There's no avoiding it now. The selection boxes are in the shops, the Christmas Fairs are booked, the countdown (which starts earlier every year) has begun. And mums all over the country are starting to write lists in their heads - or if they're more organised than me, on actual paper.
When I was working in hotels I was amazed how many people booked a few days away from home over Christmas, and chose to have their Christmas lunch in our restaurant. Didn't they want to spend 2 whole days shopping for food? Didn't they want to play The Hunt For Red Cabbage™ all over the county? Or have a late night Christmas Eve Peeling Party? Or spend most of Boxing Day washing up? What did they know that I didn't?
We've just been having our first tentative Big C chat at Cadair View HQ and decided that this actually might be the year we say "stuff the turkey" and book Christmas lunch at The Bryn Arms Gellilydan. More time to relax, a lot less faff and a wonderful, relaxed meal with no washing up.
With half of our cabins already booked I won't be going away for Christmas myself, I want to stay close by to look after our guests. But years ago I had a rare Christmas off from work and went away with a few friends. It was wonderful - I drove from Leeds to Cornwall on a snowy Christmas Eve with an oven ready goose strapped upright in the passenger seat, only to find that our holiday cottage had a tiny kitchen with a Baby Belling rather than an oven. On Christmas morning I sent everyone out of my way to find a pub and managed to produce a 3 course meal for 5 people, which we finally ate around 7pm. We opened presents, played board games, exchanged stories and laughed long into the night. It was magical, and I arrived home to a house clear of all the usual carnage and feeling like I'd had a proper holiday.
Of course our cabins all have full sized ovens, some have slow cookers, Hedd Wyn has a separate freezer and Caban Eryri even has a dishwasher. So you wouldn't have to slow-cook your bird with the door half open and a chair wedged under the handle like I did. And we can even help you source a locally bred, high-welfare turkey from our friends Gayle and Neil at Snowdonia Farm Shop and Butchery just down the road. Or you could just book in to one of our local restaurants and let them take care of you, then walk it all off from the cabin door later on before curling up with fairy lights and snacks to watch Christmas telly.
A couple of our regular Christmas cabin guests go home each time and book straight away for the following year. Will this be the year that you join them?
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