Our artificial Christmas tree – bought in Oxfordshire before we moved, but still going strong
This is our 10th Christmas spent at our finca in rural Mallorca and, thankfully, it’s a very different Christmas to the first one we spent here. For a start, we’d only had electricity for a couple of weeks – and it still felt like something of a novelty. I still remember the joy of unpacking the electrical kitchen gadgets that hadn’t seen the light of day since we’d moved into the property at the end of April 2004. I also remember how cold and damp the house was: our traditional Mallorcan fireplace was our only source of heat, although it didn’t give off much of it, despite consuming logs at the rate of a child let loose in a sweet shop.
Cold Turkey
On Christmas morning we prepared the turkey between us and stuffed it into the oven with a feeling of satisfaction. While the turkey was cooking we decided to phone family and friends back in the UK. We didn’t have a landline telephone back then – it took nearly three years for us to get a phone installed from Telefonica – so we had to use a mobile phone. Sadly there was no network coverage in the house (and there still isn’t), so we had to go outside and stand in the one spot in the garden where we manage to get reception. Unfortunately that spot requires us to stand on a low wall. Perhaps wobble would be a better verb than stand.
Despite the wobbling and the occasional loss of coverage (which required us to re-dial) we spent almost an hour outside catching up with our loved ones. Returning indoors we expected to be greeted by the delicious aroma of roasting turkey, but nada. During our time outside, the butano in the gas bottle had run out and the oven was, by then, barely warm. Needless to say, Christmas lunch became Christmas dinner. And we’ve never since cooked a Christmas turkey without checking that there’s plenty of gas first. We live and learn . . .
However and wherever you spend this festive season, may it be a time of peace, relaxation and realization of what’s really important in life. Merry Christmas.
Jan Edwards Copyright 2013
Your turkey story reminds me of last Thanksgiving here at our house. If I have already told you this tale, please forgive me. We raise our own turkeys and that year we had a really big one.
Hubby HAD to get him “ready for the freezer” way before November because he was growing too big to even fit in an over. So…..about a week before Thanksgiving Day we took him out of the freezer and drove him up the road to the home of some friends who were leaving to spend the holiday with grandkids in Arizona. With a large turkey it takes up to a week or more to properly thaw it under refrigeration.He absolutely would not fit in our rather small frig. So…the neighbors said their frig was empty and we were welcome to put our bird in it to thaw while they were gone. Early Thanksgiving morn hubby went up to get the bird to bring home and put in our oven. Well…..what a surprise he got! Because there had been no opening and closing of the frig for a week and they keep the house thermostat at 60 degrees when they are gone, the turkey was still completely frozen. It was as if he was still in a freezer!
I hurried up and called the closest of two markets looking for a turkey. The first market was sold out but the other had ONE left and said they would save it for us. Hubby jumped in the car and drove 25 miles to town and got that one and only turkey. It was quite small so there were not any of our favorite turkey leftovers to enjoy later but at least we could feed our guests.
Thank heavens we did have gas to cook him with!
Living way out in the country can complicate things. We try to make sure we have everything we need in advance because nobody wants to drive for 45 minutes to get something we need.
Except for the very important main dish, the turkey, we would have just made do.
I hope everything goes off without a hitch for you this year!
De todos modos, Feliz Navidad!
( I don’t remember how to make the upside down marca exclamativa on my computer.)
This story sounds ‘just about right’ for you two…We can picture the scene very clearly indeed…
Have a wonderful Christmas!
Wait until you read the next post . . . ! We had a lovely Christmas and hope you did too. Soon be New Year – we hope it’s
a good one for you both and we look forward to seeing you some time in 2014!
Thanks for sharing, Caterina, I hadn’t heard that one before – a funny story indeed. Although we are rurally located – and a lot of
people in our nearest town have no idea where our little valley is – we are only 10 minutes’ drive from it. You need
a very good memory and domestic organizational skills, I guess, living as remotely as you do! Christmas went smoothly this year
and the turkey was delicious. We hope yours was good too. A Happy New Year to you and yours.
Hope that this year your house is warm and dry with double glazing and a log burner!
Merry Christmas!
Anders
Thank you, Anders! Double glazing would be lovely – but I don’t think that’s going to happen any time soon! But
last year’s new roof and the log burner have made our little home much cosier so far this winter. I hope your
Christmas was a good one and wish you and yours A Happy New Year!