It's beginning to look...

... a lot like Christmas!  With just one week to go (3 full and 2 half days of teaching left) I'm beginning to feel a wee bit Christmassy 🎅  On Tuesday afternoon (my non contact time) I did my huge supermarket shop for the meal on Christmas Day.  I had planned out my menu before and made a list of ingredients I needed to buy specially.

However, as I was shopping I came to realise that instead of making some things from scratch (like the cranberry sauce and a GF Christmas pudding) it was actually cheaper to buy some things ready made.  It was £1 for a jar of quality cranberry sauce instead of £2 for a tub of fresh cranberries plus the sugar/orange juice/spices.  The GF pudding was £4.  Just buying the dried fruit and nuts alone would have cost me that.  Then I still needed the suet, treacle, brandy etc so it was a no brainer.

In the past I have made absolutely everything from scratch (including the bread to make bread sauce!!) Equally I've also bought everything from the Marks and Spencer Food Ordering service!! Now I have a happy medium with a mix of ready made and home made.

So, this year's menu will be:

Prawn and mango cocktail
Cheddar Jalapeño Sticks (veggie/fussy option)

Roast turkey
Stuffing
Pigs in blankets
Gravy
Carrots/sprouts/sweetcorn
Roast potatoes
Cranberry sauce
Festive stuffed peppers (veggie option)

Christmas Pudding and custard
Trifle

I decided to do everything gluten and dairy free instead of offering guests a choice so has cost a bit more than 'normal.'  Excluding alcohol the food bought specially came to £53.65.  I used £30 of my Nectar points to bring it down to £23.65.  OH has ordered the turkey from the butcher so that total is everything except the bird.  I bought 2 bottles of Prosecco that were 'reduced' to £7 each but it's only me that likes it (no one else really drinks alcohol) so suspect they might be gifted.

Now I need to think about presents.  I usually give the 'kids' money to spend as they like plus a wee parcel to open.  I might make some edibles if I have time but as usual I will not be going into any shops to buy anything.

My tree is up complete with my 'tasteful' collection of Santa ornaments 😁 The Teenager took some of them for his tree but I still have lots of them. Apart from 3 wee angels that sit on my sideboard I don't have any other decorations and I rather like it that way. 

For newer blog readers HERE is an old post about how my Christmas came to be low key.