Christmas countdown day 11

This is one of my favourite makes of the advent extravaganza, there is something about the simplicity of the design that strikes a cord with me and I had fun making it

Photo shoot today is BIG, but sorry I have no photos for you as I have a stinker of a cold and the only thing that has been big today is a growing pile of tissues, I could however, do a good impersonation of Rudolph with my bright red shiney nose "sing along now everyone"



Joke for today

"Where do snowmen go to dance?"

"A snow ball!"


Plenty of tea, rest and cold cures  in store for me tonight and fingers crossed I will be in better shape tomorrow.

Christmas countdown day 10

Oooh into double digits today which excites and scares me in equal measures because the big day is getting nearer and my to do list continues to grow!

Right on to the important stuff, today's Advent treat is a little different, it is a felt holly brooch, I made this a couple of years ago, it looks cracking on a Santa hat as well on the lapel of my coat and makes me feel very festive and inspired me to share for a little Christmas music

When I drew up my photo shoot list I clearly had some plans that didn't make it all the way, today's Pom Pom being just the case so Santa hat pom poms above and below a little improvised present adornment is the best I could rustle up.

Little paper cone hat adorned with pom poms and a googly eyed faces attempting to disguise a couple of bottles of cider,well it beats a bottle bag.  You can probably tell I was having a few issues keeping things stuck on with sellotape so I am currently experimenting with blu-tac.

Joke time and it is very appropriate for the weather we have had lately, my heart goes out to the poor folk in Cumbria who's lives and businesses have been devastated by the flooding up there.

"Why does Santa need a big umbrella?"

"Because of all the rain-deer!"

My to do list looks like this and by the end of the weekend I would like to clear at least 3 of them, I am not working Friday but we do have a social commitment all day Sunday so that leaves me two days clear.

• write and send the Christmas cards
• have a good tidy up and a clean through before getting the tree up
• trim front room 
• trim back room
• trim hallway/stairs

Let me know what you though of the music choice and leave a comment to let me know your favourite Christmas song

Christmas countdown day 9

Day 9 in the Advent countdown photo challenge and this post is dedicated to one of the essential food groups for Christmas MINCE PIES!!

This I believe is the best ever mince pie recipe, it's based on this BBC Good Food recipe and the comments from people who have contributed.

Ingredients

225g butter - diced
350g plain flour
100g golden caster sugar
jar of mincemeat - more if you want them well filled
1 egg - beaten
icing sugar to dust - optional


Method

1. Light the oven - 200c or gas mark 6 or fan 180c
2. Rub the butter into the flour then mix in the sugar
3. Add a generous half of the beaten egg (the remainder is for brushing the tops of your pies)
4. Bring it all together into a dough, it will be easy to handle and will stick together without being too stickly,
5. You can use it straight away or chill it if you prefer to use it later, it does freeze well too.
6. You do not need to grease your mince pie tins so you are ready to roll out your pastry, because this has such a high fat content you need to do this between two sheets of cling film.
7. I don't measure the depth of the pastry before I cut it out I just go by feel, and this can be rolled very thin, you will know your own family preference.
8. Cut out the base circles and place in your tins 
9. Add a spoonful of mincemeat (you can be as generous as your mincemeat stocks permit!)
10. Cut out you pastry lids and press gently into place to form a seal.
11. Brush the finished pies with beaten egg
12. Bake for about 15 - 20 minutes 
13. Leave in the tin for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack.
14. Dust with icing sugar before serving (Optional - I don't usually remember)

Notes

This pastry is very forgiving and copes quite well with being re-formed a few times.

Try not to spill any mincemeat on the tray it's a right pain to get off!

The original recipe doesn't use the egg and the pastry is more like a shortbread so behaves quite differently, why not try both versions and see which you prefer

These pies are never going to win any beauty competitions but they are the tastiest, I have tested them on family, friends and work colleagues and everyone loves them.

They are delicious on their own but also work very well with vanilla ice cream

I apologies for any adverse effect this recipe may have on your waistline! and please note that I am not a cookery expert so follow this with caution!!

 

Chocolate free Advent day today, probably just as well when there are mince pies around!!  but not joke free :)

"What do you get when you cross a bell with a skunk?"

"Jingle smells"

Oh what a stinker!!


Let me know how you get on with the mince pie recipe or if you have one that is even better please share.

... Christmas countdown Days 7 and 8

The last of the catch up blogs and it does mean that you get double jokes today get ready for a big groan! Oh and I get double chocolate :)

Just a little over 2 weeks left to the big day and I still haven't even written a Christmas card yet, not a huge task I am glad to say and one I normally like to get done in the first week of December.  I have promised mince pies to two different sets of people for this week so I must get those done either today or tomorrow.

We did have a lovely festive moment on our weekend away, it is something of a ritual when we go to the North Norfolk coast to make a visit to Cromer and more specifically to take a walk on the pier and that includes popping into the cafe/bar at the entrance to the theater at the end of the pier.  It was incredibly windy so a hot chocolate and a warm mince pie was just the thing, Christmas songs were playing and it had been really well decorated a combination that put me right into the Christmas spirit.

Photo shoot piccys are Ribbon for the 7th and Baubles for the 8th

I think this is technically known as an embarrassment of ribbons, firstly because they are in a bit of a state and also because I have so many of them! I like to get as many uses out of them as I can.

Without all my "re-use" ribbons things look a lot neater

Day 7 and 8 with a nice haul of chocolate and the inevitable jokes, brace yourself, I know its been a while but here we go.....



"Why does Santa like to wear bells?"

"Because he love a good bell-y laugh!"



"Knock Knock"

"Who's there?"

"Mary"

"Mary who?"

