England

Pins And Noodles And Magic Moments: Christmas ‘23

January 1, 2024 /

‘Twas not quite the night before Christmas when Norma, Michaela’s Mum, arrived, it was in fact the night before the night before, but with Norma being blessed with a Christmas Eve birthday there’s a need for the indulgence to begin long before any obscure character in red makes his way down the chimney.

Mexican – or, for the purists, Tex Mex – food kicks off the weekend with beers, G&Ts and red wine helping to start the fun. Of course, I’m absolutely certain that the booze plays no part at all in the moment immediately after dinner when my inner Mr Clumsy comes to the surface and upends an open bottle of red wine. My noble and successful attempts to protect the wooden flooring from staining means that the pristine white table cloth and my poor jeans take the brunt of the spill before Michaela can catch the bottle. As the ladies rue the deep red stains in both, all I can think of is that roughly three glasses of half decent Douro have just been lost for ever.

Sunday, Christmas Eve, Norma’s birthday, all events enjoyed by all. Brazilian drink – caipirinha – followed by Brazilian food – moqueca – and not a wine spillage in sight. Michaela casually mentions feeling slightly off colour, and sneaks some First Defence nasal spray to complement the alcohol. Attagirl, Michaela.

Monday, Santa makes his obligatory call, the turkey gets its obligatory roasting and a more than pleasant day is had by all despite being pinned indoors by typical English weather. Whenever we meet people on our travels who express a desire to visit these shores, we always warn them about the weather, usually saying that we don’t even get extremes here in England, we just get far too many miserable days. Christmas Day proves our point, unceasing fast drizzle falling from ashen skies all day long. It’s already dark and gloomy even before the first slice of turkey is consumed.

The weather is to get worse later in the week as the outer reaches of Storm Gerrit batter us with high winds and driving rain, though down here in Kent we fare far better than other parts of the country where the storm leaves homes and property damaged. In Manchester a mini tornado rips off several roofs – or “rooves” as the BBC newsreader insists on saying, which almost makes me lob a brick at the TV screen, old fashioned stickler for decent English that I am. “Rooves”, I ask you. It’s the BBC for God’s sake. Aaarrrgggh.

Boxing Day brings pure joy in the shape of an en masse visit from my two sons, their wives and my three granddaughters. Due to a combination of COVID and our travels, this will be the first time I have seen all three granddaughters at Christmas. Steve and Jemma arrive first, Kevin and Kristy just a few minutes later. While the three girls hug excitedly, Albie The Cockerpoo makes a beeline for the kitchen where he adopts that perfectly seated, pleading eye pose that dogs do so very well.

“He can smell turkey”, explains Kristy.

Christmas is, of course, all about the children, and watching their faces as they open our gifts to them is an unbridled joy: I could spend all day watching and hugging, the feeling with which being a grandparent fills your heart is a glow like no other. So too is the kindred spirit between cousins who are clearly already bonded despite life and distances restricting them to a handful of meetings per year: as a grandpa it’s simply wonderful to see the blood of family manifesting in such a lovely way. Heartwarming is a sizeable understatement. I am, by the way, “Grandpa Mole” to all of them – that’s another story altogether – and I still tingle when I hear any of them say those words.

Jemma has lost her voice and speaks all day in sibilant whispers, though her quietness is more than matched by the excited chatter and giggles of the three girls, which lasts the whole time we’re all together. Albie The Cockerpoo spends most of his Boxing Day carrying a resigned look which kind of says, “Can’t you shut them up for just two minutes, Grandpa Mole? Please?”

Indie is 7, Autumn 5, and River will be 3 in the first week of the new year. Being just short of 3, River is in that miraculous place where vocabulary expands on an almost daily basis. “Oh no, it’s deflated”, she says as the air ekes out of the inflatable saxophone. Inflatable saxophone? Yeah, I know – you can blame Norma for that one.

At one point River sits too long in the same position, playing with a new toy, consequently finding herself with numb toes. “Mummy my toes hurt. I’ve got pins and noodles in my toes”. Cue laughter all round. I suspect a new family saying has just been born.

