I did venison which has to be timed exactly. My sister-in-law rang the doorbell just as the kitchen timer went off to take it out of the oven so it got left in for a few minutes longer. It was still moist and succulent but no longer pink inside.
And yesterday I did a trifle - put the blancmange and fruit base on the window sill outside to cool down in the near freezing temperatures out there. I used a jar of cherries for the base, and as there seemed to be a lot of liquid, I added some gelatine so that the base would solidify and not mix with the blancmange to make an unsightly join.
It wasn't till the gelatine had set hard that I realised I hadn't put any sponges in! So I served them separately. There were only 3 of us so no one minded.
And I forgot the crackers. I do this every year. And they're so difficult to get hold of, you can't bring them over from the UK, neither in hand luggage nor hold luggage. I bought some when we visited DS2 in Bonn at the English shop there, and promptly left them at his. So I ordered some more from the English Shop in Cologne and then forgot them!
However, I got a lovely e-mail from DS2's mother in law saying how they enjoyed the new "English custom" that they had been introduced to (I told DSD2 to use the crackers himself) and the second lot which I had mail-ordered, will be going with us tonight to a family gathering as my sister-in-law's boyfriend has invited us out for a Chinese meal for his birthday.
These little problems only bother us women - as someone said: No one noticed the parsnips weren't there! Mind you, as half the family is German, they don't know what to expect anyway.
Oh- just thought of another one. Just as I was serving up the roast chicken for Boxing day, I realised I'd forgotten the chestnuts. DS3 jumped up and said he really would like the chestnuts, he'd see to them, where were they? So we got our chestnuts after all; I had ready-cooked ones, so they just needed warming up in a little butter, which was quickly done whilst I was carving the chicken.