Buying the Turkey in our house is always the first marker that the Christmas shopping has officially started. I was very concerned by the media sugesting that Turkeys might be in higher demand here in the UK this year as there is a shortage of Lorry drivers to bring them in from Europe . I never give much attention to political issues, but the Turkey threat caused the Alarm bells to ring back in early October. *Could my Christmas be ruined by the lack of a Turkey?* My God sadly, I had the shakes! I want Turkey, Branston Pickle and a Swede. The rest of Christmas can goto shit for all I care, but I have to have those 3 items. I made a promise to myself that as soon as I saw a big one I'd buy it. Everytime I went past the freezers, the Turkeys were sold out. My heart was sinking, but I reminded myself that there's enough time to keep looking or order some from an online butcher if I had too. Last week, I went online to purchase a Turkey, everywhere I shopped there was a waiting list for the size I wanted. Then, I found one, it would only serve 6 - 10 people. I quickly secured the payment with a sigh of relief. I admit I was a bit disheartened by the size but nevertheless I had a Turkey. I admit I felt smug but at the same time happy that I started the search with plenty of time to spare. I didn't give Christmas dinner another thought until today. Dh's mom called to say she won a Huge Turkey but it was too big for her and asked me if I wanted to swap mine for hers! "Absolutely Yes"I said. What are the chances of that happening? She knows how much we all love Turkey, I'll be feeding anywhere from 4 - 16 people on Christmas day - maybe more this year, depends on who phones me the day before to say they're staying over. I'm thoroughly over the moon, I hope the press is wrong about the Turkey deliveries this year, but all the same I'm landed I got mine.