This weekend we've had an early family Christmas. And right from the off it was more like Christmas, than I thought it might be. On Friday I realised that Friday was my Christmas Eve Eve, if that's such a thing, and I needed to finish my shopping. So off I went, returning relatively quickly with a present against all the names on my list.
The plan was to have Christmas lunch on Sunday with my family, but in another parallel to Christmas a few weeks later, we also met up with MOH's family the day before. And of course I left it until the last minute to wrap those presents I'd bought too, but some pretty paper and some festive washi tape came to the rescue there.
Food-wise we were much more organised. We were in charge of pudding, and on our menu was MOH's speciality lighter Christmas pudding and a baked lemon cheesecake for the non-dried-fruit-eating-contingent. And for those that like two puddings. In fact making puddings are MOH's thing, so he made the lemon cheesecake too.
And while he did I set about collecting a few parcels from both the local sorting office and a bit further afield in Walthamstow - more on that to come soon. It was Small Business Saturday and my plan to do both chores in the same hit was scuppered by traffic, as the King's Troop were parading through the village. I missed them as I'd aborted my attempt in the car and headed back to the post office on foot. It was a lovely day, and I was glad of the walk, especially when met with a view like this.
It's made from heavy gauge carbon steel and has a patented silicone seal base. My other quick release tin has a spring catch, which if I'm honest I'm never sure if it's done up or not, which probably doesn't help the leakage. But no more. This has a silicon seal - the red bit - on the base and it seems to work.
It did need a bit of an extra push to get the cheesecake out, but then again it was completely cold as we left it in the tin to travel. It seemed the safest place for it to be. And it arrived in one piece, although I added the sour cream and lemon curd topping at the table. I also left it on the base, which I probably wouldn't have done at home, but plates were at a premium with eight of us for dinner.
And it seemed to work. No baking tray underneath it and no mess in the oven. MOH is a perfectionist baker and didn't approve of the plain chocolate digestives I bought for the base. I rather liked them though. And the cheesecake was good.
And after dinner of turkey, ham and all the trimmings - including rationed pigs in blankets - and then christmas pudding and/or baked lemon cheesecake, we did the other Christmas thing, and opened our presents. And like many families, that brought the usual chaos and mess.
So quite a weekend, and for us Christmas really has come early this year. And it'll be coming again at the more usual time of year! It was great to spend time together and the Family Fortunes board game was great fun too, although Vernon Kay has nothing to be afraid of. How do you celebrate Christmas with your family?
* With thanks to PushPan who sent me their new tin to try, as usual all views are my own. That mess above though, I had very little to do with that.
Getting to grips with Christmas
I don't know about you but since the weather has turned that bit colder and now that the calendar has moved into December, but I feel ready to get to grips with Christmas. As ever I've grand plans, which I'll no doubt review as it looms towards us.
Today I'm joining up with some lovely bloggers as we share our tips, and favourite crafts so we can all get to grips with Christmas. Or at least try...
I'm sharing some Christmas crafts as I always have craft aspirations at this time of year. You'll find much more inspiration and Christmassy-ness at the bottom of this post, below my pictures.
1. How to bleach pine cones
This is an easy craft to do, but you need some patience, and time. Last year I started this on December 18 and that was way too late as the pine cones needed longer than I anticipated to dry out. You might be wondering why you should bleach pine cones, but let me tell you they'll look as if they have a frosting of snow on them, and in which case, why wouldn't you?
You'll probably know this, but it's worth mentioning, when pine cones are wet they close up so it isn't immediately apparent if they've lightened. To dry the pine cones I placed them on lots of newspaper, but the process was speeded up by placing them on a shelf above a radiator. The results were some pretty and lighter pine cones.
My tips are:
- Start earlier than you think you'll need to
- Choose the more open sort of pine cones as these will give you the best results (see the bottom right picture below)
2. How to make a homemade Christmas wreath
Making wreaths aren't as hard as you'd think. Florists sell the wire rings to use as the base, and for securing greenery too, but you can also make your own by shaping a wire coat hanger. I discovered that the key to making a wreath is to make up bunches of greenery and to attach those to the wire ring starting on the sides. Once you've mastered attaching the bunches of greenery you're ready to tackle how to approach the top and bottom sections. And remember it's your design so you can make it up as you go along, no one will know.
It's rewarding to see it take shape, especially for someone who was a complete novice tackling the wreath in the photos, and to be honest I still am. Once the base evergreens are covering the ring, you can start to decorate. I found ivy hard to use so discarded that idea and instead used holly, bay leaves and rosemary, all of which I have growing plentiful in the garden.
