Get the Crayons Out!

With the Boots Christmas catalogue out in plane view I know that Christmas will be upon us in no time.  Even when I was a teenager it was THE thing that made me sit up straight and get my colouring pens out.  Not so I could circle everything in it that I did want, but to circle the type of things I was really quite into-actually I still do that.  I love surprises, but I have to be honest and say that not many men would know exactly what a girl wants.  The Husband is quite grateful for the guidance, and I still get to squeeze the parcels under the tree.

November is…

November is for hot pots and slow cookers, it is for roasts after long walks and good warm filling soups. November is for looking out of the window and seeing harsh frost and rain.

November is for Remembrance Day, Guy Fawkes Night, and when I will stir up the Christmas cake. For me it is also when the girls in the family are heading to Edinburgh for some Christmas shopping.

November is for wearing two coats and scarves, big hats and boots for stomping around the countryside to tire the dog and stay warm. It is for jumpers. Jumpers of cable knit and snug soft materials. It is for finding sparkle for parties. Glittering and sequined garments which will shimmer and dazzle in the fairy lights.

November is for being surrounded by books, cushions and mugs of hot cocoa.

 It is for visits to the library and books bags overflowing with recently requested items full of ideas for Christmas bakes and makes.

November is for throws and eiderdowns, porridge for breakfast and travel mugs for the long journey to work. 

November is for long nights spent watching period dramas, for playing scrabble and finding Christmas movies at the weekend with warm fresh popcorn.  November is for squirreling away presents and hiding them in a new location each and every weekend.

Not so bad

Part of the secret of a success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.



Mark Twain

Can't i feel good knowing that in about all the cold cuts and sweet treats there is fruit?

Everyone deserves a treat

Everyone in this house deserves a treat, two legs or four!

Oh so very hungry

Christmas makes me hungry...very hungry.  All i can think about are little gingerbread men iced and standing in little rows, golden poultry and sugar plums.  Mr Dickens isn't helping any either....

"The Grocers'! oh the Grocers'! Nearly closed, with perhaps two shutters down, or one; but through those gaps such glimpses. It was not alone that the scales descending on the counter made a merry sound, or that the twine and roller parted company so briskly, or that the canisters were rattled up and down like juggling tricks, or even that the blended scents of tea and coffee were so grateful to the nose, or even that the raisins were so plentiful and rare, the almonds so extremely white, the sticks of cinnamon so long and straight, the other spices so delicious, the candied fruits so caked and spotted with molten sugar as to make the coldest lookers-on feel faint and subsequently bilious. Nor was it that the figs were moist and pulpy, or that the French plums blushed in modest tartness from their highly-decorated boxes, or that everything was good to eat and in its Christmas dress; but the customers were all so hurried and so eager in the hopeful promise of the day, that they tumbled up against each other at the door, clashing their wicker baskets wildly, and left their purchases upon the counter, and came running back to fetch them, and committed hundreds of the like mistakes, in the best humour possible; while the Grocer and his people were so frank and fresh that the polished hearts with which they fastened their aprons behind might have been their own, worn outside for general inspection, and for Christmas daws to peck at if they chose."

from A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens
I just had to share this, as soon as i read it i started to picture everyones makes and beautiful tables set out with the best china and most shiney silver!

One of my very favourite books ever and something that i read every year in December.  I urge you to read and re-read this book.  It is so wonderful, and so very short that you can infact treat yourself and read something lovely and have that time to yourself, even at this time of year.

x

Some bakes....gone wrong!

Ooops, guess i should have rolled out the dough a wee bit more

And tidied the kitchen too 

And not eaten soo many as testers....and stayed within the lines.... 

But the main thing is...um, whats the main thing? 

Oh...yes, now i do remember...That it got me playing with my new icing set.  That it got me some ME time in the warm, sweet smelling kitchen with my Christmas CD.  That it was the first time i have baked in a long, long...LONG time.  And it was good fun.

Now to throw these guys out and start again, maybe a wee cuppy first!

Inspiration

Inspiration....

little ideas to keep me more than busy...

Some simple, and some a little more difficult (well, for my skills and attention span!)

Up at the top of my list of things to do is making proper Christmas cookies

However, its also just lovely to look at the ideas....and buy the products in shops and add special little touches myself.

Do you think edible place cards would ruin our appitite?

YUM!

x

Have you succumbed yet?

Have you succumbed to it yet? Have you drooled over them yet? Have you been watching any of the TV chefs cooking up a storm? I have, I’ve been recording loads of them, and even though I'm not cooking Christmas dinner this year (not that I’ve ever done it actually), we’re going to my Aunt and Uncles, I can not help staring at those TV chefs-utterly transfixed by the ease they ensure us they rustle up nibbles/three course meals/Christmas dinner.

I've got the books, I love cook books, I love the books that are all about stories telling you why they like certain dishes, how they came to think these dishes up…I adore cook books, but still, I do know that they are all full of dishes a little bit out of my reach!

