The Only Way is Up! (Baby)

 December 22nd. 

Despite the doom and gloom of the never-ending Fun-With-Covid, the morning has dawned clear - the first in ages that hasn't been weighed down by the miserable December grey. Yay! And it's December 22nd - which means that today will have minutely more daylight than yesterday. Yaaaaay!!!

Not only that, but it is a mere 3 days until Christmas, that most loathed of all compulsory-fun holidays - so I might make it after all! My youngest looked me up and down last night and accused me of `being the most festive of us all.' It's true (sort of). She and I made a wreath for the front door. It wasn't quite the scale or ambition of those of years gone by - but a wreath it is and quite pretty too. (Last year the bulk of the greenery came from a lovely big rosemary bush, but it has since died and so the greenery this year is a bit of this and that, scavenged from the hedges.)

We also made our annual gingerbread cookies. This is a tradition we started when we were living in Mozambique, because we couldn't find chocolates to hang on the tree. Turned out it was quite fun to bake and decorate gingerbread together, so we carried on with it when we got back to the UK. Our gingerbread no longer lands up on the tree - but we like to take some to our neighbours and it has turned into our own little family tradition - one that I hope my daughters will continue.

So on the face of it - yes, I suppose I am quite festive. BUT - and this is a proper capital BUT - I suspect that my motivation has little to do with festivity and more to do with distraction against the bleakness of the December weather. Which is probably why we all go so full-out at Christmas any-way. But I will let my youngest continue in the delusion that I am actually a closet Christmas fan...

A day I do appreciate is the midwinter solstice. This marking of the middle of the dark days - the promise of better days to come. This is a day I can get behind! As a furthering of my festive persona, I made a vegetable wellington for dinner last night, which I served with roasted veg and mulled wine ( the latter which was drastically underappreciated by the family). A reluctant cook at the best of times, I have to admit to being rather pleased with my Veg Wellie! There are loads of recipes out there, but I wanted to use sweet potato, so I went for the one in the Guardian (How to make the perfect vegetarian wellington – recipe | Food | The Guardian) which actually uses butternut squash (small detail...) I think the best approach is to look at the basics of the Wellington and then adapt to fit what you have. The mushroom mix in the recipe was, I thought, a bit boring, so I added red wine and fig chutney. And next time (should I ever feel the ambition again), I will leave out the cranberries, since the consensus was that they were `a bit weird'.

And now, the only way is up! Up and up until Spring and Summer. Yay! This morning saw the first frost of what has been a soggy year and the dog and I were out early marvelling at the light and the wonder of it all. C'mon 2022!

Oh - and Merry Christmas, Everyone.