More of a disappointment than a disaster

We had a lovely Christmas and all was jolly fine and the only slightly unfortunate thing was more of a disappointment than a disaster. It has happened at some time or another to anyone cooking a Christmas dinner I guess, and it’s pretty obvious what our disappointment was. Funnily enough we’d been talking about Christmas dinners before hand –  remember the time when we forgot the roast potatoes, the time the sprouts boiled dry, the time we had Christmas pudding made from mincemeat because someone got the recipes muddled, the time the oven wasn’t working and we didn’t eat until nearly midnight and were too hungry or tipsy to properly enjoy it…

All was going so well last Saturday, Christmas Day; everything was prepared and ready and I even read the instructions on the turkey’s wrapper to make sure I was cooking it at the right temperature. I was sure I knew what to do, having done it so many times before, but I thought I would check just to be on the safe side… You’ve probably guessed by now what happened, or rather didn’t happen. What didn’t happen was that the turkey cooked. What the instructions had omitted to mention was what Delia Smith told me when I consulted her – start it in a hot oven, then turn it down. I should have remembered that of course.

I found the meat thermometer which improved things in so far as at least I knew how much longer it might need to cook (several aeons) and the family were very patient and understanding despite being somewhat peckish. We ate two hours behind schedule, and for me the enjoyment was muted, especially as I had also forgotten to buy any crackers. We had a wonderful day despite that belated hiccup, and counted ourselves very lucky, very lucky indeed!