’TIS THE SEASON!

CHRISTMAS CAN’T COME SOON ENOUGH FOR ME!

Growing up, my parents had a chicken shop and Christmas was the busiest time of the year. We would get all these orders for roast chickens and stay up all night cooking them. I’d sleep downstairs

– we lived above the shop – and tend

to the rotisserie in shifts. Dad would baste them while I slept for a few hours, then we’d swap. He always seasoned the outside with salt, pepper and flour and used peanut oil to get a nice crunch on the skin.

I still use that recipe, but now I do it with turkey. I always cook the turkey and about 30 potatoes regardless of whether I’m hosting or not. I turn up with so much food I always think, “Blimey, for all this prep, I could have hosted it myself !”

One of the saddest Christmases was when

I lived in London in the late ’60s. I was in my early twenties and we were all as poor as church mice. I don’t think we even had a Christmas tree – and that’s saying a lot because I always have a tree!

In fact, now I have three Christmas

Christmas is a jolly big event for Denise

and her family!

trees. They’re all fake, but they’re beautiful. I’ve got a pale pink one with glitter that had been $250 and I picked it at $30 in the Boxing Day sales. It was so lovely, when I got home I had to put it up! First it was a Christmas tree past its use-by date, then it turned into an Easter tree, then it became a teddy bear tree. I left it up all year in the guest bedroom!

I’m the same with Christmas shopping – I start at the Boxing Day sales. I have a cupboard dedicated to things – often from Aldi – that I pick up throughout the year. It was full in November with everything from a Baby Alive doll, glowsticks and Texta markers for the grandkids, to gourmet herbs, saucepans and stubby holders. You can never have too many stubby holders! My daughter-in-law Jamie likes pineapples so I also pick up anything I see that has pineapples on it.

I love Christmas. Plus, I needn’t worry about the dreaded tidy up now I know my lovely trees bring cheer all year round. So, when you look at your tree after Christmas, do you think it should come down just because it’s January? Or do you leave it up and just let people look at them and smile? I prefer the latter.