christmas menu

smoked salmon, mussels, crayfish, avocado, prawns

roast lamb
ham
roast potatoes
vegetables - peas, beans, broccoli, pumpkin

boysenberries, strawberries, jelly, ice cream, cream

champagne, red wine

chocolates

recently on the turntable

some celebrity rock star thing where they all sang christmas carols - bah humbug

wynton marsalis
standard time vol. 2 - intimacy calling

Long Christmas Day's summer evening. Sitting here with a glass of red wine, soft music playing in the background, feeling nice and mellow.

The day has been good. I made french toast with maple syrup for breakfast - well, to be honest, it was only canadian notquitepure maple syrup - it's not as good as Maine maple syrup - Maine maple syrup is the best in the world - we watched Matthew fall asleep as he opened his presents and have been round at my parents for lunch and the afternoon.

My sister, her husband and their children Alex (17 months) and Georgia (1 month) were there, as well as Mum, Deb, Matthew and I. Christmases are going to be so cool over the next few years as the kids get older. My other sister has three under 6, they're living in Russia at the moment, but may be back for next Christmas.

Matthew got a lot more presents than me. I got clothes and picture frames. He got toys that squirted water in the bath, toys you push balls through holes in, a green tortoise with a little motor so it could move across the floor, a toy where you pressed the button and all these balls spun around inside, a toy ........ well, you get the picture.

Don't let anyone tell you getting older is all good!

Deb and I talked last night, and this morning. About us. About our problems. I opened up to her about some things I hadn't really before. Things that are a part of me, but that I've kept hidden all these years.

She's worried I'm not the person she thought I was. I am. I'm still me. I'm just me. But she knows some more about me. I know some more about me.

It's stuff we've got to work through. Stuff that's maybe been at the root of my dissatisfactions.

It's a start you know. We've got a lot more to talk about, a lot more to explore. We've got stuff to come to terms with.

But, driving home this afternoon, we were talking about next Christmas; we were talking about another child; we were talking about our future.

Have a great Christmas. Thanks for reading.