welsh hills again

Bursting with news here!  The most important first.  There is another new baby in the family.  I know, I know.  My cup runneth over.  How delightful.  The family is full of babies.  Younger son and his wife had their second child ten days ago, another little girl.  She arrived in haste and was delivered by her father, fortunately a doctor, in a layby on the A38 as they were driving to the hospital.  We will be meeting the new arrival on Sunday. I blogged here  about the arrival of their first baby.  Every time a grandchild arrives is different and every time it moves me profoundly.  This is the first time we have been out of the country when a baby has been born and that felt very strange but we were woken early in the morning in New York with a facetime call from the jubilant parents and had the chance to see their faces and the first sight of the new baby.  Since then pictures and calls have kept us in touch but I can'...

For the last two weeks the house and the cottage have been full of people.  Younger son's dog (possibly the best behaved and gentlest black lab in the world until you tell me different) has been lying on the rug by the fire.  Elder daughter's baby has spent the fifth and sixth weeks of his life being passed around his various adoring aunts, uncles and grandparents.  There has always been someone to walk around singing to him when he got cranky and to sit with him sleeping on their chest.  He has been fascinated by the pattern of the beams on the ceilings in both the kitchen and the sitting room of the farmhouse, staring up wide eyed at the lines of the brown oak against the white paint. Much food has been made in the battered kitchen, with first younger son and daughter in law, and then as younger daughter arrived and they left, younger daughter, working with me, sometimes taking over completely, sometimes being the vegetable peeler or the gravy maker, working away...

Cake: The home made marzipan was delicious, just lemony and almondy enough to kill any oversweetness.  I had intended the icing to be the classic rough snow version.  Sadly it was just not thick enough and ran gently over the cake and settled into a mildly rumpled appearance like the creases on a baby's brow.  Fortunately we have a month old  baby right here so we can regard the cake as a tribute to Joseph.  Tastes good too (the cake, not the baby). Pudding: it was yummy, served with a choice of white sauce, with extra sherry, for the traditionalists or cream for me.  A dark and rich chocolate log made by younger daughter was an alternative for those who don't like Christmas pudding, or an extra for the determined and enthusiastic eaters amongst us of whom there are plenty. Turkey: I leave this one to older son who said "I think this must be the best Christmas dinner ever".  How can this be?  It is the same meal every year so should come out r...