Twas The Night Before Christmas......... A realisic Version.

Good Evening Bloggers,

Good Christmas? I had a great Christmas day, However I am not here to talk about the big day, I am here to cast a light over the day before. Christmas Eve. It was the worst day of the year from morning through to night. This is a realistic Christmas Eve that others can relate to.

So the day started with getting up and getting ready to go into work until 12, all of this was a success, I then went to my in-laws to collect Kavan to take him to town with me as there was no one to watch him. And yes I know, I know I am crazy to go into town on Christmas Eve but I had one more last minute gift to buy! I made it into town with the intention of going straight into Pandora, grabbing a charm and then into Boots, arrived at Pandora to find the Que all the way down the street! Went to the other one, same thing. At this point Kavan was already getting fed up and it had started to rain. I tried my luck in TK Max and managed to find a nice frame and candle, paid and left, this is where my nightmare started.

I nipped round Sainburys for last minute bits and Kavan kicked off and screamed his head off, que was massive, used self service which kept telling me I had not put the item in the bag properly, at this point I was started to feel a bit rattled. Left Sainburys to find it heavily raining and gale force winds, I put Kavans rain cover on but he was crying his eyes out in the pushchair because he'd had enough.
 I waited 15 minutes for the bus, couldn't get on the bus due to there already being two pushchairs on board, tried to call my father in law....... five times, no answer, phoned a taxi which I had to wait over 20 minutes for in the rain, with Kavan in my arms, I couldn't feel my feet and Kavan kept taking his hat off. Finally the taxi turned up, Drama one over, home, bath and bed for Kavan.

 Ready for task number two, make the homemade Plum & Blackberry Jam and the Red Pepper & Chilli Chutney from the Nigella Lawson recipe for my In-laws gift. Have you ever watched Nigella's cooking programs? She glides around her Christmas themed kitchen sensually licking her spoon and making cooking and filling the kitchen with winter wonderland aroma look a breeze. This was NOT my experience, the Jam was a success as I have made jam a few times but the chutney was new. The recipe states to use 500ml of cider vinegar, the kitchen stunk of vinegar and was very over powering, it actually caused me to cough repeatedly. I was really worried that it would just taste of vinegar, however I bought it to the boil and then left it to rest as instructed by the recipe. According to the recipe it should take about 40 minutes to set and cool, mine did not, it took 2 hours! Not to add this was all going on whilst trying to make Jam, making sure the sugar didn't burn and whilst making shortbread, Nigella......... I salute you!

Luckily in the end it all came together and actually tastes quite nice, my husband says it tastes like O.K sauce, I am not sure if that is a good thing?

I know it may not sound like much of a bad day but I suppose everyone is different, but I am sure you can all relate to that moment where in public, child in tow, lots of people, you just want the ground to swallow you? That is how I felt, standing in the rain with Kavan screaming, when the taxi came I sat in the back and nearly cried! But as I said it all came good in the end it was just hard work getting there!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

MyMumsShoes x