Food time, and, with a vegetarian, an up-till-recently vegan who is now vegetarian, committed meat eaters and cheese monsters all in the house at the same time, the afternoon buffet is a challenge to create but an impressive spread once laid out. At one end sits the beautifully crafted traditional Christmas trifle, lovingly created by Michaela and oozing colourful temptation from within its glass bowl. It’s with an exaggerated sense of theatre that I remove its covering and reveal it to Indie.

“What is THAT??”, she exclaims, with a hint of disbelief and, dare I say, disapproval. She’s obviously never seen a Christmas trifle before. How times are changing huh. Old traditions lost, new customs in. For girls of 7, trifle is an unknown, whereas pizza slices are a no brainer. Just imagine if we’d done the traditional Boxing Day thing of ox tongue and haslet.

It’s a wonderful family day, the house full of people, chatter and laughter. Too soon it’s time for the first ones to leave, though not everyone is going yet and some are staying over.

With Steve, Jemma and their two girls gone, the remaining seven of us – six humans plus Albie The Cockerpoo – take a Wednesday morning stroll along the seafront before Kevin too heads for the motorways. River, bless her, is thrown into turmoil – with memories of a Turkish holiday still fresh in her mind, she cannot understand why donning her bathing costume and wading out into the cold, greyish brown waters of the English Channel would be any less pleasant than the Mediterranean of the Turquoise Coast on a hot day. She is not to be appeased, her change of mood not helped when Albie The Cockerpoo legs it into the waves and looks back with a “come in, the water’s lovely” look in his eyes.

For River it’s the final straw and, as 3-year olds are prone to do, she pulls the tantrum trigger and lays down on the concrete footpath punching and kicking the ground and refusing to budge an inch. It’s one of those moments when being a grandparent is so much easier than being a parent.

The bug inside Michaela has morphed into a cough which has her chest rasping and rattling like a 60-fag-a-day merchant. She has, for the record, never smoked. It’s funny how, when you feel below par, you find the spirit to fight it when there is a need – but then, once that part is done, the ailment races up the scale and takes a rampant surge around the body. So it is with Michaela and, once Norma has gone and it’s back to just the two of us, she heads off to bed for some well earned rest in the hope that siesta will equate to cure, leaving me alone to listen to music on the headphones and watch football on TV. I sit a little too long and a familiar numb feeling hits various muscles.

Pins and noodles, no less.

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35 Comments

  • notesoflifeuk

    January 1, 2024 at 7:54 pm Reply

    “Pins and noodles” sounds so much better than pins & needles! 😀 It sounds like a good Christmas all round. I hope Michaela is feeling better now.

    All the best for 2024!

  • Lynette d'Arty-Cross

    January 1, 2024 at 8:33 pm Reply

    Pins and noodles – that’s great! I love those sorts of family expressions. It sounds as though you had a wonderful family Christmas together.
    I’m a bit of a stickler for language rules as I had to learn English grammar, not just absorb it (I was raised in a bilingual household). Rooves – wow. It seems that no one can tell the difference between the verbs “lie” and “lay” any more, either. Ugh.
    I hope Michaela is now feeling better. All the best for 2024. 😊

    • Phil & Michaela

      January 1, 2024 at 9:10 pm Reply

      Rooves is the tip of a horrible iceberg. I sometimes wonder what they teach in school these days – how to play computer games, maybe?! Unfortunately Michaela’s still struggling….but in the meantime a happy new year to you too 😊

  • restlessjo

    January 1, 2024 at 8:57 pm Reply

    They are so lovely, and all too infrequent, these celebrations. I could feel the warmth, and our Christmas was very different, but much the same in a lot of ways. It’s usually me who spills the wine and Mick who mutters about the good Douro. And, like Michaela, I made it home for New Year then succumbed to a grim flu bug. He went off to a pre-arranged Chinese buffet with friends and I snuggled up in the back bedroom, listening out for the midnight fireworks. Still feeling very ropey. Happy New Year to you, Grandpa Mole.

