5:12pm

Reheated a coffee from earlier, mixed up a batch of bread and popped two loaves in  the oven.

5:23pm

Opened two jars of homemade mincemeat and breathed in the alcohol-y Christmassy scent. Felt suddenly festive. Began making  a double batch of pastry, flitting between the mixer, the phone and the Avoca cookbook (because to my eternal shame I need a recipe for making pastry) while singing the two lines of “Walking in a Winter Wonderland” that I know.

5:34pm

Said yes to a  episode of Dinosaur Train when no one wanted to help with pastry making. Found myself singing How Much is that Doggy in Window while scraping pastry remainders out of the mixing bowl.

5:37pm

Standing with a puzzled look on my face, trying to place the soundtrack that is coming from the sitting room because it is not Dinosaur Train.

5:38pm

Wondered how much of my brain power I have lost over the years that it has taken me a full minute to  realsied that the soundtrack is Shaun the Sheep but in German, so Shaun das Schaaf.

5:41pm

Forgot I was making pastry and not biscuits and popped a lump of dough into my mouth. Yuck!

5:42pm

Realised I forgot to double the quantity of egg in the pastry recipe and now the pastry is already chilling in the fridge.

5:44pm

Remembered the reheated coffee. Took a swig of coffee. Cold again. Reheat again? No.

5:47pm

“Get your shoes and coats on. Chess is over in a minute”.

5:50pm

“Get your shoes and coats on. We have to go”.

5:51pm

Forcibly removes toddler from sofa to hall.

5:52pm

Took a swig of cold coffee again. Looked at the clock. looked at the groceries on the table. Sixty minutes goes so fast and I got nothing done.