Christmas in Morocco, part 1

Okay, I have a list ten miles long of what I want to blog about, so better just dive in.

First, Happy New Year and belated Merry Christmas to everybody. I have been crap at emailing the last several weeks. I am ashamed but hope you still love me.

Mom was here for three weeks and we had a great time. she got to spend a lot of time with Lahcen because I was working for two of the three weeks. They seemed to get on really well and liked each other -- phew!

Funny story about Christmas: So, the moms were here so we of course wanted to do a big Christmas dinner. I boiled up a mess of chicken on Saturday afternoon to make broth for the stuffing and gravy. Sunday morning spent an hour or so sifting out bones and pulling meat off for the stuffing. Made a really beautiful, rich broth. Made some chicken and dumplings with part of it on Sunday, then back into the fridge. Then Monday morning set the pot back onto the stove, was chopping onions and whatnot, chatting away to Shan. Lahcen was washing dishes, like a good little husband-to-be. At some stage I noticed that Lahcen had washed the big pot the broth had been in, and I asked him where he had put the broth. He tells me he poured it down the drain. Quit joking, I say. Where is it? Uh-oh. Seems he thought it was "dirty water" and he was just trying to help by washing that pot. I lost my cool for a little while, because I mean, aside from all the hard work that had gone into making that broth, HOW ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH can we have Christmas dinner without broth?!!!! After I apologised to my good husband-to-be, who had, after all, only been trying to help, we had buillion-cube broth and the dinner wasn't too shabby. God bless us, every one.