It's Boxing Day - Hooray!

Thank goodness that's all over for another year! Am I the only person that prefers Boxing Day to Christmas Day? Although yesterday was actually very nice indeed, I like today when I don't have to cook, I don't have to worry about what's been forgotten and best of all, I can sit and play with my new presents!
I was given some excellent gifts, a selection of which is above (no, not the tatty-looking sleepy dog, he's been mine for a very long time...) and I can't wait to get cracking on 'making stuff'! Somehow, my family all got it right this year for which I'm really grateful - no soap or candles, hooray!! The beads and fabric flowers are from my sister in Athens; my son unwittingly bought me the very book I have been hankering after for months from Japan; and my eldest brother, bless him, bought me Mr. Funky's Super Crochet Wonderful - if he went in a shop and asked for that, I wish I'd been there! My super-wonderful partner gave me a clip on daylight lamp so I don't have to go blind while crafting in the evenings, and my other brother gave me a double Led Zep album - excellent!
After three hours in the kitchen and half an hour on the table, this is what's left - sorry to those of you suffering from weak stomachs today! Foolishly, I watched this year's Jamie Oliver Christmas special and felt really inspired to try a lot of his tips for the Christmas lunch. Well, one and a half hours in to the cooking, I was regretting this decision with a vengeance! The chestnuts I bought for the sprouts were mainly rotten and most were thrown away, I overboiled the damn potatoes and parsnips 'cos I got sidetracked , didn't have enough rings on which to cook the veg, cranberry sauce (yes, I make my own - what an idiot...), bread sauce (packet!), gravy; it took two of us to manhandle the turkey on to a platter to be carved - at one point my son was hanging on to it for dear life as it slipped floorwards....
But it was all ready at the same time, was delicious and we staggered round a token dog walk afterwards encased in a rosy glow from the beer, bottle of Merlot and over-brandied Christmas pudding - we like to see it flame, so my partner set fire to it twice!

Today it is Bubble and Squeak for lunch - for those of you uninitiated, that means mashing all the leftover vegetables and stuffing in a large bowl, adding some caramelised onions and frying the lot til it's crispy (and bubbling and squeaking) - yum!

And finally - I don't normally do this - here is the half-finished painting I have been working on over the past few weeks. As the prospective owners have had their preview, I feel I can give the rest of you a peek too. This is such FUN to paint and my only gripe is that with getting ready for Christmas I didn't get as much time to do it as I'd have liked. So I repeat, it's Boxing Day - hooray!