Not To Be Trusted With Knives

Low Key Christmas

December 28, 2020 by Beth

Christmas this year, like everything else this year, was different. Typically, I would go spent a couple of weeks at my sister’s place in Ontario over the holidays, but given the public health recommendation that we don’t travel outside our local community, and that you can’t have anyone from outside your household in your home, that was not to be this year.

So Scott and I stayed home. Presents arrived by mail instead of being carried in my suitcase. I wanted to leave the Christmas tree looking like this:

…because I thought that was an appropriate look for a socially distant Christmas. Scott disagreed, so all the boxes that got shipped here were wrapped and they it looked like this:

The kitties were pretty happy about it, as this is the first time I’ve unwrapped a bunch of presents in the condo, and they got to do this:

Watson is still obsessed with biting the lightbulbs on the Christmas tree, the little weirdo. I read that cats don’t like the smell of citrus and I saw on Instagram that my friend Lianna had made a really pretty garland out of dried orange slices, so I decided to make some dried orange slices and hang them on the tree to see if that would deter Watson.

They look very pretty, but they did not stop him from his destructive behaviour.

Since we were going to just be at home with nothing by time on our hands, I decided to try making a tourtière for Christmas Eve dinner (which is yet another new food to add to my goal of making at least 20 new foods in 2020, which I am totally crushing). It’s a traditional Christmas Eve dinner in Quebec – although traditionally one would have it after coming home from midnight mass, which we did not do.

We did stay up pretty late after dinner, watching my favourite Christmas movie (Die Hard) and then Scott’s favourite Christmas movie (It’s a Wonderful Life).

On Christmas Day we made a roast chicken for dinner, because all the turkeys that were available were too big for two people. My favourite part of Christmas dinner is all the trimmings – mashed potatoes and stuffing especially – so I was just as happy with a chicken as I would have been with a turkey!

Included in that spread is roasted Brussel sprouts, which I have never made before, so they also go on the list of new foods I made this year. I drizzled them with a little bit of sesame oil and they were delicious! Missing from the photo was the roasted beets, which I made and forgot were still in the kitchen until halfway through dinner!

Anyway, as far as pandemic Christmases go, this one wasn’t too bad. Relaxing, good food, lots of kitty cuddles, and knowing that my friends and family are safe and healthy. Pandemics really make you appreciate the simple things in life.

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