Christmas at the Jones'...

This past Sunday I went to a traditional British Christmas feast at Barbara's house.  Barbara is the ICT (computer teacher) at Lidget Green and is apparently a brilliant cook! Because I had been sick for so long, I was very thankful to get an excuse to finally get out of our house and back into the real world. The meal was really amazing. Nowadays in England, it is traditional to have turkey for Christmas dinner instead of the ultra traditional goose. I suspect they have turkey because obviously they didn't just have it for Thanksgiving and every country needs a turkey holiday. Besides the turkey we had three different stuffings, veg (a.k.a. vegetables) -2 different kinds of potatoes, carrots, peas, brussel sprouts, and I even had my first taste of parsnips. Apparently once they have been soaked in duck fat they are pretty good! Who knew? There also were pigs in a blanket, which in England is a sausage wrapped in bacon.


 It all was really good until we came to the traditional Christmas pudding. Here pudding does not mean the same as in the States. Pudding is another word for desert. A "Christmas Pudding" is what most people would be scared to eat in the states because it is a fruit cake with dates, figs and the whole gang. Now, no offense to Barbara or any other British person who actually likes this awfulness, but this pudding was not my thing! It didn't help when I found out that "proper" Christmas puddings were actually mixed up and made in September and then fermented for 3 months before finishing the baking. I found the presentation to be neat though. Barbara lit it on fire (easy to do with all the alcohol present in it)!
June and I were struggling for a while before we were let off the hook...and didn't have to finish it.
Lots of thanks to Barbara and Brendan for hosting June and I in our first English Christmas! It really was a splendid of a time!

June and I waiting for Barbara to pick us up. We were dancing to Christmas carols with our antlers.
I'm pretty sure everyone thought we were crazy!

Barbara's cats all seemed to take a liking to June. At one point, all three were within touching distance.