Monday, December 19, 2016

If we haven't got it we will go without.

Another wonderful sunset.
The cake is  marzipaned, but still  needs some decoration,
Last batch of mince pies made.
three dozen mince pies have been made and frozen, we always make Fleur pastry for our mince pies, it takes longer to make than shortcrust pastry but is worth the effort for mince pies. Starter for Christmas day is just smoked salmon with tiger prawns so no preparation needed for that, St. Stevens day will be home made duck liver pate, still to be made, apart from that everything is organised.
First form the round out of willow wands.
Two hours later, one wreath, cost, less than two euros.
I've made the wreath for the door, just some greenery for the candelabra and the fireplace and that will be the decorations done. As I'm more or less up to date with the festive preparations I can start sewing another cushion cover.
First cushion cover done as a tapestry.
Second cushion cover done in bargella stitch.
We have also made twelve pots of lime and lemon marmalade,
A real treat, lime marmalade.
The limes were on offer as were the organic lemons, total cost for twelve pots, six euros and thirteen cents, I have no idea how much a pot of lime marmalade is nowadays or indeed if you can even buy it here, but I know it would be a lot more than fifty one cents a pot.
We have plenty of real ale in the house, we would both rather drink that nowadays, we can get British beer cheaper than Irish ale which is a shame as there are now some excellent Irish craft beers on the market including one brewed just a couple of miles away from us. Doing a check on our drinks cupboard, (sounds like we drink a lot, we don't) we find we have plenty of red wine and even a bottle of Cava, there's even a couple of bottles of white wine which is a real mystery to us as we are red wine drinkers and five bottles of home made pea pod wine, now three years old, why did we make that I ask myself. Christmas wont cost us very much at all. The one thing that I might have gone a bit mad on is the cheese, we both love cheese and find it hard to resist especially if it's one we have not come across before, fortunately our friends who are coming also like good cheese so it wont go to waste. I wonder what other people go over the top with.
Freddy loves a box.

 
Decembers sunsets

12 comments:

  1. Your Christmas sounds good to me quite simple and not over the top just like mine.

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    1. Apart from the cheese I think everything is either home made or home produced, definitely keeping it simple.

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  2. Lovely wreath! Freddy looks handsome. Breo likes boxes too, but he shreads them all over the kitchen. Happy holidays!

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    1. Thanks Cole, I think using willow as the former makes it easier. Our cats don't destroy boxes by shredding them just through over use especially when you have six cats trying to pile into one small box.

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  3. Awww, Freddy's such a cutie sitting in his box. It sounds like you're all ready for the big day, won't be long now.

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    1. Freddie is an absolute darling boy, he loves cuddles and baking bread! I thought we were ready for the big day but now find we have a list of jobs that need doing, cleaning windows, recovering a couple of chairs and of course getting the greenery in and the house decorated. Never mind, there's two chances, it gets done or remains as it is.

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  4. Beautiful wreath! I made them with my nephews when I was back home! And my niece made hers with her guides. I was excited before but even more after reading this blog post...and you can never have too much cheese! xx

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    1. Thanks Lauren, I like making the Christmas wreath. I'm so glad you think you can never have enough cheese, there's lots of it for you to eat!

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  5. Beautiful wreath! Those sunsets have been quite something, too, haven't they? You guys have a brilliant Christmas and we'll no doubt catch up with you again in 2017.

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    1. Thanks Matt, yes the sunsets have been something else, we always seem to have wonderful sunsets in the winter.
      Have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year.

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  6. And to you B.G I hope you had a good one.

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