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Yvie Burnett: Dinner for a dozen with all the trimmings

Yvie gets a selfie with Strictly winner Hamza Yassin on an earlier visit to the studio.
Yvie gets a selfie with Strictly winner Hamza Yassin on an earlier visit to the studio.

Happy Christmas Eve everyone! I was working until the 20th and then the family started to arrive.

I love these last few days of preparation, including the food shopping and the decorating of the table and all the finishing touches.

Ollie always says that Christmas Eve is his favourite day and I know what he means. There is always that lovely feeling of anticipation.

I’m cooking for 12 people this year and I’m aiming to delegate more than I have previously.

I have to admit that I’m a wee bit of a control freak when it comes to cooking the Christmas dinner.

I have my, well used, Jamie Oliver Christmas cookbook to hand at all times, as well as my big written-out schedule of when exactly I do each bit of preparation and start cooking each item.

Jamie Oliver and his son Buddy with their Winter Bombe.

I get the family to help with chopping or washing up as I go along but I always cook everything myself.

I’m pretty exhausted this year though after lots of trips to Glasgow to do filming for Scotland Sings, so I’m going to teach Emily all my little tricks and tips and actually allow her to properly share the cooking.

Well that’s the plan anyway and I will let you know how that goes next week!

Us control freaks have trouble releasing the reigns.

Funnily enough I’ve never made my own clootie dumpling.

Christmas pudding

Somehow by the time I’ve made all the savoury trimmings and a big bowl of trifle, I usually end up with a shop-bought Christmas pudding but this year Emily and I are giving it a go.

As you know I love to meet YL readers and I met a lovely couple who were in Glasgow for a little break, when I came down for breakfast in the hotel the other day.

This couple Lorna and George said the same thing that many people say to me when I meet them.

“We open the magazine,” they told me and say, “Let’s see what Yvie is spikin aboot this week.”

That remark always makes me smile, especially when readers remind me of things I have forgotten I wrote.

Of course, Lorna and George were asking me about my visit to Strictly and they, like me, were pleased that Hamza and Jowita had lifted the trophy.

Hamza Yassin and Jowita Przysta win Strictly Come Dancing 2022.

I was so happy that I had managed to have a wee chat with Hamza and have a photo taken with him when I was there.

I know that many people didn’t think he was the best dancer but they were all so good and they couldn’t all win.

Public vote

I was working last Saturday, so I haven’t watched the show yet but my friends and Auntie Agnes all thought that Fleur was the most outstanding on the night.

It’s a dancing competition first and foremost of course but by making the final vote down to the public instead of the judges, the winning vote is also a popularity contest, as people will vote for who they like best.

Hamza seems like the sweetest man and really has won over the hearts of the nation.

I think he deserves this win and I’m sure his career is going to soar.

Vito Coppola and Fleur East during the live show of Strictly Come Dancing. Image: Guy Levy/PA Wire.

So I realise that I have remained uncharacteristically silent about Harry and Meghan’s Netflix show.

Well it’s because I’ve been too busy to watch any of it yet but of course it’s impossible not to hear all the comments about what it contains, unless you have been on the moon.

Royal family

In my opinion it seems to create more questions than it answers.

It’s a one-sided story and will always remain so.

The palace is not going to comment on all the criticism given to the royal family in the documentary, so we are never going to really know the truth.

Therefore, what really is the point of it all?

Jeremy Clarkson has been roundly condemned for his comments about Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.

However, no matter whether Meghan is someone who you like or dislike or someone whose opinion matters to you or doesn’t, she in no way deserves the disgusting comments written by Jeremy Clarkson about her in The Sun newspaper.

He not only said how much he hates her on a cellular level, whatever that means, but he said he dreams of her being paraded naked in the streets while people shout “Shame on you.”

Jeremy Clarkson’s views of barbaric taunting of a person whose opinion he doesn’t agree with is quite shocking.

So much for the season of goodwill to all.

I think this story will run and run.

In the meantime, have a wonderful Christmastime, full of festive cheer,

Yvie x

 

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