Homemade sweets

We always make homemade sweets just before Christmas. We were a little short for time this year so ended up making peppermint creams, fudge and chocolate truffles. The girls made them and they are very yummy- I am finding it very hard not to eat one every time I pass the dish! Friends gave us a bonbon dish for a present this year. I think we will fill the dish tomorrow.

Weighing the ham!

I bought the ham without a) thinking how I was going to cook it
b) without asking what the weight was!
It was too heavy for my electric and also for my old fashioned scales! So we had to resort to the bathroom scales!!It was also to large to cook in my pan. As it was a smoked ham I decided to use my jam pan and to bring it up to the boil and turned it over and brought it back up o the boil again. We then oven cooked it in the style of delia. It turned out really well and was very tasty. We have plenty for he rest of the week!

Christmas gift bags

These were the bags I made for the homemade gifts. After a number of different options ,these seemed to be the best in terms of time and design- I think I will make these again!

We got there!

So Christmas arrived at last. How did it go for you? My parents arrived on Christmas eve in the afternoon when most of the preparations wre finished. The neighbours loved their gifts. We gave some of the jam and chutneys with a vintage saucer filled eith our homemade sweets. We usually give homemade gifts of one type or another. One year we planted crocus bulbs in teacups! One of the neighbours rang to say how lovely the present was and how much they look forward to their gifts each year.It was so lovely to receive the call as you never know whether the homemade gifts are wanted or indeed appreciated.
Christmas day went well, now the children are almost grownup it was a late start-a far cry from a few years ago when a three o'clock start was the norm! The day was organised with lunch on time which my parents greatly appreciated and then a walk into the local countryside to blow away the cobwebs. I dearly wanted to watch Downton Abbey but that's not to everyone else's taste so I will have to catch up on that as soon as possible.
More family arrived on Boxing day and we had atypical boxing day supper of cold turkey, roast ham, cheeses, coleslaw and new potatoes.
All guests disappeared at different times today and so this afternoon was spent recovering in front of the tv watching films and some comedy. Bliss..........

Gingerbread house! One day to go!

Only one day to go! We have had a very busy day starting with other half collecting the turkey at 7 am this morning. The girls have been brilliant finally getting her Christmas pudding made (I know I just didn't get it done for various reasons. Then the Christmas cake was made and iced tonight by younger daughter. The lovely gingerbread was assembled by my eldest daughter having made the components yesterday. Chocolate truffles were made and the sweet presents assembled. The ham was cooked 14lbs in old money so a bit of a beast! I think we are there now . I will post done other photos over the next few days. In the meantime have a lovely Christmas. See you soon .....

Christmas cat and two days to go!

On a lighter note this picture of our cat always make me smile !

Mabel

Sadly Mabel passed away last night. She was a favourite. She was the chicken that wanted to live indoors with us and watch tv in the evening! We will miss her greatly. We took her out of the run yesterday when she was poorly and after that the other two kept looking for her. She passed away peacefully .