Friday 23 December 2011

1 day til Christmas

Christmas Eve!!...
Here was the table for a lovely lunch with soup, salad, cheeses and some seasonal fare. Yes, that is a full wine glass you spotted. Having spent three years either pregnant or breastfeeding, we decided to enjoy my first Christmas of neither!
And here was the turkey in its aromatic bath (Nigella's Spiced & Superjuicy Turkey), where it wallowed for 24hours (and yes, it was worth it). And the last of the Christmas sewing ready for gifting away.

And here is the Christmas window at the front of our house: birds, pears, and homemade decorations in a nudge towards 'My True Love Gave to Me'. It went up a week ago but I did say I'd show it to you.

And of course there was more Christmas baking from Nigella's bible... here are the lovely geometric lines of her cranberry, pecan and white chocolate cookies that were baked on Christmas eve, a few gifted later that day, and the rest kept for Boxing Day pudding. Oh. My. Goodness. Too delicious to only make at Christmas: I think they'll have another outing soon. And we ate Jamie's fish pie with hard-boiled eggs hidden within like the coins in a Christmas pudding (which I didn't make this year - only I like it). It was the perfect fishy Christmas Eve supper.



And before I go, here are the Little One's glittery decorations, made with a kind friend, and now adorning our back door. He has embellished his decoration corner considerably. With the help of a ladder (one of his favourite things) he's sellotaped all manner of bits of plastic, bubble wrap, and even hangers to the door. He is yet to discover the true meaning of decorations but, despite all my hard work at tastefully decorating the house, this little corner is my favourite spot of all.

2 days til Christmas

More chutney was made. This time mostly by the Big One, and it was Nigella's Christmas Chutney to be gifted as Christmas presents. I was told I had to help, and that one of the jars would be his present to me. Somehow that doesn't seem quite right! But I like chutney making, so I went with it.
The Cranberry Sauce (another Nigella Christmas recipe - we are having a Nigella Christmas) was made. How easy, how much, how yum! And it sang Jingle Bells to me in a Scandinavian accent, since it perfectly hit my red-and-white Christmas notes.
I made Nigella's Sticky Gingerbread Cake. It was a) huge; b) impressive; and c) delicious. And I can tell you, after the fact, that it improved with age. Despite being a gingerbread cake, I earned major brownie points with it. And my mother-in-law, the daughter of professional bakers, said my Christmas baking was worthy of her parents. Which made me prouder than a peacock.

There has also been a lot of last-minute Christmas sewing going on, but I can't show it to you until the presents have all been given out. Oh how I do like the secrets of the season!

3 days til Christmas

I made chutney with the Big One. The family recipe, 14 jars, and they will go in a flash as always. But it felt good to get it done, as we're scraping the bottom of our penultimate jar. I felt normal and I felt successful, and there's not much more I can hope for right now. Christmas is coming.

4 days til Christmas


Lovely picture courtesy of talented Husband

I have been inspired by Dottie Angel's 12 Days of Joyfulness. In particular, her post about Christmas mobiles. I didn't make one, but what I did do, in a few minutes, was tie some string from one light to the other in the kitchen, hang several bird decorations from it, then wrap ribbon round, tied in bows at the ends. It was completely spontaneous and utterly satisfying. Thank you to the lovely friend who gifted the birds! It was though, I confess, another 6am job. That is it for now - I cannot get up early any longer!

Thursday 22 December 2011

5 days til Christmas

I did something slightly mad today. I fed the Tiny One at 5.30am and decided not to go back to sleep, despite being head-achingly tired, but to lie in bed and read Nigella's Christmas.
The bible, courtesy of Nigella's website (see link above)
Yes, the momentous occasion has arrived: Christmas menu planning and shopping list writing. It is all done! I have to tell you, I am absolutely knackered writing this at 9.30pm. But I am suffused with the bliss of a big tick off the 'to do' list, Christmas culinary indulgence of the reading kind, and the crazy kind of happiness I get from list making.