With all the greenery in place, I added small silver baubles - which I bought already wired - by poking them through the evergreens and securing them on the reverse. And I'm still rather pleased with how it turned out.
3. Inspiration for some gorgeous gift tags
This is another craft that looks more complicated than it really is, and that's perfectly fine with me! Here I've folded squares of material to create some Kanzashi flowers which I've used to embellish plain cardboard gift tags, you know that craft stores sell in packets of 100s. Each two inch square you cut, is folded to make a single petal, which are then joined together.
My previous post on this gives a step-by-step guide on the folding needed and how to assemble the flowers. How you embellish them is entirely up to you, but as you can see with trimmings and buttons they can become something very special. And not something to be thrown out with the rubbish, or at least I hope not anyway!
But that's not all, here's more Christmassy ideas and tips
Catherine at Growing Family is sharing her tips for bringing the outside indoors this Christmas. Find out how to make easy pine cone tree decorations, how to use Spring flowering bulbs to create lovely homemade gifts, and how to choose the perfect real Christmas tree.
After inviting family for Christmas Lunch, Morgan at Morgan's Milieu shares her tips and advice for planning Christmas Lunch for a large number of guests.
Jingle Bells, Christmas smells - it really does. Nicky at Not Just The 3 of Us is talking about the memories and smells that Christmas decorations evoke.
Jane at Maflingo has great ideas for festive treats to make with the kids this Christmas. Find out how to make Santa Fruit Skewers and Festive Chocolate Pretzels.
Jocelyn at The Reading Residence is sharing some fun and easy Christmas crafts for children. Find out how to create a Christmas centrepiece, a festive arty keepsake and make kids placemats.
Kirsty from Hijacked By Twins is planning every meal including how to use up those precious leftovers. Find out how to make a delicious toppings for the perfect leftover Christmas dinner soup. This recipe will make you want to cook extra just for the leftovers.
Caro from The Twinkle Diaries shares a simple idea for creating edible Christmas tree decorations.
If you're anywhere near the UK capital this Winter, Nell from the Pigeon Pair and Me tells you how to enjoy the festive fun of London - for free. She also gives her top picks of Winter family shows, and explains why Christmas with kids is a magical time of the year.
Have we inspired your Christmas preparations? Let me know what you get up to!
Dahlias, roses and fuchsias in Dad's autumn garden
At the end of last month we headed up to Norfolk and one of the things that struck me was how colourful Dad's garden was still. The dahlias, roses and fuchsias were putting on quite a show. They were the attention grabbers, but looking around more closely at the garden, there was more to it than these.
These fuchsias always remind me of dancers, not quite a ballerina but more a glitterless Strictly kind of ballgown, and it's easy to see why I needed to hold it up to get this shot. The leaves are starting to tarnish, but that just makes it more appealing. Like a dancer that's had a good time, or one that had done the rowing boat song. Yes, that's never a good idea is it?
In the greenhouse the Aloes were huge. Just look at them. I am the mum of these, all of them. Well apart from the babies at the front, Dad can be the mum of them as they arrived on his watch. But they're huge, clearly the Norfolk weather and the greenhouse work for them, I hope they've managed to survive the colder weather since then ok.
Also in the greenhouse the purple oxalis was creeping out from under the staging. I regularly take cuttings for my greenhouse and it never does as well as this. I've a sneaky suspicion I'll be taking another cutting quite soon. And helping myself to some of the many burgundy heuchera's that have been potted on to see how they do.
The leeks were also thickening and no doubt there'll be a good crop. The beetroot Dad pulled up for me, I politely declined. The side you can see looks perfect, but underneath someone - or rather something - had got there first and it went straight onto the compost heap.
The mushrooms in the grass appeared overnight, and who knows what they might be. Knowing your mushrooms is a great skill to have, but not really something to take a chance on either. I think I'll stick to admiring the flowers. The nerines were still out and looking more swirly and curly than I remember.
And oops, this fuchsia came off in my hand. Thankfully there were plenty more, so I think I got away with it...
And just when you think the colour is done, you pop to the car and are reminded there's many more roses and dahlias in the front garden too.
We're in Norfolk soon for a couple of days and it'll be interesting to see how much difference a month makes. I'm hoping that some of the colour remains, but who knows. It's been feeling more wintery here and I know if I were a plant I'd be considering shutting down too. Heck, some days I feel like that as a human too!
Have a beautifully colourful day.