19th December

In the advent calender today;-

The message;-

It was a very vague clue,  so it was fun watching the 2 girls run round the house trying to track down the little gift!  (They were by the front door hiding behind the curtain!)

Gifts for my work colleagues have been packaged up today ready for transporting into the office in the morning - that will be challenging,  it's a 15 minute walk up a steep hill,  so I will be trudging along with handbag, laptop bag and some other bag with all of these goodies in!  Keep your fingers crossed that it is not raining.

And finally - with just 6 days to go My Girl and the Portuguese Housekeeper have been scouring the shops trying to find fun novelty Christmas tops/jumpers to wear - I have no idea why,  just something they decided they wanted!   Believe it or not, these type of things are in very short supply this year and none at a reasonable price could be found.   They did get a resounding NO from me when they asked if I could knit them one (That is 2 jumpers 7 days before Christmas, and working full time - superwoman I am not!)

The ever trusty Google came to the rescue with some templates for a Rudolph and Snowman found, printed and cut out.  A rummage through wardrobes for some old tops to customise - then a swift visit to the Haberdashers for some supplies.   A couple of hours spent, cutting, ironing, sewing and positioning and they are delighted with their tops!  To be honest I loved doing these and am really pleased with the result.  The only downside - both my little nephews were here at the time, helping with pinning, cutting and sticking and now I have 2 more orders for their Christmas tops!

Gifting

The Christmas gifts are starting to be distributed to their recipients.   This week My dear father-in-law received his. 

This one has taken a while to put together and Mr Milly and I were very happy with the result and Dear Father-in-law seemed to be too!  This one was filled with all sorts of home made goodies including crochet dish cloths, chilli jam, jam, mustard, chutney  and soap. 

The creative streak seems to be rubbing off on the rest of the family,  Mr Milly has made some homebrew - with My Girl helping with the wrapping.  It seems a complicated business this homebrew, Mr Milly checks the temperature almost daily with the barrel of brew being wrapped in an old quilt and lovingly check daily to ensure all is ok.  Then washing and sterilising the bottles, adding sugar, re-checking all the levels again and then finally bottled and capped.  Mr Milly has enjoyed doing this though and I expect lots more homebrew will follow!

And continuing the Christmas spirit, I had another play with the Christmas decorations,  I liked the heart garland so much I decided to make another one.  I really like these and will be sorry to take them down after Christmas.  Although My Girl now has her eye on them and I expect they will find a new home when she returns to work!

Finally these pictures - just because!   Star wanted to surf the internet with My Girl!!  LOL :)

10 days to go

Christmas is coming up fast now, and although I feel I have been making and doing things in preparation for months, I still was not quite prepared for Christmas to arrive so early!

We have debated about Christmas trees and decorations for a while - should we/shouldn't we put any up this year.  Finally I relented and decided we really must make the effort.    The fat quarters I have had for months have now been made into the Christmas bunting and inspired by Kirsty's Homemade Christmas today Mr Milly and I jointly made a little heart garland.

A little tree has been purchased  a bargain basement price and decorated with some little coloured ball lights  - it actually is quite pretty and perfect for us this year.   Mr Milly is already bored with me saying "I am really pleased with the tree" - he must have heard it at least twice an hour for the whole day today!.

The pictures are not great - I think the bits and pieces are much prettier in the flesh.

8th December

The Advent Calender today;

A snowman came a calling;-

A frantic rush to the fridge;

Snowman soup was found!

I wonder who will visit next???

6th December

The Advent calender was fun today - and yes it is just after midnight,  but this seems to be a favorite time for 2 grown up little girls to open the pockets.

 In the number six pocket was a little message;

A frantic little treasure hunt followed to find what the fairy had left for them.   It didn't take very long and what had the fairy left?

Magic Fairy Wishes!   They loved them and I must confess they were great fun and very easy to put together.    And just like 2 little girls there were cries of "that was fun - can we do it again?"  (Remember they are 19 and 22 years old!!)

Well they will just have to wait and see what other surprises the Advent Calender holds!

Cherry and Walnut Cake

Following my post yesterday I have had a couple of requests for the recipe for the Cherry and Walnut Cake.
Here it is;-

Cherry and Walnut Cake

225g Walnut Pieces
225g Glace Cherries
340g Self Raising Flour
280g Caster Sugar
6 eggs
280g Butter

• Prepare cake tins.   This recipe will make 2  2lb loaf tins or one 20cm round tin.
• Wash the cherries in hot water and dry.   Ensure all the stickiness is removed to stop the cherries sinking.   You may need to wash them twice.
• Chop cherries and walnuts.  (Not too small - a gentle chop)
• Cream butter and sugar, add the eggs one at a time.
• Fold in the flour
• Fold in Chopped walnuts,  sprinkle the cherries with a little flour to lightly coat them and fold into the cake mix..
• Cook for 1.5 hours.  It's done when a knife inserted comes out clean.  If not quite done or becoming over brown, cover with brown paper until cooked.
• Cook on  Gas Mark 3 or 170 centigrade



The cake on the right was cooked in a silicone loaf tin.
 The shape is a little odd and I won't be using this one again.

Not recommended for this cake!



December

The biggest problem with this time of year is what to blog!   I am busy, busy getting all the homemade Christmas pressies finished.  BUT I can't post any pictures - it would spoil the surprise for my family who follow the blog!   I will store the pictures up and post them after the big day!

I have been experimenting with a few new recipes and trying some hand me down recipes.  This week it was Cherry and Walnut cake - this is a family Christmas tradition to have this cake always having been made by my Mum and her Mum before that.  This year it is for me to make the cakes,  a trial run this week and they turned out OK!  My boy visited today and he loves this cake - the verdict I got the thumbs up and yes it is just like my Mum made.  I am really pleased as I was worried I wouldn't get it right and this tradition of ours would be lost.

Tonight the dog has been naughty and sneaked up on the sofa with the 2 girls - I think only a little encouragement was needed!   She really doesn't look comfortable