Ban and Laura’s tree. There’s been dinner and elf racing and all sorts of shenanigans. Mostly caused by this boy…
Hopefully, you’ve had a lovely day too!
Merry Christmas!
Ban and Laura’s tree. There’s been dinner and elf racing and all sorts of shenanigans. Mostly caused by this boy…
Hopefully, you’ve had a lovely day too!
Merry Christmas!
Tradition is important. So Louis Armstrong…
For me, the Christmas story embodies the truth at the heart of my faith. Life can be painful and hard but hope is real..
I find that Christmas intensifies how we feel about how things that happen. Good things seem better, bad things seems worse. So whatever your Christmas contains, I wish you hope of more good things or of better times.
Happy Christmas!
I made 7 of these as presents. The idea is that they kick off an evening.
This is what’s in the bag:
Something to drink
A miniature each of cherry brandy, plum gin, raspberry gin and sugar syrup.
A small bottle of fizz
A small can of tonic
A lemon
A martini glass
A recipe card for three drinks using the above ingredients
Something to eat
A bag of cheese stars
Something to listen to
2014’s Christmas compilation
Yesterday, I messed up my kitchen, again and again. And used up all the plain flour in ght house! This is what I made..
Spinach, feta and smoked paprika muffins.
I had a couple for breakfast and another with a bowl of soup at lunch. They’ll be useful this week.
More cheese stars. Ma won’t forgive me if there are loads for Christmas Eve (and Christmas Day and Boxing Day!) and I’m using them for presents. I haven’t baked all the dough, so I have some dough in the fridge for emergencies
I made 36 this year which should be enough. The pastry is very flakey and delicious, so they don’t look as good as they taste!
These are new this year and from Back to Her Roots 12 Days of Christmas Cookies. Not surprisingly, they work really well being easy to make they just taste amazing. They’re like a lemon flavoured Amaretti Morbidi and seriously, I think I could eat about a million! I made one batch yesterday but I will be making more. 
Christmas Rolls
I made these up. I made up half a batch of cinnamon roll dough and filled it with mincemeat and butter! I’ll ice them with a cream cheese frosting
I love BBC radio and I really love BBC radio at Christmas. Here are the things I’m looking forward to over Christ
Brain of Britain, Brain of Brains – starts 22 December 2014
I love Brain of Britain (and Russell Davies), the more the better.
Good Omens – starts 22 December 2014
If I had one wish, it would be that this was on before 11pm but thank goodness for iPlayer..,,
Cabin Pressure – 23 and 24 December 2014
The last ever Cabin Pressure. Ma and I are arranging Tuesday and Christmas Eve around it. Best comedy, best cast, if you haven’t heard it before. Go and listen.
David Sedaris: The Santaland Dairies – 24 December 2014
Because David Sedaris is funny and David Sedaris talking about being a store Santa has to be ridiculously funny.
A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols – 24 December 2014
The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is broadcast from Kings College, Cambridge on Christmas Eve at 3pm (it’s on BBC2 at 5.25pm although that’s pre-recorded and the radio is live) is when my Christmas actually starts. A tradition since 1918 and broadcast since 1928 and goes around the world. The sounds of Once in Royal David’s City, kicking off the service makes me well up every single year but I wonder if, in this year when we celebrate the centenary of WWI, this service, which began a month after that war ended, it won’t make me cry, if they sing Away in a Manager, I’m gone because that always makes me cry.
Today Guest Editors – starts 26 December 2014
Every year between Christmas and New Year’s, the Today Programme had guest editors, they are a mixed blessing but this year’s line up is John Bercow, Tracey Thorn, Mervyn King, Lenny Henry and Elizabeth Butler-Sloss. So it should be quite an interesting 5 days.
Gardener’s Question Time – 28 December 2014
Although I don’t have a garden, but I’m a big fan of Gardener’s Question Time (and one day, went I finally get the allotment – 4-ish years here I come – it will make lots more sense to me) and this one is from one of my favourite places, Belsay Hall.
15 Minute Musical – 30 December 2014
So funny, so good!
Christmas with Damien Trench – 31 December 2014
I love Damien Trench, ironically this week Nigel Slater (I love Nigel Slater but he is a lovey and Damien Trench is a complete piss take of Nigel!) is doing the Woman’s Hour Drama! Today Damien’s tips for NYE!