  • Heyjude

    January 1, 2024 at 9:31 pm Reply

    In actual fact rooves is the original name which was superceded by roofs in the 17th century. Language. Always evolving. Who knows your granddaughter may have started the beginning of pins and noodles.

    Sounds like a good Christmas was had by all. It’s definitely a time for young children I think, not so much adults. I hope Michaela feels better soon and I wish you safe travels ahead.

    • Phil & Michaela

      January 1, 2024 at 9:37 pm Reply

      Well now, that’s so interesting. I distinctly remember my English textbooks at school, with such things as collective nouns and rules such “I before e except after c” and such things. One such was hoof/hooves and roof/roofs. Just goes to show. However as a resolute non-lover of the technological age, I’m kind of smugly pleased that spellcheck does not recognise “rooves” as a word! 😊☺️

  • Helen Devries

    January 1, 2024 at 11:57 pm Reply

    so sorry that Michaela is still under the weather…it is just as you say, while you are busy and engaged you push through it…but once the music stops the lurgy comes back in full force. I do hope by taking it easy she will soon feel better.
    You made moqueca! I’m sitting on the last of the dende, trying to decide between moqueca and mwaab…can’t get it here for love nor money.

    • Phil & Michaela

      January 2, 2024 at 8:16 am Reply

      Moqueca is a favourite, I love preparing it, love eating it and above all…well you know the next bit! Michaela’s still pretty rough unfortunately, not a good start to the year but I’m sure she’ll be over it soon.

  • Monkey's Tale

    January 2, 2024 at 2:31 am Reply

    Sounds lovely. Funny coincidence, my girlfriend has three kids; Indie, Autumn, but the third is Breeze. Hope you have a Happy New Year and Michaela is feeling better soon.

  • Alison

    January 2, 2024 at 5:15 am Reply

    What a wonderful few days, nothing like having small children around. I love seeing my grandchildren. I know what you mean about keeping illness at bay but once you relax it races through your system. Weather does appear to be awful and have been reading lots about Storm Gerrit, a real terror. Anyway hope Michaela feels better soon and you have a trip coming up I believe.

  • Gilda Baxter

    January 2, 2024 at 12:17 pm Reply

    Finishing the year with family is wonderful. We had our adult kids visiting, but also got together with other family members. It was so lovely and it feels sad that another year has ended. But we are looking forward to what 2024 will bring.
    I am impressed that you have already started enjoying Brazilian cuisine and cocktails 😀
    Happy 2024 to you both.

  • Toonsarah

    January 2, 2024 at 2:05 pm Reply

    I love ‘pins and noodles’ and can absolutely see how that would stick as a family saying 🙂 Sounds like a wonderful time was had by all, apart from River not being allowed in the sea (maybe you should have let her dip a toe in, she’d soon have got the message?!) I’m sorry to hear Michaela’s still feeling rough though, I hope the bug does a runner soon 🤗 As for the red wine, as I did something similar last year (although in my case it was cream curtains that got ruined) I can fully sympathise.

  • grandmisadventures

    January 2, 2024 at 4:27 pm Reply

    What a treasure these memories will be for everyone. I love that your grandpa name is Grandpa Mole 🙂 Sounds like a wonderful array of family, food, and memories all around. Happy New Year! 🙂

  • leightontravels

    January 10, 2024 at 5:15 pm Reply

    Dear Grandpa Mole, I’m glad to hear you had an enjoyable Christmas despite the barrage of mishaps and challenges: reliably crap weather, drink spills, the obligatory winter cold, pins and noodles. The storms were pretty evil up in Scotland where my mum and dad were without electricity on Boxing Day.

  • Jaya

    January 11, 2024 at 5:19 am Reply

    Lovely read! While Christmas celebrations & the weather are unfamiliar to me, your post brought back many memories of books I devoured in my distant childhood. Thanks for sharing! Best wishes.

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