Talking turkey and yarn

I’m just taking a break from wrapping presents, which is my least favourite of the Christmas chores. Every year I tell myself that next year I’ll wrap them as I buy them. But then I forget again.

Speaking of forgetting, I forgot where I put my son’s Christmas presents. I searched and searched and got a little panicky, but eventually I found them sitting out in plain sight. You know how things become invisible when they’re too visible? That’s what happened.

I just made the cranberry sauce. It’s my sister Deb’s recipe and it’s really good and easy. Bring one cup of water and one cup of sugar to a boil. Add a bag of washed cranberries. Return to the boil. Add the zest of a lemon and half a teaspoon each of cinnamon, ginger and ground cloves. Simmer for 10 minutes. Let cool. Put in a jar and refrigerate.

I’m doing as much of the Christmas dinner preparations ahead of time as possible. The turkey is one of those frozen stuffed Butterballs – you just take it out of the freezer and put it in the oven. No defrosting. No panicking because the damned turkey won’t stop being frozen. No running it under warm water for an hour at the last minute while worrying simultaneously that the sink is going to contaminate the turkey and the turkey is going to contaminate the sink. No trying to chisel the bag of gizzards out of the frozen cavity. (Though I do like to put the organs out in the back yard for the crows. It amazes me how quickly they find them, considering I only put food out for them two or three times a year. Ten minutes, tops.)

Here’s the menu: roast turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts with marjoram and pine nuts, roasted carrots and parsnips. My mother’s bringing dessert. My brother and his partner are coming too, and of course my son, and GC, who is making hors d’erves hors d’oevres hors d’ouevres hors d’ouervers appetizers.

I had a very good day yesterday, which included a lovely lunch with Woodsy and coffee with Max. Max and I talked about all kinds of interesting things, including drugs, addiction, harm reduction initiatives, the local drug users group, his love life, the Tamils, cops, those creepy pro-life protesters down at the Morgetaler Clinic, overdosing and blogging. He’s an intelligent young man and an interesting conversationalist, and the time flew by.

When I got home I discovered a package in my mailbox. It was my contest prize from Wandering Cat Studios! It included a skein of gorgeous Top Cat yarn in blue topaz, a bag of adorable sheep stitch markers and an original Sagittarius sock pattern. Absolutely wonderful. The Top Cat yarn is so succulent – it’s a blend of merino, cashmere and nylon and the colour is stunning. I am a very lucky knitter.

Here it is in my yarn basket:

Okay. Well, I guess the presents aren’t going to wrap themselves, so I better get back to it!