Betwixtmas Aka The Feast Of Leftover

There seems to be 3 acts to Christmas with the first beginning in November with the excitement building and people getting into the festive mood and then comes stage two which is the big day itself.
This week we find ourselves in Stage 3 which apparently is called 'Betwixtmas' where, with most people on annual leave until January, we have nothing to do but wait for New Year’s Eve and the time of resolutions and renewed gym memberships before life returns to normal.
My mum always called it the Feast of Leftover because most fridges are bursting with turkey which will go into sandwiches, soups, stews and absolutely anything else it can be crammed into but Turkey isn't the only thing on the menu because there will also be an abundance of chocolate to get through from selection boxes, tree decorations and the big bars of Aero, Whole Nut and Bourneville which were so lovingly gift wrapped.
It will be days until anyone has anything approaching a normal meal, featuring vegetables, and the same goes for still sporting pyjamas and a dressing gown until well after mid-day and drinking sherry and eating Christmas pudding for breakfast.
It's not just a time of leftovers in the home as the shops will be selling off all their Christmas Decorations, trees, cards and gift sets at knock down prices which you can buy and then put in a safe place so in eleven months times you won't be able to find them and have to buy more.
So don't feel bad if you spend the week laying on the sofa, searching through the TIVO to see what was recorded over the Festive period and deleting four versions of 'A Christmas Carol' with Alistair Syms, Patrick Stewart, the muppets and Bill Murray while stirring a tin of Quality Street in the hope that there may be a Purple One left among the sticky wrappers.
However you chose to celebrate this slow-paced time of the year, be it with turkey jam, surrounded by cut-price mini Christmas Trees, pickled onions or by just plain old pickling your liver, enjoy it because come January 4th, the real world comes rushing back at you.