Christmas day with The Family is quite a traditional day. Not in terms of the traditional Christmas Day but in terms of how it is for The Family: a tradition I have been fortunate to have been part of for the last eight Christmases. There is always the Christmas stocking. Carol in Cairns happened to mention a Slinky in her post a few days ago. I had a Slinky. My children had a Slinky. When I have
grand children they shall have a Slinky. What did I find in my stocking? You guessed it: a Slinky. All I need to find now is some stairs down which to let it run.
After the traditional breakfast (which for various reasons turned out to be at lunchtime but no one cared) of freshly baked croissants with bacon, eggs, bananas and maple syrup we embarked on a game of 7 Wonders. It is somewhere between a card game and a board game and is very complicated. Although I'd never heard of it is a very popular game. Jamie seems to have played it around the world and did the tutoring and the count-up at the end which seemed even more complicated than the game. The scores were pretty close which was understandable given that I don't think a single one of us (bar Jamie who was too busy explaining things) understood what was going on.
After all that I came back to The Cottage for a respite (and to make, by popular demand, a version of a prawn cocktail for starters before a huge lamb roast).
The rest of The Family enjoyed the pool and the spa:
Catriona is now the proud owner of a sewing machine. Now I know where to go when I need my sewing done.
And now for Christmas Dinner.
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Oh Wow ~ you got a slinky!!! Did that take you back or what? And look at that smile on Catriona's face ~ something tells me that a sewing machine is just what she wanted too!!
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't have thought about blogging that Carol but for the fact that you'd mentioned it. What is it with Slinkys (or is it Slinkies?). Catriona just wanted to get started. Her boarding school is well known for it's academic achievements but doesn't neglect other things. My Mum taught me how to use a sewing machine but when I inherited a modern electric one over a decade ago I found it a closed book and decided that it should have a more appreciative home.
DeleteNever owned a slinky myself but knew people who did, and we played with their slinky whenever we went to their house. Theirs was not in such trendy colours, though, just metal.
ReplyDeleteChristmas by the pool! Now that is something I honestly can not imagine, since Christmas has been THE thing in winter for me all my life. But I certainly wouldn't mind :-)
Oh, and I'd skip the prawn cocktail and have a cocktail of the liquid kind instead, please.
DeleteMeike the prawn cocktail was very 1960s but almost a novelty for the others who all love prawns. We'd been having bucks fizz rather than cocktails - less potent during the day.
DeleteLOVE!!!! SLinkys!!! I certainly played with them when I was small
ReplyDeleteJaz there is something quite compulsive and timeless about Slinkys. I love them.
DeleteA lovely day for you thus far.....I am enjoying it from way over here.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of the 7Wonders game, but I will check it out now.
Lovely "in motion" photos as usual GB.
Love Catriona's big smile with her gift. My first Singer sewing machine I bought from my first ever pay cheque when I joined Barclays Bank. Guess what....I still have it and use it all the time.
I'd never heard of the game either Virginia. I'm not really a great lover of board games but this one could, I think, become compulsive because it requires a great deal of thought. I'm fairly sure that my Mum's cabinet sewing machine (one of the most beautiful pieces of furniture in our house) was a Singer too.
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