Boxing Day Brunch and embracing the Hygge

So having spoken about overindulgence of Christmas day, Boxing Day seemed much more civilised.

We had luxuriated in an epic sleep in. Having gone to bed around midnight. C had turned the alarms off, so it was lovely to wake up naturally instead of being ripped awake by a shrieking radio. Nearly 9 hours of sleep clocked up.

We had nowhere to go and nothing in particular to do, so took our time getting up, showered and dressed. C started cooking and at about 10:30 delivered a small cooked breakfast of bacon, beans, egg and toast. Just what the doctor ordered.

After a lazy morning we decided we’d go for a walk through the city centre parks. We wouldn’t be needing lunch as we were still going on brunch and yesterday’s dinner.

A 5.5m walk through the parks seemed to be precisely what half of the inhabitants of town were also doing. It was actually quite pleasant. Just the right amount of autumnal weather. Coolish but not too cold, a gentle breeze but not windy. Wrapped up against it all, and with a steady pace, we were kept warm.

I must admit at about two thirds of the way round I was starting to think my hips were aching a bit and the prospect of the road home, including the incline over the railway bridge really wasn’t helping. The thing that kept me going was getting back home for a cup of mint tea and the last mince pie.

Our walk had taken about 2 hours. I was actually worn out. I had started to think about Hygge, pronounced hooga, the Danish sense of cosiness and comfortable conviviality that gives a sense of contentment and well being. I was looking forward to snuggling under my sofa blanket, tea and mince pie in hand. Very cozy, very comfortable and very content.

Overindulgence just for one day

Why is it over the Christmas period apparently its ok to eat food, snacks, drink tons of alcohol, and generally put on your own body weight in food again? Essentially, its one day. Essentially its just like having a Sunday roast. So why do we obsess over all the additional stuff?

Don’t get me wrong, I do it too. I love all the special foods that they only seem to bring out at Christmas. I could eat a whole plate of pigs in blankets. I can shovel food in my face until the point of feeling physically sick at the thought of another “wafer thin mint” (see Monty Python sketch in The Meaning of Liff).

I don’t tend to eat breakfast so Christmas morning was just a cup of coffee for me. We had to go ringing so wouldn’t have had time for much else anyway. When we got home, we had more coffee and 2 mince pies (seemingly extra large ones from the bakery stall in town) whilst we were on the family Skype. We had a 3 bird roast, enough to fed 4, and all the trimmings for lunch. We had half the meat for Christmas day and will have the other half for Sunday lunch. That was washed down with a bottle of Moet & Chandon that we’ve had for a while. Then followed by an epic chocolate orange cheesecake that I’d made. The recipe said that it made 12 servings. We’ve cut it into 6!

We have hampers of food that family members have been generous to send, and chocolates etc that people have given as gifts. I couldn’t even look at it. After such a lunch, I couldn’t eat again. I stuck to water for the rest of the day, and only at about 9pm did I have another mince pie (they need to be eaten before they go stale). Couldn’t possibly eat another thing.

I weigh myself every day. I know you’re not supposed to so that, but it helps keep me focused from day to day. On Christmas morning I had already put on 4lb in the week due to additional snacking and the Christmas Eve curry we’d eaten the night before. On Boxing Day the scales of doom said that I’d actually lost 1lb since Christmas morning.

I’m not going to obsess about going on a diet just yet as there’s too much food in the house to consume yet. But once the overindulgence is done it’ll be time to refocus, and be more considerate about those who were unable to have a hot Christmas day meal.

Bonus day off

After our weekend away I’d booked an additional day off in order to catch up with all those things that weren’t done over the weekend.

The day started with a lie in. C had turned the alarm clock off, so it was lovely just to wake up naturally and get up when I was ready to, not because I had to.

I had decided that I would go into town to finish buying the incidentals for Christmas presents. There were a few bits still to get and I needed to do it on my own, without C.

The city centre was heaving, almost as busy as a Saturday. There were people everywhere. Some shops had a queuing system, only allowing a certain number of people in. To be honest, it didn’t take long to get to the front of any of the queues and into the shops. It was all quite civilised. I managed to get everything I’d gone in for, and a few extra bits besides.

When I got home, I wrapped everything up. Everything that needs to be posted is now ready to go. I think I’m officially done with the Christmas shopping. And there’s still 3 weeks to go.

I prepped my lunches for work for the next few days. Then tackled the ironing. I watched some cheesy Christmas tv whilst doing the ironing. I need to have something to take my mind off doing the ironing but something that doesn’t require much concentration, otherwise I’ll end up burning the shirts! Then, a lovely cup of mint tea with a mince pie to complete the festiveness.

I actually feel more christmassy than I usually do and considering we’re not going to be able to spend time with the whole family. Who’d have thought.

Never too early

So C did the food shopping on Thursday and bought treats. Its never too early to start mince pie season. I’m not interested in the festive season starting this early, frankly its over hyped, but I do love the foods that the shops only bring out at this time of year.

I’ve already started sampling the seasonal savoury snacks the M&S outlet at work has in stock. I’ve bought the Christmas edition of Good Housekeeping and have been drewling over the images of pigs in blankets, chicken terrine, canapés, roast potatoes, porchetta, trifle, chocolate tart, truffles, shortbread and all manner of treats.

Trouble is, C only bought 1 box of mince pies. What was he thinking? How long did he think 6 pies was going to last? We had a cup of tea and scoffed 2 each in one go, then he said there was little point in leaving the last 2 on their own.

A few years ago at work I gave homemade treat gifts to some colleagues. I made Christmas tree shortbread, chocolate truffles, cranberry florentines and mini, iced fruit cake. I wrapped them in clear cellophane with Christmas ribbon and a label listing all the ingredients for each item in case anyone had any particular allergies. They took a fair amount of effort but seemed to go down really well.

Given where we are with Covid-19 restrictions we won’t know how Christmas will be this year. There’s an even chance that we might not even get to spend it with our daughter, let alone any of the rest of the family. That means we can’t really decide about what food to get in until the last minute. I will look forward to going through the M,&S Christmas food ordering magazine and wishing I could eat it all.

In the meantime I shall eat many, many mince pies 🥧