Christmas Past and lessons learnt

The bauble in the above photo is the very first one Mr C and I bought together! It has survived 3 house moves, 2 children, 7 cats, 2 dogs and is still in one piece!

Christmas memories over the years are so very precious, more so as you get older. Ever since buying that first little bauble, we have made it a tradition to get a new little ornament for the tree each year. After 32 years of marriage, we now have quite a collection! Each one holds its own sweet memory. That very first one was bought in Woolworths (sadly in administration now) back in 1975, we were young, newly engaged and had very little money but we did have our dreams of what we hoped our future would be and that bauble, we knew, would be the first of many that we would buy with our future family.

How much our expectations of Christmas have changed! Our first few Christmas's were very frugal, the first year as new parents, we bought most of our little sons gifts secondhand! I am not sure when things changed but change they did. We soon found ourselves caught up in the panic and madness that overtakes the majority of us at this time of the year. We made the big mistake of taking on store cards in order to buy our children some super presents. Then we had the lean months afterwards when paying the cards off became our reality.

Of course now we know better, or do we? We no longer have young children to buy for but we still want to make our loved ones happy this Christmas. How easy it would be to join the annual panic and buy, buy, buy! All that would achieve would be to put back paying down this years 10% off the mortgage. Luckily I have been collecting presents over the year (from ebay, charity shops, car boot sales, charity catalogues etc) it is not about how much we spend that matters, it is about the thought and time we have taken, that is what really matters. The Christian message is one of love and an unfrazzled Mum who can spend some quality loving time with her family has to be the best gift of all.

Wishing you all a stress free time preparing for your own Christmas celebrations.

We all want some figgy pudding!

I have finally made my Christmas Puddings! I used Delia's recipe as I am told that her recipes rarely go wrong! They haven't met me then! :) I haven't made Christmas puddings for more than 20 years as last time they went very wrong!

Fingers crossed this time. The quantity was for 1 x 2 pint pudding but I made a 1 pint, a 3/4 pint and had enough for a baby one which we will try out tonight!

The twine I used for the handles on the puddings has come from my stash of re-cycled Abel and Cole twine that comes tied around the organic box deliveries! Waste not want not! I might pretty them up with some Christmas fabric!

While rummaging through the kitchen for some greaseproof paper, I found tucked away in a little plastic box, these lovely little vintage Christmas cake decorations which I think I will use on the Christmas log cake this year.



Daughter and I have spent some quiet, down time together, cooking, walking Penny, making popcorn and watching some old Christmas movies, from my charity shop/car boot sale stash of videos, so far we have watched Santa Claus the Movie, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, Love Actually, Its a Wonderful Life (with tissues at the ready) and we still have Miracle on 34th Street and The Snowman to watch! Very theraputic!

Eggless, Fatless Chirstmas Cake!

I was given this recipe by my friends Dad who was diabetic, it is also sugar free but as I add a bit of alcohol mine isn't. It makes a great alternative for the usual richer Christmas cake recipes. It also freezes well.

Here is the recipe:-

6oz Brown flour
3 teaspoons Baking powder
2oz Ground almonds
2 teaspoons Mixed spice
1lb Mixed fruit
4oz Dates
4oz Apricots
Grated rind of an orange or lemon
1/2 pint water (for a Christmas cake, I substitute half the water for Contreau)
2 tablespoons orange juice

Soak the fruit overnight in the liquid. Add the dry ingredients, stirring well, add a little more liquid if needed to give a stiff dropping consistency.

Bake in a lined 2lb loaf tin for approx 1+1/2 hours at 160c, covering with some foil for the last 1/2 hour.

I am going to store mine for a while in greaseproof paper and feed a couple of times with some more contreau. Then I will cover it in marzipan and ice.



Soak the fruit overnight in the liquid



Add the dry ingredients and stir well



Bake in a lined 2lb loaf tin



Leave to cool before wrapping in greaseproof paper, ready to decorate. It looks a bit bumpy but that will soon even out when the marzipan is covering it!

I am trying to do something towards Christmas every day now but have still to make some cards! Most of the presents are bought, thanks mainly to ebay and charity shops/catalogues this year.

Christmas Mincemeat

I finally got around to making my mincemeat! I doubled the recipe and managed to get 7 jars of lovely whisky mincemeat for Christmas. Here is the recipe (which will make about 3-4 jars) if you would like to try it yourself:-

Home made Mincemeat

Ingredients:
4oz currants
4oz raisins
2oz glace cherries
2oz candied peel
4oz cooking apples, peeled and cored
2oz walnuts
4oz shredded suet
8oz demerara sugar
1 level teaspoon mixed spice
Brandy, rum or whisky to mix

Mince or finely chop the fruit, peel, apples and nuts, I used the processor. Add the sugar, suet and spice and enough spirit to give a moist mixture. Stir well, leave covered for 2 days. Stir well again and pot into jars. Allow to mature for at least 2 weeks before using.





I can't wait to make those mincemeat pies now!