Other things have been completed too... a postman-style trip around the village popping cards in letterboxes (accompanied by yet another Little One strop - it is now not just daily, but multiplying through the day); a bag for the Little One; and a major, major sort-out of the house so that we start with a tidy and organised canvas before Jackson Pollock-ing it with Christmas debris.

Best thing of all... today is my husband's last day at work for a fortnight. Let the festivities begin!

6 days til Christmas

We are very busy the first half of this week. Six days til Christmas, and we managed a morning out with the Little One's playmates, a tough rainy walk to collect my mum from the station, and two newly sewn bags. Here is one:













I do so love it when my mum's here. The older I get, the more I turn into her. She brought me old quilts to reuse (fabric stash!), M&S chocolate shortbread (short-lived, as are my good intentions to resist them), presents and her convivial company!

There is a photo of the other bag waiting to be added. I took this one (hence not very good). Husband is due to take the other photo (hence very good). Still waiting! I will add it when it arrives. I am not yet feeling stressed about the weight of planned sewing still on my shoulders, with less than a week to go. I still have the - probably insane - optimism that I am going to glide into Christmas Day stress-free and organised. You can make me eat my words in a few days time!

Wednesday 21 December 2011

7 days til Christmas

7 days to go! The giant Christmas baubles have been sewn. I am so chuffed...
No idea where the idea came from, but there it was singing to me one morning and I thought the baubles such a pretty idea, I went with it.

I made four. Two (greedily) for me and two for friends. They are red gingham on the back, and lace appliqued on the front. It was (would you believe) my first time sewing around a circle, which means they are not quite as regular as I'd like. But in the spirit of Christmas, I am focusing on forgiveness this year - mostly of myself which is somewhat of a novelty for me. So I don't mind. I'm just chuffed they're made and are as jaunty and as sublimely ridiculous as they are.

Today was also a day of mundane but long-overdue jobs being done, like the shower finally being sorted; the wardrobe back to its long-ago neat self; the boxes of toys back in order. And it ended with a roast chicken. Which is how most Sunday's should end, I think.

Let the Christmas week begin!

Tuesday 20 December 2011

8 days til Christmas

When there were eight days to go, we finally - finally - bought the tree and did the decorating. The picture doesn't do it justice as most of the decorations are faded out against the tree, but here it is anyway:
I only had a brief Scrooge moment complaining about the ridiculous inflation in Christmas tree prices. Then I returned to unabashed, wallowing Christmas joy. The Big One and I decorated the tree together. It is a little tradition of ours and I'm not sure how much longer it will last before adolescence claims him. So I enjoyed it while I still could.

Our lights are very old Ikea mini paper ball lights, not intended for Christmas tree use at all but so, so lovely and unusual that they trim our tree every year. Although I'd change the white wire if I could. It's the details! I am, like Domesticali, a bit neurotic about the Christmas tree. The Big One has been learning about spacing of decorations, colours, types... I should stop before I embarrass myself. I promise I let him do some and I don't rearrange after he's gone!

I am wondering... is tinsel necessary and enjoyably kitsch or tacky? Because I'm thinking the tree may look a little bare without it. What I really want is strings upon strings of alternately threaded popcorn and cranberries, but I can't manage to justify the cranberry costs. Oh well.

We also went on a lovely local walk with our three boys in the snow. Beautiful! I'm ashamed to say it was the first time in a few years that I've had my childish snow-excitement back. Usually I can't look at it falling without anxiously knowing it means tumbling children, being stuck in the village, and the need to have enough food in while we can't get the car up the road. Where we live the snow turns to compacted ice soon after being walked on and takes days and days to thaw. I now feel compelled to also tell you that the Little One managed a spectacular misery-tantrum the entire return leg of the walk and no longer likes the snow either. A shattered idyll!

9 days til Christmas

I made my own Christmas cards this year. Yes, red and white - the Scandinavian theme continues. I used a couple of pastry cutters dipped in red paint. And then (you can't see this, I photographed them before the urge came upon me) I wrote 'twinkle' on them in silver. But I have now decided I prefer them without. At least the photo captures the no-longer-existing simpler version.

