The ghost of Christmas past

I thought you'd like to see what we ate over Christmas! Well, to be fair, I'm sure very few people would be interested in what we ate, but I got my amateur photographer husband to photograph it so I'm going to bore you all with it anyway. Ho ho ho.

Breakfast muffins! They were an optional extra, depending on whether I had time to knock them up. I woke up at 6am too excited to go back to sleep, but my husband wouldn't let me wake the boys up. They woke at 7.30. Breakfast muffins made! They were flavoured with cranberries & clementines and were delicious. We also had a late-morning brunch of home-made American pancakes with scrambled egg, bacon and maple syrup but we ate them too quickly to catch on camera!

The big meal... clockwise from top: roast potatoes; maple roast parsnips; spiced & super-juicy turkey (having relaxed in its bath for 24hrs); sprouts with pancetta, parsley & chestnuts; chestnut stuffing (made the day before, minus the egg); cranberry sauce (made two days before and still deliciously giving by new year's); pigs in blankets. And there's allspice turkey giblet gravy on top. I made everything from scratch, and even allowed myself a bit of smugness! It was many, many times yum. I expected to get stressed but instead I found the whole thing - from turkey bathing to plating up - such fun. But then I was only catering for three adults and 2.5 children. If we'd had my side of the family here instead of my husband's it would have been seven adults (three of whom have huge appetites), 2.5 children and a mutt. Maybe next year!

We finished with this: a home-made chocolate log. Swiss rolls are supposed to be a nightmare to roll up but mine was fine - did I do something wrong? I often think recipes that are supposed to be difficult often aren't if you don't know about it beforehand. It's the confidence of the ignorant. I have been similarly ignorant about whisking egg whites and making risottos. Yet I can't make Bird's custard without it going lumpy or staying runny. Oh the peculiarities of the kitchen.

And this was Boxing Day, for those who care to know. The Fully Festive Ham from Nigella's Feast, which we ate with more roasts, peas and red cabbage cooked in pomegranate (Nigella again). We then ate mince pies and too many cranberry, pecan and white chocolate cookies. The day after, I made a ham and turkey pie from the leftovers of both meals and froze enough for at least three more pies in January. This Christmas ghost just keeps on giving.