A little early for me

Today I’ve actually put up a few decorations.  Normally I leave it until after the fourth Sunday in Advent but my nephew and his wife will be coming from Belgium tomorrow and will include me on their very busy itinerary.

Unlike many bloggers I have no wonderful decorations made by children or grandchildren but over the years I have made quite a few myself so here are a few of my creations.  Most are polystyrene balls covered with fabric.  I have lots of homemade jobbies but I don’t put them all out every year.

I’ve also got quite a few nativity sets and again they don’t all come out every year.  Here is a matryoshka doll also known as Russian nesting doll or babushka doll.  The biggest or outside doll is all three kings in one doll, and then there are Joseph, Mary, an angel, a donkey and the Christ Child.

 

This is a Celtic style stone nativity set, reminiscent of the Lewis chess set.

If you read my other blog you will know that each Monday I have been writing about my Advent calendar.  This will stay up until Christmas Eve when it will be replaced by a larger set which I’m not going to show you just yet but this figure of a pregnant woman is in the same range and reminds me that no matter how many decorations go up, it is still Advent.  

  

Getting crafty

One of the great things about the lead-up to Christmas as far as I am concerned, is the number of opportunities there are to have a day making things.  Today I went to The Ropewalk at Barton upon Humber to Unique Couture Tuition.  (You can find them at www.uctuition.co.uk.) 

Normally I go there for dressmaking tuition but each year, just before Christmas there is a fun day.  Today about half a dozen ladies gathered to make things as decorations or gifts.

The lady next to me made this lovely bag for her younger daughter to carry her stuff in and her plan was to send it to Santa for delivery.  However, before she’d even finished making it she got a message from Lapland to say that a bag would also be needed for her elder daughter.

I decided that as a tribute to Santa’s transport system I would start making some bunting.  It won’t get finished until next year but as a taster here’s one of the pennants.

Time gentlemen please.

What is it about those Romans?  They can organise an Empire but can they organise a census?  Whose bright idea was it to say that everyone had to go to their own city?  Bethlehem is heaving with those who claim to be descended from King David.  Ye gods, the man had eight wives and heaven-knows-how-many concubines resulting in at least nineteen sons.  And that was a thousand years ago so there’s plenty of descendants.

And when I say heaving, I mean heaving.   There have been people arriving for days.  I keep the pub here and my rooms here are more than full and everyone’s had to double or treble up.  The little ’uns  have had to come in with me and Hagar, my old woman.  I sent the kids out to everyone I could think of trying to find extra rooms for the travellers.  Everyone’s been trying to help but it’s impossible. 

And then really late a couple came, “Have you got a room we could have?”  I just laughed in his face but Hagar came out while they were there and she took one look at the woman, well more of a girl really, and she dragged me on one side and she started on at me.  “What did I think I was doing?  Couldn’t I see that the lass was obviously near her time?” 

Of course I could see she was near her time but what could I do about it?  Every room is full, and really the girl could do with a bit of privacy.  Her old man doesn’t look too much use but if it’s his first he has my sympathy.  It’s only a couple of months since Hagar had Joel, our eighth and I know things get a bit tense.

Anyway, Hagar had a bright idea.  There’s a cave near the field where we keep our stock.  It’s not brilliant but it’s better than a bivouac.  Hagar got the kids to find some straw bales and they made a makeshift shelter just the other side of the manger.

And I’ve kept the bar running.  It was very busy as all the travellers came for a pint and a yarn.

My mind kept running to that cave though and that young lass.  What a way to have a baby!  Different from our Joel.  Our Joel will be all right.  He just needs to stay out of the way of the Romans and that puppet Herod. 

That lass will have her baby tonight, no doubt about that.  It’s definitely her time. 

When will it be our time?  When will we get a king as great as David?  One day he will come.  We’ve been promised. 

When will it truly be time, gentlemen, please?

Santa's sack

I've got very little close family, just a nephew living in Belgium and a very elderly aunt living here in Caistor.  However, I am well blessed with cousins and I am blessed with kind, generous wonderful cousins.

I made this sack today for one of my cousins and his wife, children and grandchildren.  During the past year I have been making and buying all sorts of little bits and pieces, many of which I have wrapped already.  This sack is for everybody to open, not on Christmas Day, but on a day when the whole family is present and it can be shared.

The green corduroy and the gingham fabric are from my stash and the trim is the border from a cheap throw which I bought to use as a thin wadding when quilting.  I'm hoping that when it is full it will look very exciting!

Getting a little more creative

I'm sorry I haven't published a Pause in Advent yet.  I may have to miss this week as the piece I wrote wasn't really satisfactory and it may be better to hang on until next Sunday.

Anyway, 'tis the season to be crafting and today I've been on a Christmas creativity work shop.  First we made a couple of cards

Then we made a pomander.  I enjoyed doing this as I'd wanted to make one since I saw them on Blue Peter at least fifty years ago!

