If you belong to interest groups or social groups – in real life I mean not here in the other world, it’s quite common at this time of year to have a pre-Christmas get-together. Last night during the intermission between the two rounds of the pub quiz in the Dolphin, I was chatting to Team Tim, our friendly rivals. Tim himself (who has the same surname as a famous Canadian coffee house) and I were reminiscing about several years ago when four of the Dolphin stalwarts had birthdays around this time, Tim himself, my husband, and two others who sadly are no longer with us. We used to have a joint birthday party/Christmas meal in the pub, and each of the four would invite a few other friends. Tables would be pushed together, festive cloths laid, decorations and crackers positioned at intervals, and then a Christmas dinner would be served to celebrate the birthday boys. This was some time ago, and sadly I don’t think it will be revived.
It’s a week today until the big day when we’ll have Christmas lunch at home – I’m trying to think up some surprises to the menu, and I have a couple of ideas which I will share after the event if they work out. In the past I’ve made a Christmas lunch pie, a Christmas pudding which was actually chocolate cake with a surprise hidden inside, and other variations on the traditional theme. Going back to the beginning – our various interest groups all have a seasonal meal together. Last week it was the Beach’d Buoys Shanty band – Christmas dinner in a local pub, then we had the Weston Ukulele Players delightful and delicious meal in the Rock Salt Restaurant at the South Sands Hotel in Kewstoke, and today the Uphill Artists met for another delightful and delicious meal at the Beachlands Hotel in Weston-super-Mare. Although I don’t generally like desserts, Christmas pudding is a weakness of mine, and the Beachlands’ pudding today, made from a nineteenth century family recipe (closely guarded) can only be described as sumptuous!
I think we will have a rest from turkey and sprouts, roast potatoes and cranberry sauce until the big day next week – I hope I will have an appetite for it!
PS I must think about a cake too, my featured image is one I made several years ago.
Lois Elsden 