"Mary Christmas"

... Christmas countdowns Days 4, 5 and 6... some of our days are missing!!

A belated advent days 4, 5 and 6 greetings, we had a lovely weekend away and so I am now on blogging catch up, however, to make matters more difficult for myself I have misplaced the advent packets, I took them away with us, didn't unpack them and now I have unpacked and can't put my hands on them!! So sorry there are no jokes on this post :(   I will do just a couple of photos for each of the photo challenges and then get back on track with day 7


Day 4 photo challenge is small so it was another trip around my house for a small bit of inspiration, only got as far as my sewing zone aka the dining room before I spotted these little beauties
.

A big picture of a little Bonne Maman jar with little white buttons, I am undecided weather to save them for a future project or to make them either into a little garland with some embroidery thread.

A lovely vintage Sylko thread bobbin, the older ones were this smaller size and are rarer and more sought after by collectors.

The last small one is this vintage child's sewing machine which just makes me smile when I see it.


Day 5 ....let there be light!  Christmas wouldn't be Christmas with out a festive display of lights either in the streets of our villages, towns and cities or in the comfort of our own home.

These fireworks were set off at the weekend to mark the beginning of the Christmastide at Wells next the Sea in Norfolk.  They are having a 9 day festival that culminates in Father Christmas arriving by boat and another fireworks display.

My fairy lights don't get packed away on twelfth night, I love to use them all year round for a spot of subtle lighting, I use them draped around the mirror above the mantelpiece or plied into these glass bowls from IKEA.

And of course there has to be a warm candle glow, I have become a big fan of the battery operated "candles" they are safer, cleaner and just as aesthetically pleasing as their naked flamed cousins.  I do still burn the odd candle and have just picked up this little festive treat from Sainsbury's

Day 6 and these are my "green" photos

It had to start with a Christmas tree

We had a lovely walk in Holkham woods on Sunday and I was surprised to see that there were still pinecones on the trees, it was so windy on Saturday I thought they would have all dropped off!

I just love the way nature just creates beautiful pictures.

Right I'm off to try and hunt down the missing advent packets there is chocolate in some of those packets!!!

... Christmas countdown Day 3

Day 3  and today's bag has a lovely new treat of Hershey kisses, these are not readily available in the UK as they are from the US, so I was chuffed to bits when I found them in B and M for only £1.99 for a big bag, I don't think my waist line will be quite so happy!

I did ponder the idea of trying to craft with them as they often appear on my Pinterest feed in many different guises but I already have too many unfinished projects that I need to concentrate on, not to mention a growing to do list!


Photo challenge today is "spots" so I will start with the bag from my Advent calendar, I must have had something in mind when I put this on the list but can't for the life of me remember what! so I have gone for a very brief walk round my house and I didn't have to look too far to find spots!

My Winter Cath Kidston handbag in a lovely cranberry colour with the classic white spot, I have personalised it with a homemade flower brooch.  The brooch is fairly easy to make and I will post a how I did it at some point in the new year.

Puddle tested pink spotted wellies, I think they will be seeing plenty of action this weekend if the weather forecast is correct.

I still have plenty of spotty sweet bags left and you can be sure that you will be seeing more of these before the end of Advent

I couldn't resist having a little bit of fun with these cute little picnic plates, they are so useful for buffet meals as their shape allows them to slip between round plates.  I purchased them from dotcom online gift shop I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this store as it has so many lovely items that are very reasonably priced, however, some of the sizes and the quality can be a little disappointing, they are worth a visit at this time of year as there are loads of little "stocking filler" type pressies that everyone seems to love.

OK I now this is what you really dropped by for its joke time.....


"Who hides in a bakery at Christmas?"

" A mince spy!"



Right I am off to dig out the Christmas cards so that I can cross at least one thing off my list!  How are your preparations going? Have you sent any cards yet?

....Christmas countdown Day 2

Day 2 of the countdown to Christmas and I am pleased to announce the winner of the gift-tag give away is Tracy Worswick.

 Having spent so much time indulging myself making my Advent Calendar I realised that I haven't given much attention to all the other things that I need to get done!


So this week I need to

• Locate the Christmas cards I brought in the sale last year, get them written and in the post.  There is a link here to the Royal Mail so you can check the last day for posting from the UK

• Decide when the tree is going up and what other areas of the house will be getting a bit of Christmas magic. 

• Make some more Das ornaments, there is a lot of clay left and it will dry out if not used and they will look perfect on the twisted branch I brought back from my holiday.

• Work out what days we are at home over the Christmas/New year period, what guests we will be having and do a rough menu plan. My hubby laughs at me because the shops are only closed for 2 days, however, some of the usual items disappear from the shelves to make room for all the Christmas goodies. 

That should keep me more than busy over the next few days.

No Chocolate on today Advent Calendar, but there is on the photo challenge "Hot Chocolate".  It is one of my favourite indulgences and is not just reserved for a frosty night in Winter.  I do sometimes add a few marshmallows but never cream, the more chocolate the better as far as I am concerned!  I had a lovely hot chocolate selection pack from Whittard's last year my favourite was the Rocky Road and it has made it onto my Christmas wish list again.

The deer spoon was a little birthday treat from last year purchased from Dee Puddy.  It is a wonderful piece of nonsense, it has tiny little arms that can be hooked over the top of the mug so that it peeps over the top at you, stupidly the mug I picked for my hot choc photo isn't tall enough for him to do that.




And finally the thing that you have all been waiting for the Christmas joke.....................

"What do snowmen eat for breakfast?"

"Ice Krispies!"

There will be another groaner tomorrow :)

How are your Christmas preparations going? have you got your cards written or are you sending  e-greeting this year?