We made a pretty (fabric) gift bag and I'm now wondering just how to fill it.

And we also made some fairy lights which I didn't get finished and I'm not going to let you see them until I do!

I've had a lovely day and I'm going to have a lovely early night.

Practising

I don’t usually bother with making a Christmas cake.  I prefer mince pies and it always seems to me that wherever I go in December or January somebody is desperate to get rid of slices of Christmas cake.

However, I have promised that next year I will provide a cake for someone’s Very Special Birthday.  A ten inch square cake will be needed (plus an incredible number of cup-cakes) and I decided that I needed to make a practice cake.  I will then cut it into quarters using one piece as my Christmas cake.  The other pieces have their destinations which will become apparent to the recipients at Christmas. 

Yesterday (and the day before) I made this.

2 lb currants 

12 oz  sultanas

12 oz  raisins

8 oz  glacé cherries, rinsed and finely chopped

8 oz mixed peel, finely chopped

6 tablespoons brandy

1 lb plain flour

½ level teaspoon salt

½ level teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 level teaspoon mixed spice

4 oz  chopped almonds

1 lb soft brown sugar

1 ½  tablespoons black treacle

1 lb unsalted butter

8 eggs

grated rind of 2 large lemons

grated rind of 2 large oranges

Day 1

Put all the dried fruits and peel in a bowl and mix in the brandy. Cover the bowl with a cloth and leave overnight. 

Day 2

Mix and sieve the flour, salt and spices into a large mixing bowl. 

Cream the butter and sugar in a separate bowl until light and fluffy

In yet another bowl beat the eggs then slowly add them to the butter and sugar mixture.  It might also be a good idea to add the occasional tablespoon of the flour mixture to stop everything curdling.

When all the egg has been added, fold in the flour and spices.  Then add the fruit and other goodies that have been soaking plus the nuts treacle and orange and lemon peel.

Spoon the mixture into a cake tin which has been greased and lined with greaseproof paper and level it.

Tie a double layer of brown paper around the sides of the tin and put a double layer of greaseproof paper (with a small hole in the middle) over the top of the cake.

Bake it for about five hours at 140C, 275F, Gas 1 for about five hours.  Test with a skewer in the usual way.

When it is cold wrap it in double greaseproof paper and store in an airtight tin.

Fruit cakes like a drink a few times before they are eaten.  Mine will have a few teaspoons of brandy each week for three weeks.  I will make holes with a fine skewer in the top of the cake to help things along.

And the bonus - the house smells wonderful!

Very Merry Berry Pudding

For years I used my great granny’s/granny’s/mother’s recipe for Christmas pud and very nice it was too but a couple of years ago I tried something different.  Very Merry Berry Pudding.  It looks like a Christmas pud, it smells like a Christmas pud but the fruits include blueberries, strawberries, sour cherries rather than currants and raisins.  It can also be cooked a little nearer Christmas (like today).  I used to keep trad Christmas puds for up to a year but I’ve never got around to trying that with this recipe so if you do resist it until December 2015 – you’re on your own!

Very Merry Berry Pudding

100g (3½oz) sultanas

50g (2oz) each dried sour cherries, dried strawberries, dried cranberries and dried blueberries

50g (2oz) each ready-to-eat dried prunes, apricots and figs, roughly chopped

2tbsp fruity liqueur

100ml (3½fl oz) sherry

Zest and juice of 1 lemon  

Butter for greasing

75g (3oz) shredded suet

50g (2oz) self-raising flour

125g (4oz) fresh breadcrumbs

½tsp each mixed spice and ground ginger

1tsp ground cinnamon

Pinch each of salt and freshly

grated nutmeg

75g (3oz) soft dark brown sugar

2tbsp black treacle

1 Cox's apple, grated

2 medium eggs, beaten

50g (2oz) pecans, chopped (optional)

1 Put the dried fruit, fruit liqueur, sherry, lemon zest and juice into a non-metallic mixing bowl. Cover and leave to soak overnight.

2 The next day, put the soaked fruit into a large mixing bowl and add the remaining ingredients. Mix together until well combined. Spoon the mixture into a 1 lightly greased litre pudding bowl (I use the modern plastic ones with a lid), pushing it down firmly, and level the surface.

3 I cook my pud in the slow cooker.  I start with boiling water from the kettle to half way up the pud and I cook for six to eight hours on high topping up the water if needed.  I also use my slow cooker to reheat it

Starting the month feeling smug

I’m feeling a bit smug.  Sorry about that, but I’ve just come back from posting my UK Christmas cards.  The overseas ones went last week and I have some which will be delivered by hand.

I love making Christmas cards but my style has had to change considerably over the past few years since pricing in proportion came in for the Royal Mail.  No more layered cards as that makes for very expensive postage.  My cards now are much simpler.

 

I also received my first card today.  So somebody must be feeling even smugger than me!

(All the pictures are of my home made efforts.)