmas and it looks like I will have it, but at what cost? ((((((((((Shell)))))))))))) I wish you could come down to us and share our parsnips xxx