It's that weird time between Christmas and New Year where you might not be working. In an old life I might have been shopping for 'bargains' or hosting/visiting family and friends for more dinners or simply entertaining bored children on school holidays. What do you call It? I love how Sue (see HERE ) has named it Betwixtmas!! Whatever it's called it's my time to reflect on the year and make plans for next year. This is my thinking time. And given my retirement/£40k challenge starting this year I've a lot to think about!!
But first, reflections on Christmas. I kept my gift giving simple. Books, sweets and money. I kept my food simple. I do love the Boxing day hash/stir fry as above.
Reduced sausages from the freezer!
More reduced sausages that were skinned and mixed with my GF Paxo stuffing mix.
Trifle was made from the free orange juice I made HERE, frozen raspberries from the garden and cake.
The trifle was served with squirty cream as I got that on offer ages ago! The potatoes, carrots and parsnips were 19p each from Lidl. Sprouts and sweetcorn were from the freezer as I always have them. The most expensive bits of the meal were the 3 bird roast ( which was only average) and the halibut (which was amazing!) could easily have been a simple chicken. Should have followed my instinct!! But the whole meal was delicious and fairly frugal! 😋
Emma loved her present!! She's got a new lease of life thanks to a daily steroid tablet. She's now 11 so realistically she's only got a year or 2 left so I'm happy to make sure she has some quality of life. But I'll need to factor that in to my finances for next year.
It sounds like you had a lovely Christmas. Alan had a three fish thing, prawns surrounded by mackerel and wrapped in salmon, he said it was delicious. It was ready made from Booths so a nice simple mainstay of the lunch.
ReplyDeleteHow lovely to see Emma looking active and healthy. When our Collie was 12 she was on a single steroid a day, we worked out the tablets cost us £1 per day ... and they were worth every single penny for the boost it gave her over the last two years of her life.
We had a very chilled day :-) Alan's fishy dish sounds delicious! Totally worth the daily cost of the tablet as she's really perked up again in the last few weeks. She's my luxury item!!
DeleteGlad you had a lovely day and are now using yellow sticker items. We had meal number four from our turkey roast today and will need to top up with fresh veg tomorrow. I am back to decluttering tomorrow but am spending lots of time reading and doing a 1000 piece jigsaw. Catriona
ReplyDeleteYep, decluttering is high on the agenda for the next week!!
DeleteLiking the look of your festive meals. Your lovely Emma, how nice the little video was. Our Lab Jas is 2 and just starting to calm down round visitors - she was such a good girl with my sister while she stayed over Christmas. Happy New Year
ReplyDeleteAlison in Wales x
Emma didn't calm down until she was about 8!!! Naughtiest, liveliest dog I've ever had! :-)
Delete