Two very different Christmas Eve's...

Christmas Eve, and at 4:03pm, the sky is the bruised colour somewhere between lilac and grey. Complete darkness will be here in just moments. Not so in Cape Town, where my folks (their wedding anniversary!) are probably parking on the road lining the boisterous Bantry Bay sea - above which is a little amble up some sunbleached stairs to the renovated post-war apartment where my sister, Julie and her husband James live their glamourous Cape Town lives (of which I am obviously and unashamedly jealous!) where a typical evening can include sundowners on Clifton beach, or a long, languid evening out at one of many divine Cape Town restaurants where their laughter is coloured in shades of merlot, shiraz and ruby pinotage. Julie has her studio at home - she is undoubtedly one of South Africa's up and coming jewellers: owner and designer for her own range/brand : see www.collectjewellery.co.za
In recent months her work has been featured in fashion in no less than the likes of Marie Claire! Most recently, she herself was showcased alongside a few other jewellers - but she definitely is the shining star among them all with her incredibly unique style and creative vision -- and you can see for yourself that I'm not just a baised older sister when you look at her work! And darling James, my brother-in-law from Hull, has his own architectural firm in town - doing fancy, avant-garde work for glamourous German clients with his mad Swiss business partner, Jan. Anyway - I'm blabbing.
Their plans for tonight's Christmas Eve celebration include, like we did last year, chilled champagne and bowls of olives, while on the braai/BBQ fresh king prawns and sizzling rectangles of halloumi sizzle to the sound of James and my dad yacking away like two old women. Inside, Julie will be ensuring the bubbly is constantly topped up, inbetween getting a big pot of shining, black mussels ready for cooking. Last year, she did them Thai-style... Undoubtedly the music will be laid-back Miles Davis or vintage Irakere!
Here, Gary and Craig are sharing the sofa watching absolute crap on TV, and I'm still in my pyjamas having suffered all day long from some sort of pregnancy induced ennui... Supper is Gary's version of their mom's divine, lasagna-like pasta - and more mulled wine. We've had a serious discussion about tomorrow's plans: the unanimous decision is to cook and drink all day long, finally eating at about 4pm. (At least we'll have enough Christmas pudding: After I moaned at Craig's measly purchase of the piddliest little Christmas cake I've ever seen, we now have THREE of them awaiting indiscriminate consumption - along with three tubs of cream!) Gary's spoiling us with a juicy leg of lamb stuffed with brandy-bathed dates, rosemary and garlic! Ooh la la! I'll rustle up modern versions of carrots and the very British brusselsprouts - as well as peeling a couple of potatoes for roasting.

A glass of mulled wine, and I'm now ready to settle into an evening that will no doubt be like the rest of the week's evenings: mindless TV, some quilting, a long bath and probably another early night for me and the growing little lady in my tum.