War and Peace – 1 January 2015
10 hours of War and Peace, making me really ashamed that I still haven’t read the damn book yet!
All of my energy last week seemed to go on work. I don’t think it actually did but it’s been so dark as we head towards the shortest day, I felt like all I did was get up, go to work and then come home and sleep. Oh and whinge. I was epically whiny, to the point that by Thursday, I was tired of myself and you know how it goes, when you are tired and just done with the right now and ready to be somewhere else and people just won’t co-operate. That was me for most of the week, I was running towards a finish line and people were preventing me from that line by being bloody stupid.
Where they actually being stupid? No. Mostly they were so busy concentrating on their finishing lines, they couldn’t see mine. Having said that we have deadlines for a reason and if you can’t meet them you need to communicate that BEFORE the deadline, not afterwards!
However, by Friday, I was fed up of leaving the house at 7.30am in the dark and dealing with crisis’ caused by other people not doing what I’d asked them to do and ready for the department Christmas lunch. Organised by me and a major cause of my irritation this week.
My work week, ended with that lunch and so after that and several whiskeys in the pub. it was time to go home and do other things.
Having said that, on Saturday I did nothing. Well nothing is a strong word, I read 2 books, made lunch, slept loads, missed the Grace Christmas party and was generally a hermit. At some point I might need to address my hermit tendencies (and Ma and I did have a small talk about them on Sunday) but for the moment, I’m ok with them.
Saturday’s inactivity meant that I was up at 8am to start doing things. Washing and tidying and making pastry and more cheese stars and generally I started to bring order to the chaos of my life. Christelle was going to come to lunch but was so ill on Sunday morning she decided not to. I had spoken to her on Thursday and given how ill she sounded decided that she probably wouldn’t be able to come over but she was hopeful that she would be better by then however, if anything she was worse on Sunday! So we’ll catch up in between Christmas and New Year, when she’s home from France. One of the things I had planned to do was take the washed towels and sheets to the launderette to dry in the dryers there rather than have them hanging about drying on racks in the flat. I did go to the launderette only to find that of 5 dryers only 2 were working. Grrrr….
This weekend my need to live in sheltered housing grew. Grandad lived in sheltered housing and Ma does now and both of those flats were/are so warm. Ma’s washing dries overnight…I’m the very definition of envious, because aside from the washing issue, her flat has the best cupboards!
I didn’t mean to but I bought a Christmas tree on Sunday, I asked the Christmas tree man if he’d be around on Tuesday and he said no but offered to deliver the one I was thinking about buying, on Sunday night, (and refused to take the cash until he’d come with the tree!). So I rearranged the living room to accommodate the tree, although it will remain undecorated until Christmas Eve,
This week is Christmas week and I won’t be at work, at all. So I’ll be making mince pies, more cheese stars, and maybe some Christmas Pudding Truffles and generally getting in the Christmas spirit!
Someone at the work Christmas lunch on Friday was telling me how much he liked Christmas music, he is young and inexperienced and doesn’t know about Chas and Dave’s Christmas album. Amateur…
Last weekend before Christmas and the to-do list. Help!
Actually, don’t know why I’m worried, it’s going to be easy!
Raspberry Gin Fizz
This is another use for the raspberry gin that I made and a variation on my favourite Summer in a Glass.
What
1oz raspberry gin
1/2oz sugar syrup
1/2oz lemon juice
Prosecco
How
1. Put the gin, sugar syrup and lemon juice in a flute and stir gently
2. Top up with fizz
Happy Friday!
I am so over this week and ready to start my Christmas break so this is the last Friday Links post for year.
1. That’s another huge piece of the London I grew up in gone to property developers.
2. How about we agree on taking Christ out of Christmas. Worth thinking about.
3. It’s right to ban the train fare-dodger from the finance industry for life
4. Mother calls C-SPAN to yell at arguing sons. This is just awesome.
5. Last week, I was lamenting the US fascination for the Royal Family, and Ma replied that Americans love a dynasty. Here is Hadley Freeman making the same point. Although she’s wrong about the Stuarts 1707 to 1714? James I came to the English throne in 1603 and Queen Anne died in 1714 and The Stuarts/Stewarts were in Scotland from 1371. Ok, there was a gap for the Interregnum and Civil War but the point remains.
6. Passions run high at parish council meeting about allotments. Oh England…
7. Tom Hiddleston singing ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’ and a puppy. You’re welcome.