Christmas Time, Mistletoe and Wine...

...Lots of wine. I've been quiet for a while because of just how hectic it is starting a new job and the pre-Christmas rush to get everything done in time. The joys of being a junior doctor means I am working the graveyard shift on Christmas Day (and the night before and for 5 nights afterwards, but hey, I'm only complaining a little...) so it'll be kept short this year by having to go to work at 6pm. Just in time, I imagine, to be greeted by the families who've had enough of each other and started fighting! Andy is also working nights over Christmas, he chose to do this so one of his colleagues who has a baby can spend it with her family. My boy has a heart of gold. And hopefully the good karma will come back to us when we have a family of our own!

Christmas tree in Salisbury Cathedral

We're in the middle of a relative tour to see everyone before the big day, so creativity has taken a bit of a back seat. But before we left I had a go at making some cake pops with a tin I got from here (very expensive but decent quality). I made one into a mini birthday cake for a friend.

The rest I made into Christmas puddings! They seemed to go down pretty well with my grandparents and parents.

I wish I had more time to bake and do fun crafty things, but sadly bills have to be paid and sick people have to be fixed. My parents are staying with us for Christmas Day itself - in part a sneaky way of ensuring I get my normal Christmas dinner and will still make it to work on time, so this coming weekend will be spent cleaning the flat and picking up the last few food items. If there's one place I hate, it's the supermarket at the weekend!

To end, here is me with the Snowman from the John Lewis advert - the highlight of a recent Christmas shopping trip.

Birthdays

On Wednesday I left my lovely lovely GP job. I loved working as a GP, and getting to look at cute babies a couple of times a day. Plus the nice old people who came back time and time again, mainly I think to tell me how young I look! I must have heard that one about "you know you're old when policemen and doctors look so young..." about 50 times over the past 4 months. I'm not that young looking, but I guess when you're 80 everyone under the age of 40 looks pretty youthful.

The lovely reception ladies bought me some flowers and a good luck card for my new job - sadly A&E over Christmas - so as a goodbye present for them, I made some chocolate eclairs.

I promise they tasted better than they looked! The best thing about eclairs is getting to play with the piping bag and not having to worry too much what the outcome looks like. But my god, the piping bag is a pain in arse to clean.

Then Thursday was Andy's birthday, so whilst he was at work, I whipped up a quick birthday cake using this recipe. It was my first attempt at a swiss roll, which involved going out and buying a baking tray especially.

Not the greatest photo but I think you can appreciate how it looks actually rolled up! I filled it with fresh cream, which spread surprisingly well on top of the fragile sponge. Then obviously it had to be turned into a caterpillar - just what every 26 year old wants!

And to finish, here's a photo of the birthday boy in his new Christmas jumper. He looks very fetching, don't you think?