Sundae, did you get the chocolate bar selections ?

6 or so assorted chocolate bars (and an inexplicable packet of rowntrees fruit pastilles) laid out in a plastic tray in the shape of a stocking and sold at an exhorbitant price! yey. For me, they epitomise Christmas sweetie excess...ahhh glorious. You've hit the nail on the head Sundae: all that food, not just there, (by there, I mean everywhere) but there to be eaten at will. Wow.

That's my family. They're desperate to reject anything that smacks of mainstream tradition. We often have Mexican food, and on several years we've had a soup potluck, where everyone brings a different kind of soup. When I hosted last year, I made a damn ham.

We're just mavericky, Clod. Mavericky.

Dana - yes!
We got a selection pack from someone every year.
And bearing in mind that a bar of chocolate was a treat after Mass every Sunday, to have six to be consumed at will was riches beyond compare!

Every now and then I'll buy my sister one for Christmas. I tell her Christmas isn't Christmas if you don't get a selection pack! But really I'm saying, remember what it was like when we shared our lives and you still liked me?

I think my subtext is too subtle.

Hell, I'm such a conformer, I chose not to rock the boat with my mainstream defiance, and still put some tamales and other random things out alongside my traditional fare just to be safe.

I had home made sushi as an horsdeavre two years ago. It was pretty funny watching my step mother get wasabi up her nose...even after she was told to go easy on it. The second time she did it was even funnier. :)

I got a fruitcake once. It was so heavy, I think it could kill a man if dropped on his head. I did not taste it. I made that mistake once.

I used to make cookies. But I kept eating them all. I used to cook, too . . . but somehow I still manage to eat.
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I'm A Celebrity... is sponsored by Iceland (cheap frozen food store, not the country) so after watching no tv for months I'm now watching two hours every night with 16 Iceland ads served up in between. I have found myself craving all their Christmassy buffet food, to the extent that if I had received my payment from EEA today I know I would have ended up going shopping, despite having the staples in the house.

The staples just don't include jalapeno poppers, mini Cornish Pasties, chicken goujons, mini cheesecakes etc etc etc though. Nom nom nom.

I will go and have beans on toast and feel virtuous, even though it's not by choice.

Not just sausage rolls, but SMALL sausage rolls so that you could have lots of them!

SG - they aren't really celebrities and that isn't really food - resist the temptation - RESIST! You must.

If you've got staples, why don't you make yourself some fruit mince pies (the ones without the mince.) All you need is water, butter, flour and sugar for the pastry and then make some fruit mince with mixed fruit. Stick the mixed fruit in a pot...bring it to the boil with some water, sugar and spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves etc. Let it go syrupy and then fill your little prepared pastry shells. Pop the lids on and bake for 10 mins. Voila...your own simple little Christmas treats. ;)

I'm not a mince pie fan to be fair. And Mum has no mincemeat in the cupboards. And left me no fruit either (she did ask, I got veggies instead). As for the rest - they're not staples in my Mum's house :) She has chilli, vanilla essence, curry powder, Italian mixed herbs. I think that's it. She grew up in the 40s.

With all of us gone, she just buys mince pies in batches of six - makes much more sense. Also, I loathe my own shortcrust pastry. Bleugh.

Oh well...it was just a thought. :)

Ok. The weird menu is set: hot, home made roast beef sandwiches, hash brown casserole, mediterranian salad, pasta salad, salt rye wit spinach dip, lasangne, chips, assorted nosh's like veg and dip, chocolates, olives, nuts, cheeses.