I wasn't as neat, as inventive, or as effective as I had hoped. Better next year! And I ran out of card so about a third of my Christmas card list is going to have to make do with cheap shop-bought cards after all. But for a couple of hours one evening, fulfilling my making dreams, I don't think they're that bad. Granted, they're not sell-to-someone quality. But I think they're give-to-someone thoughtfully. And that will do me this year.

This Christmas is about rounding off a sometimes beautiful, sometimes ugly year with a return to the dreams of last year, and hopefully the living of some of them. It is not about perfection, getting to the end of the 'to do' list, or anyone else's expectations. I want to enjoy myself pottering about with a needle and thread, holly and ribbon, paint and card, fir and decoration. I want to be with my family, focus on my family, and hold dear my friends and relations. I will be wrapping us all up in a metaphorical big red Christmassy bow. Next year I will be less metaphorical, more reality. Next year I will let my Country Living snobbery get the better of me. This year is the simple, the jingle bells and the joy.

10 days til Christmas

When there were ten days to go, I started making these...
Seven (yes I know there are only six here - I've already gifted one) Christmas star decorations. One for me, six for presents. Red on the back, red gingham on the front, with lovely Scandinavian ribbons and neutral buttons sewn on too.

Before you ask (and everyone who's seen them has), they are deliberately skew-wiff. I would have spent a lot of time (that I don't have) with a ruler and compass trying to get them perfect otherwise. So I drew them freehand and I think I prefer the results anyway. The Tiny One has been trying to get his hands on them ever since they were finished! He is one week into crawling and already fast, committed and determined!

I also made soup. Not sure why I need to show it here, but the green colour was so splendidly spring-like in the midst of the snow here this winter that I had to photograph it. It is pea and courgette, which doesn't sound that interesting, but with ham stock and herbs to lift it it was glorious. It put quite a spring in my step. Boom, boom.



Monday 19 December 2011

11 days til Christmas

When there were eleven days to go, my lovely, lovely mum and I made this...
... and, oh!, I am in love! Generally I'm not too keen on my red door, but at this time of year it comes into its own. Isn't the wreath beautiful? Don't you love the colours? And best of all, my mum and I made it together which was so nice at the time, and keeps on giving every time I look at it. (But I'm not sure our post lady is too keen: the prickly holly is precariously close to the letter box!)

My mum made me the wicker wreath base last year, but after Christmas had passed. She brought up holly, ribbon, pine cones and dried orange slices from her home down south. We cut the ivy from our garden. Then, to the interesting mix of Christmassy 50's tunes and a sprinkling of 'ouch's', we stabbed our fingers with the holly as we wrapped and fastened it all on.

In other news, the Christmas lists are getting quite impressive. Present lists are half-populated with things already bought or made (I know, that other half is scarily blank for eleven days to go). Card lists are full but waiting to be brought to life. The decorations list is growing as I read more ideas from Dottie Angel. The Christmas food list has a title and nothing else, so it's time to get reading my Nigella Christmas book. But at least the turkey is ordered!

12 days til Christmas

Yes, I know there aren't twelve days til Christmas. There are six. Oh my goodness! But I planned to write a twelve days-themed set of posts so - better late than never - I'm going to do it. And in any case, this post shows you what happened when there were twelve days to go...
I made paper chains. Two long lengths to string from the front room in our house. I am having a bit of a Scandinavian Christmas this year. Not intentionally, it's just that I've become irresistibly drawn to the red-and-white colour scheme and so have decided to go with the obsession.

The Little One 'helped' me. I made the decorations from cut-up-and-Pritt-sticked sugar paper, so that was not the best task for a two-year-old. But he was fabulous at holding an end to measure if they were long enough, climbing the ladder to tell me whether it was safe for me to do so, and standing on the odd chain link or two! It's hard to tell from the picture, but the links are thicker than your usual shop-bought chains, and I'm rather in love with them.

Christmas is going to be a bit more home-made than usual this year. Just because I can. It is also our first Christmas at home with the two littler ones, the Tiny One's first Christmas, and my first Christmas doing the Big Dinner Cooking. Lots of firsts, lots of excitement, and I am regularly skipping round the kitchen dancing to Christmassy tunes from Sinatra, Doris Day and their contemporaries. The joy has landed!