I hope everyone cooking dinner will do so calmly, and with the help of the diners. I hope everyone cooking dinner has been able to order up the ingredients and has a sense of calm I don’t think id be able to muster.

C’mon people, Chris Evens said it this morning-it’s the last Wednesday before Christmas!! Get excited!!

Gift Guides Galore

I dont know what i would do without gift guides!

I love picking them all up and finding bargains.  I love shopping at places like the country living christmas fair, but you do need to get things from Boots and M&S too!

A nice cup of tea and an afternoon of putting crosses next to pretty things...just hope The Husband notices!

A leaflet to the counry living christmas fair came today...

 

I am more excited than ever, I cant wait to go there.  November is well and truely filling up with fun things to do!

Oh and i may have already picked many, many cakes that i would love to eat over Christmas!!  Yum,Yum...they are so pretty, its hard to pick which is the lovliest!

Christmas reading

Yay, only one day left of the working week and then the long (erm, ok then-2 days) stretch ahead of me that is the weekend!  I don't think we have any proper plans as yet.  The Husband did make noises about going for a walk up to Slains the way that Daisy Dog and I trek, so we may do that on Sunday.  Other than that I desperately need to get a shop in but haven't done a thing about it, and now i feel that it may be too late seeing as its pay weekend (and with regard to wages coming in, its getting much too close to Christmas too).

We've had a real bonus of a month though, so for that am very grateful.  My tax (which I'd been fighting and moaning about for a whole year) has come in!! Yay!! And its more than i expected it to be...BONUS!! I know it was my money all along, but its been a year since the start of it so it was almost........almost forgotten about!

I think this is what will keep me entertained over the weekend, lots of plotting to do, and a massive catch up on all the old Christmas mags that i hoard away...oh and some treats too, well the trick or treaters can't have it all their own way!

Oooh too yummy....much too yummy!!



The lists start here…

Over the weekend we met up with my aunt and uncle who will be hosting Christmas this year (well, really like every other year-it just so happens it’s now our tradition too), and started talking about what things we’ve bought or made so far for the big day. Aunty has just had a great big bonus of £200 worth of M&S vouchers which she is going to be using for Christmas Dinner. So I really need to get my thinking cap on and start to mind map what I could possibly offer to bring. I just know that if I don’t suggest something she will claim that she wants for nothing and I am sure there is always something that can be done to make the day easier and more enjoyable for her (even if she is an effortlessly perfect hostess).

This, in turn, got me thinking about what I would like for Christmas. It always goes:

“Sheila, what are you wanting for Christmas?”
“Um, em…well….i cant really think, anything will do”

When in fact, although anything will do, its always nice to actually get the thing you’ve had your eye on for a while. Its not even like I wish for particularly large things. So while although I'm thinking about what I can bring and do for Christmas dinner, ive also got my ‘Dear Santa, may I please have..’ hat on for myself….here are a few things I'm thinking of..

Too many sweets

I am fit to burst. I've been gorging on pink, red, brown and green Quality Streets as well as various other delights from my Christmas stocking. 

I am very fond of my Nigella style Puddini's!!

Although I love and embrace the feeling of 'plenty' in my Christmas home-decorating with all of the cakes and bakes that I do only encourages the Must Not Waste feeling i was brought up with-and therefore encourages me to nibble!

Little chocolate white mice sneaked onto the cake stand to try out the Christmassy cupcakes.These were made as a chocolate flavoured buttery biscuit topped with white chocolate, jelly holly leaves and icing berries.

I've most defiantly neglected all house keeping duties and have been serving cheese, biscuits, grapes and celery for supper along with the normal accompaniments. I really do know that we all have to venture to the nearest super market or into town for proper food but none of us can gather the strength to go anywhere near any sale shoppers.

In this house hold we simply have no desire to put ourselves through that stress; however I really can understand why some people do it for some items. I understand things for your home being bought at this time, and I can even understand items that are for children, but honestly, I could never wish for say, an item of clothing that much!!  When I was younger I used to work in a clothing shop which would simply go crazy at Christmas time....or should i say, Sale Time.  I have been looking at a couple of things to get my little baby neice which is tucked up safe in her Mummys tummy at the moment-but strictly via the internet!!

We really are missing out though. All of that exercise from ducking and diving, lifting, heaving, dragging, pulling and all the other work involved in shopping this season.

That is why we have planned tomorrow. We will be heading out to Haddo House, one of the loveliest places I can think of. We are so lucky to live surrounded by all of the history, gardens and buildings that we are. Although it may not seem picnic weather, we have ours planned. Soup, pre-buttered up rolls, and another flask of hot tea….ah heaven!! And you know what? If it all goes wrong, there’s a tea room there!

Even if little Daisy will have to sulk outside!

And at very least we can comfort ourselves in the knowledge that the Dog is being as unhealthy as us....

She did get spoiled on Christmas morning...

How cute are these?

They didn't stay around for too long!!