Twas The Day After Christmas

Christmas eve was spent finishing the baby quilt. As you can see [or not, I am having trouble getting photos to load], the chenille effect (around the inner blue-green border) worked fine. Unfortunately, the hearts should have been quilted prior to washing the quilt, so there was way too much fabric flopping about. I hadn't quilted inside the hearts because I'd hoped that they'd be able to stand alone and thus, stand out. Well, now they do! To get rid of the excess puffiness, I ended up having to slit open the back of each heart and stuff two more layers of heart-shaped batting inside then close them back up with hundreds (if not thousands) of tiny whip stitches. It was worth it, though, because the hearts now look really super. They will provide numereous wee pillows for Amelie to put her sweet head upon. Don and I walked to the Thompsons' after lunch today to deliver the quilt but they were away. We'll get it to them sometime in the next day or so.

Don and David Sutcliffe played golf at the Comrie course this morning. When I phoned Juliet at around noon, she said she had got up and had a nice long walk in the hills behind St. Fillans. I was the slugabed who had a "long lie" as they say over here. I didn't get up until 11:10, but then, I was awake from 3 to almost 7 with a too-full tummy. [Note to self: No more chicken liver pate with biscuits before bed.]

Our afternoon at the Sutcliffes' yesterday was really delightful. They greeted us with open arms and ushered us into the cozy sitting room where a cheery log fire was lending its atmosphere. After we had chatted a few minutes, David went out to the kitchen and came back with a tray of sliced smoked trout on buttered wholegrain bread (which he had made that morning). Local smoked trout is pink and looks just like smoked salmon. In fact, even after eating some of it, I thought it was salmon until they said what it was. They sprinkle just a bit of fresh lemon juice on top and then add a hint of black pepper. Delicious! David also opened a bottle of Cava, the Spanish version of champagne, which is sort of a cross between a french champagne and Italian asti spumante--a hint of dry and a hint of sweet.

Juliet's Christmas dinner was superb. There was perfectly roasted fresh turkey (from the Comrie butcher's) with exquisite chestnut stuffing, bread sauce and gravy, cranberry sauce, roasted potatoes, green peas and carrots, and tiny Brussels sprouts. (My 24-hour fruit salad was completely superfluous.) Our red wine went well with the turkey. Christmas pudding was served in a blaze of brandy. My hard sauce (brandy butter) went with it. After we had eaten our pudding, we pulled our crackers, unfolded and put on our paper hats, read out our riddles and jokes in turn, and played with our toys. Above is a photo of David with his [I am still trying to get photos loaded here].

We repaired to the sitting room for coffee and chocolates. There, we exchanged gifts. We chatted by the fire and listened to music until it was time to go home. (After a meal like that, you reach a certain point where you know if you don't go home, you'll embarrass yourself by falling asleep and drooling onto your bib!)

We hope those of you who celebrate Christmas had an enjoyable day and that Father Christmas brought you exactly what you asked for--and that it fit.