"I'm bringing penguins," Jamie says in the group WhatsApp when we’re organizing what to bring for our family Christmas dinner.

"Penguins?" they ask, utterly puzzled.

We didn’t reply. Some things are best left myserious and suprising, don't you think?

While everyone else got busy with gourmet culinary delights like homemade stollen, udon salmon broccolini salad, arancini, and my pride and joy - a gooey camembert focaccia which I've already written about - Jamie has a different vision. Nope, not trife, or pavlova, or even buying a fancy bottle of wine. Nope. He's hell bent penguins.

You know, exactly what a guy who spends his free time tinkering with Land Rovers would do. Because surely, if he can rebuild engines, he can make olive penguins. Yep. True to form.

At first, I thought he was joking. "What the...?" I muttered, imagining some abstract, bird-shaped monstrosity. But no. This was very real. Jamie had been scrolling Instagram, caught sight of these miniature olive penguins, and decided they were a must. Forget tradition or practicality. Penguins it was.

To his credit, he went all in. The process was painstaking: slicing olives in half for the wings, carefully securing them to a perfectly round ball of goat cheese for the body. Each penguin’s nose was a triangle orange triangle carved from carrot.

But Jamie didn’t stop there. Oh no. He accessorized. Some penguins wore jaunty scarves of red capsicum; others rocked chic green spring onion wraps. And as the pièce de résistance, each penguin was mounted on an "iceberg" of camembert. There was even a fetta igloo and a capsicum fire pit.

The result was surprisingly adorable. There they were, a little flock of penguins huddled on a serving plate, looking ridiculously festive and slightly smug.

"Noot noot," Jamie said proudly as he finished them, as if they'd waddled in from the South Pole like Pingu.

Among the stollen and salads, they were slightly ridiculous and I'm not sure anyone knew what to say but they did bring a laugh. Who knew that the guy who just last week was building a pop top camper and changing the coolant on the defender could do such a thing?

So here’s to all the little things that make us laugh, love, and remember our inner penguin.

Noot noot. 🐧🐧🐧