I would say it had been a joyous year, but it hasn't. I mean, not especially. I would say that it has been an eventful year, but it hasn't. I would say that it has been an annus horribilis, but it hasn't been that either.
It's just been one of those years that goes from one month to the next. I have spent it mostly wiping down an Ikea highchair, opening the door to the Ocado man and marvelling at that thing where you spend 20 minutes tidying the kitchen only for it to still look like a fucking bombsite.
And it's been a year of TV suppers, eating off our knees in our 1.5 hour telly and dinner watching slot before our eyes glaze over and we can't concentrate and we simply must, must, must go to bed before we fall down. I have slumped entirely out of the habit of cooking for more than two people. We spent months and thousands on a kitchen extension only for us to have 3 dinner parties in 7 months. But Kitty likes it.
What of Kitty? She is a child now, almost no longer a toddler - though still toddlerish to her destructive habits, lack of reason, lack of responsiveness to bribery but she is at least old enough to sit quietly on the sofa watching Peppa Pig for nine hours.
So Merry Christmas, then. See you in the New Year. I've got a bread and butter pudding to tell you about and also a chicken, pork and apricot raised pie - if it works out.
That is one cool photo! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, Giles and Kitty!
ReplyDeleteHappy Christmas Esther. Thanks for being fab.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteOh, and Merry Christmas to you and yours.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas Esther! Don't ever stop being so bitchy, sweary and completely awesome as you always are. Looking forward to pudding, pie and Baby #2 (!!!!)
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas to you too!
ReplyDeleteOoooh excited about the raised pie - been meaning to try it since the delicious Paul Hollywood made one on bake off but I'm a little bit scared of it. Have a lovely Christmas.
ReplyDeleteYou look blinking lovely in photo! Make up is perfect also hair. That must put you in a good mood ... Enjoy all your posts - and I agree with your article in the DM and have it backed up by my sis who works in a pre-school. 4 year old boys cause mayhem and smell. Girls sit on their laps and draw pictures for mummy. No contest really.
ReplyDeleteIs that photo of you, Esther, or is it just someone who looks like you? And if it is you, are you modelling one of the outfits which will ensure you don't look "like a fat frump"? Whoever it is, she/you looks glamorous and not at all frumpy.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas Esther to you and yours. Enjoyed reading you again this year. Best wishes for next year x
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas Esther. You are, spookily, describing my current life as mother of an almost 2.5 year old and a 10 month old. Right now, no dinner conversation is as scintillating as the background hum of the tv and the shared solitude of parallel ipad surfing. I gather a more social life gets restored eventually. Discovering your blog has been a highlight of my nightly 1.5 hours of freedom this year so thank you ! Lesley in rural Hampshire
ReplyDeleteAhh you look beaut in that picture!
ReplyDeleteHope you all had a lovely Christmas. xx
Happy Christmas to you too! Looking forward to hearing about the bread and butter pudding xx
ReplyDeleteI like the arty photo - is that to be your cover for the ebook? Do they have cover photos? I do enjoy your writing - here and in the papers....but the recipes are worth it too.
ReplyDeleteHappy Christmas + New Year Esther - hot pic!
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas Esther and have a brilliant 2013! Your blog is fun. Keep up the entertaining tidbits.
ReplyDeleteI like telly and dinner watching too!
ReplyDeleteI suspect the diner parties may be in the form of children's birthday parties before they return to glorious, lengthy, boozy, outRAGEous dinner parties. But return they will!
HNY x
What a super-glammy picture! And I like the shorter hair. Hope your Christmas was truly excellent. Lisa x
ReplyDeleteLooking gorgeous! And looking forward to reading about the bread and butter pudding. Never really got that one, but want to love it. I could eat bread forever, just not in pudding form.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe none of your regular followers have posted, even just to say -
ReplyDelete"Yep, that feels like my year too".
Friends, huh...
Nail-on-the-head post/gorgeous photo, Esther! (Jason Orange sings: Je Ne Regrette Rien..NOT).
Happy New Year. x
Hope your Christmas was as fun as it can be when you're duffed up. That photo is mega hot! where's the bump tho?! Have a good one. And if you have ANY tips on hiding veg for fussy 2 year olds then please post sometime! Son will know ONLY eat pasta pesto. Not even tortellini. Just fusilli. UGH.
ReplyDeleteWould it be unspeakably grim of me to comment, that as a mother of a just turned two year old and a 6 month old, I don't believe those evenings will be getting any more scintillating for a while..though the actual arrival of the baby does at least signal the end of morning sickness and has the added benefit of endless sighing cuddles.
ReplyDeleteEmily