Paddington Bear has had his fill of marmalade, sticky buns, roast tatties, goose, brussel sprouts, glazed ham,panettone, winter berry crumble....

... and has retired to his bed with a very full tummy and a sore head (could it have something to do with all the Veuve Clicquot and Pol Roger Champagne he consumed on Christmas Day?) with a nice cup of hot tea and 2 panadol.

um, okay, so maybe it's me who is feeling the effects of too much food and too much alcohol, not Paddington Bear :)

Christmas Day was a blast this year with the Messy household hosting and the Cusack and Perrett families in attendance. We had smoked salmon blinis with champagne to start, followed by goose (lovingly cooked t0 perfection by Mr Cusack), roast tatties cooked in goose fat, brussel sprouts with pancetta, roast carrots and parsnips, Jamie Oliver- esque glazed ham, cabbage with bacon, steamed green beans and the pièce de résistance, Ernest (he was named by one of Mr Messy's work colleagues).....the roast piggy.

Yes, Blog Fans, the free-range, organic, happy piggy (complete with head) was delivered by the farmer in time for Christmas Day... and was roasted by Mr Messy with a bacon (does anyone note a cured pork theme developing here??), apple, cranberry and macadamia nut stuffing....It was, from all accounts, heaven on a plate and Ernest did not die in vain.

I was a wimp and could not bring myself to try even a small morsel of Ernest...but I made up for it by eating everything else in sight including apple and winter berry crumble for dessert (made by Mrs Perrett), iced panettone cake (if you are the lucky recipient of a panettone and are unsure of what to do with it-a makeshift doorstop comes to mind- do what Mrs Cusack did: douse the little blighter in a mix of sugar syrup, cointreau, orange and clementine rinds, slice, reassemble and coat generously in a thick icing of mascarpone and cream- Fabulous!!), chocolate hazelnut torte and fruit mince pies :) :) Gluttony and over-indulgence at its best!!

There was much hilarity over the course of the day fuelled by too much sparkling Shiraz, too many bad Christmas tunes, and too much Balderdash. Overall a tops Christmas Day:)

Now, just where did I put that Alka-Seltzer....

p.s. numerous BLOG FANS have advised me (privately!) that it was in fact a BULL I was charged by not a cow!! Mmmmm so I have a law degree and an accounting degree but still can't tell the difference between a cow and a bull?!!

p.p.s. I would have posted photos of the Christmas Feast including Ernest in all his glory, but the photos I took were too, too awful to post.