Guide to a Stress Free Christmas Day

Joan's stress free Christmas secrets:
have a lie in; make  Christmas dinner for no more than 6 people; have dinner anytime from 4.30 pm -6.30 pm so no early morning turkey messin'; don't drink more than two small glasses of wine while cooking/preparing; listen to the radio while cooking/preparing alternating radios 4 and 6; give a message of thanks that my mother prefers to go to my sisters; politely reject invitation to  dinner at sisters (love them both to bits but there are limits); ensure I am in charge of the remote after 7.00 pm - there are lots of things others can do whilst I watch Call the Midwife and Downtown Abbey, though neither lived up to expectations this year-  plus there's a massive  TV in the sprogs room for those who don't approve of mum TV; never eat Christmas pudding till Boxing Day; have friends and relatives over on any other day over the holiday period.

Mid Winter or my imaginary life as a cat

Mid winter. I wish I was a cat, so I could curl up at any time of the day and fall asleep under the Christmas tree, wake up and stretch, yawn and fall asleep again. Actually I did get to lie in this morning - first day of the holiday. I read The Moonstone (not sure I can stick with the narrator much longer, my mind keeps wandering even more than his) and watched the birds from my window. I guess I'm very lucky to have a spouse who climbs a ladder to hang the feeders so that we get a great view of wild birds from our bed. The sparrow population seems to be increasing, the starlings went crazy over the RSPB suet block and the goldfinches have started to turn up again.

I've wrapped almost all the presents now and will drop a pile off tomorrow, go and buy a free range turkey from BBC Radio 4's market of the year, along with some goose fat, a pound of chipolatas, some bacon and some veg, visit my mother and then go home, pretend to be a cat and fall asleep under the tree again.

http://www.nabma.com/bolton-take-radio-4-award/