CHRISTMAS DAY!

Christmas Cake that I made for my mother

Loaded the car up with my Lentil Roast, Tiramisu, Christmas cake, flowers etc and then picked my sister Lucy up. We then headed to Sandringham to see how long the queue was to watch the Royal family going to church, but I was stopped by a very nice policeman who said that no traffic was now allowed through where I wanted to drive – he said we could walk from this point, but Lucy didn't fancy the walk. I wish I had queued up from early this morning and maybe I would have been the lucky one to get the best picture of the Royals – a local lady, Karen Murdoch (who works at the QEH) scooped the best picture with her mobile phone – she's made a mint!!!

We headed back to the main road and went to Hunstanton, where we saw tons of people on the seafront waiting for the Christmas Swim to start. There were several Turnstones feeding on the the green in front of the Golden Lion Hotel. We used to cycle up to the Christmas Swim when we were children, but the novelty has worn off now!

We spent a lovely day with mother and my Christmas dinner all went to plan – we sat down to eat at 2.30pm. We had Brie & Cranberry Filo Parcel, Lentil Vegetable Loaf with Yorkshire Pudding, Sprouts, Parsnips & Carrots with Maple and Orange Glaze, Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Roast Potatoes, Creamed Potatoes, with Vegetarian Gravy and Cranberry Sauce and Tiramisu later on in the afternoon. We also enjoyed a very nice Sainsbury's Alcohol Free Sparkling Wine with our meal and had a toast to father, which brought a tear to my eye. Vivien had spent the day with Ray and she was praising his cooking when we spoke to her on the phone.

I nearly always go for a walk on Christmas Day, but I didn't have time, too busy playing Chef! We were not doing presents this year, but at the last minute decided to get each other a little something, so we opened our presents late in the afternoon which was nice. The day seemed to disappear far too quickly. Lucy and I left at about 10.45pm – it was raining on the way home. It took me ages to unpack the car and put everything away– you know what its like!