Christmas Preparation Update 1

The photo above is of our tree last year, we don't have a theme just a lot of happy memories as each year I would take the children out to choose a tree decoration, (still do this with our daughter). Some of our tree decorations date back to my childhood! I think I will post photos of my favourites with each update. Don't worry all is still in the loft - I just took a lot of photos last year : )

As I mentioned before this year I intend to get organised and keep track of just how much Christmas is going to cost. We normally get through far too much money and like many others cannot afford to do that this year. Also this will give me something to focus on as the news regarding the global financial crisis is very depressing and this seems to be an excellent way of keeping control of part of my life. We are going to try for as traditional a Christmas as possible and just enjoy spending precious time with family and friends. I hope to be able to buy some fresh cranberries Christmas week to make our own sauce but have picked up a jar just in case as our daughter loves this in her sandwiches, so it won't be wasted.


Presents
So far I have finished knitting a scarf for my sister and as it is in lovely lavender and blue colours I have also tucked into it a lavender sachet (she loves lavender). I am finishing off a knitted dishcloth with a cat on (she also loves cats lol) and just need a couple of other little bits to add. So a lavender/cat theme going on there!




I have also started to knit a scarf for my brother in law in a lovely tweedy wool and will add some thermal socks and a wind up torch Mr C managed to pick up from Lidls today. Again a couple more little bits to add.

Present box:-

4 wind up torches from Lidl @ £3.99 - £ 15.96
Lavender sachet £ 1.50
Wool for scarf (lavender/blue) £ 3.00
wool for tweed scarf (charity shop buy) £ 1.00
1 eyemax solar/wind up torch/radio £20.00
-------
£41.46


Food
I have enough in the pantry now to make a start on the mincemeat, home made mincemeat is lovely and much nicer than the overly sweet stuff the shops sell. Hope to get this done over the weekend if I can find the energy. I will add pics and recipe then as well.

Christmas cupboard now has:-

5 bags of Lidls choc coins @ £1 - £5.00
1 tin chestnut puree (for stuffing recipe) £1.75
1 jar cranberry sauce (dd loves this in sandwiches) £0.57
-------
£7.32




I learnt a very important lesson at Christmas many years ago, a friend was struggling financially and had no money to pay for Christmas that year. I had gone round to give her a huge bag of reduced items I had found at the supermarket on Christmas Eve and found that she and her 4 children were very happy and content. She had got the tree and decorations out from the loft the same as always and the children after helping her to decorate were having a lovely time playing with some board games they had found in the loft. Family and friends had made sure there were some presents under the tree and there was a chicken dinner ready to roast and some pound shop crackers on the table. She told me that you can't "cancel" Christmas it happens whether you have the money or not! What matters is quality time with family and remembering the true meaning of the season. I left feeling very humbled but wiser.

2 steps backwards can be a good thing!

Oh dear! Just when I thought I was getting better I developed a sharp pain on coughing and breathing in - Pleurisy! this bug is really not to be messed with. I have anti-biotics, painkillers and have been told to rest up, which is frustrating when I think of all that needs doing in the garden.

In the meantime I am back in bed and thinking! a lot! It has been quite a week with the global financial crisis playing out on our tv screens daily. With all the financial worries we are all facing this winter it makes sense to take some time out and re-evaluate our expenditure, this illness is maybe for me a blessing in disguise.

I have felt for a long time that most of us have forgotten what it is to appreciate what we have, replacing that with a longing for "stuff" we think (so the advertisers tell us) we need. Just before the Pleurisy struck I had been sorting out a couple of kitchen cupboards and have found, cleaned and rearranged some treasures I had forgotten about. A lovely large roasting dish and rack (used only once), a vintage measuring jug, vintage pyrex, a colourful set of mixing bowls - all will be back in regular use as soon as I am back on my feet. I don't need to make an order from Lakeland, tempting though their catalogue is, I have had my "shopping fix" at home.

On sorting out the spare bedroom for our daughter moving back in, I found various balls of knitting yarn and some lovely and colourful remnants, including some Christmas prints so I now have to find some sewing and knitting projects, maybe to try to make some Christmas presents this year.

Christmas itself is not that far away and it wouldn't hurt to start to plan it now, not as a consumer panic buying bash but in an alternative way, home made and traditional, using thought rather than lots of cash. The family prefer home made cookies and cakes and there really is no need for the overfilled cupboards of ready made confectionery, apart of course from our traditional tin of quality street (hopefully bought at half price) which look lovely with cotton loops threaded on and hung on the tree instead of those very over-priced chocolate tree decorations the shops are full of. I will try to do a once a week review of my progress towards Christmas on a budget. One book I have at my bedside to read is "Trade Secrets Christmas" by Annie Ashworth and Meg Saunders ISBN 0 75284 4199 published by Orion in 2001 and full of tips for managing Christmas in a hassle free way. Of course Christmas is so much more than this as any Christian knows and remembering the true meaning and being together as a family will hopefully bring comfort and hope to many. Another great book is "Unplug the Christmas Machine" by Jo Robinson and Jean CoppockStaeheli ISBN 0 688 10961 6 - A complete guide to putting love and joy back into the season.

I make no apology for bringing up the subject of Christmas so early on, as the shops are already filling with all the goodies they want you to buy, the best way to cope and avoid more debt and despair is to plan ahead, read all you can and make all you can.

Right now to find that notepad and make a few more lists! lol!