Post 248: M&S Lemon Roll and old records.
Big Sis and her hubby P visited for elevenses and brought a huge bag of goodies, some to share now and some for me for later. Christmas came early.
The gift bag that she refills each time she comes was brimmed with packets of chocolate treats, mince pies and other bits I hid away from sight like the squirrel that I am.
I guess that’s a natural reaction from my childhood when if you didn’t hide the treats away you’d lose them forever to hungry siblings. It’s not my greatest trait but it’s hard to change from a lifetime of practice.
There was a lovely home made butternut squash soup for eating up now and Sis brought tiger-bread batons for sharing with the lovely hot yellowy-orange coloured soup.
With that out of the way all our eyes were on the refrigerated Lemon Roll. All cream and light sponge it looked a bit like an Arctic roll, but on closer inspection it was a plump classy roll with a good spread of cream inside.
There were five good slices and they did not last long due to the wonderful taste. Well done M&S for a beautiful lemony treat.
The three of us needed a rest after the early lunch and retired to the lounge where the Netflix fire was roaring on the TV.
The Christmas tree was still looking a little forlorn but there was no real need for the trimming to be done until Christmas Eve when our first visitors arrive and it’s quite possible they’ll want to trim the tree themselves — I do hope so, ha ha.
So while we chatted and rested with cups of tea and coffee I entertained my guests with a continuous flip-flapping of long-playing records on my record player that rarely gets used but in this circumstance was a perfect accompaniment to light chatter.
The Christmas LPs were few and very old but I dusted them off and played them all.
The Tijuana Christmas — Sound of Brass (with Herb Alpert) — is my favourite album and takes me back to a million Christmases that this record was played, a lot.
The strange thing is that I now have four copies of the record in my collection. I suppose that means I’ll never run out of those brassy Christmas tunes.
I love it and I played it. I didn’t really care if my guests liked it or not. In fact my brother-in-law was not impressed and Big Sis found it a memory she’d rather forget. Shame on them.
But my collection was huge and I managed to find a heap of records to spin at 33⅓ for the enjoyment of all three of us.
Later my Darling arrived back from work and quickly got in the vibe. She donned a Christmas jumper/dress which meant we were all looking fabulous with our festive attire.
I say fabulous but really we were following traditions that made us look like we had dropped in after being extras on a Christmas TV special. But that was OK — who cares.
With my Darling in the chattery mix we stayed like this all afternoon. It got dark and the mince pies came out and still the records played and we chatted.
In the end hunger got the better of us and our guests left.
It was a long day for everyone and I was particularly tired but I loved the chance to play some LPs and just chill and chat all day.
My Darling ordered a takeaway and a veggie kebab landed on my lap with hot chilli sauce and plenty of salad. It was great.
I hadn’t needed any extra doses of oramorph today which is good news but my back did still ache a bit, but it’s getting better.
I’m struggling with the dancing fingers more on this particular blog which is infuriating. I need a Christmas pressy to stabilise my digits — maybe I should have asked Santa.
Good night all.