Sunday 11 December 2011

Sewing softies

I have been making toys. I hadn't done it before, and I worked from my imagination rather than patterns. But they went quite well. I think I have the bug!

I made this horse for a friend's little girl. Her name begins with 'H', hence the horse. There's a theme here, and I got a little carried away!
Then I added ribbons for the ears, hair and tail as I know from my own Tiny One that ribbons, labels and the like are pretty irresistible to babies. I'm hoping they get very soggy.

I think I have a thing for buttons myself. They keep appearing on bags, toys and all sorts when I sew. I think they make rather lovely eyes. Don't you?


The first toy I made was this winking cat, for a little boy who's name begins with a 'C'. Yes, there's the theme again.

My Little One was a bit perturbed by his lack of legs, but if you've ever looked at a sat pussy, you'll see his lower legs merge somewhat. So I am unperturbed!

I am actually rather chuffed with the blanket stitch. I haven't done it since primary school. Yes, I am revealing what a novice, make-it-up-as-you-go-along sew-er I really am. But I don't mind. Admitting my sewing innocence seems to inoculate me from the self-berating I would otherwise get for all my mistakes.

Lastly let me show you my favourite, the jellyfish. It's a gift for a baby whose name begins with 'J'. Let me tell you, there are not many well-know 'J' animals.

I got the idea for the tentacles from some amazing decorations in my local John Lewis, where all their fabrics had been jellyfished like giant umbrellas with multiple, squirmy tentacles.

I'm rather pleased. I think she looks quite friendly and satisfied for a jellyfish, and quite fun for a baby to look at. Her underside is a lovely soft fleece.
By the way, I know it is nearly Christmas and I have barely mentioned it. I am glorifying in it as usual, but I am completely unprepared and disorganised and so, until I am both, I am ignoring it a little. At least on the blogosphere. But I do hope to show you something very soon.

Friday 9 December 2011

Been bagging

I've made a few bags I haven't shown you. The one on the left was for a good friend of mine. I love the colours (bit of a mustard fan; get it from my mum). But I made it while a little time-poor and if I could do it again I'd make it with a lining too, to stiffen it up a bit and make it more practical.
The bag on the right is a sweet little bag, only about 20cm across, for a little girl I know who's turned two. Apparently she keeps trying to take it everywhere! I was really pleased with it, despite the inside being a bit scruffy. It's such a pretty little thing, and as I've said before, two-year-olds do love a little bag. Lots of 'little's' in this paragraph!
And this bag is number 5 of the seven little bags I'm making, which again I've written about before. Number 6 is made but neither photographed nor gifted yet. I'll have to get on it! Number 7 is for my own Little One. I'm thinking it will now have to wait for Christmas. Speaking which, I am SO not ready. I have just read Molly's post jealously, as she writes about being ready to slow the pace and hunker down ready for Christmas. I, on the other hand, am ready to quicken the pace and get in gear for some major last-minute present making. Oh the stress! But I can't complain. I am slightly addicted to Christmas and can never resent it.
I had to show you the statement fabric I used in the bag a little closer-up. I am so in love with it! The colours, the tea-party theme. Looking at it has made me realise that I don't even own a teapot. This is a sorry, negligent state of affairs. I may not be a black-tea drinker but I am certainly a teapot-owner type of person. And I can always make my favourite green tea in it.

Thursday 8 December 2011

Brrrrrr

Look! This was 3 days ago. That's how long it takes me to get round to uploading & posting.

3 days ago hail fell. It looks like snow in the picture but it's an accumulation of various hailstorms. The hats were uprooted from their stores. The children were getting better (it's cold season in both senses of the word). The husband was home. Good times.

2 days ago the hail was replaced by a little snow. The Little One kicked every bit of snow on his way to music group. We had soup for lunch and a lovely Middle-Eastern-leaning dinner of couscous with chickpeas, griddled aubergine with pomegranate, tomato salad and orange-marinated lamb.

1 day ago the snow and hail was mostly gone, save for the hilltops and wind-shadows. The wind was crazy - gales hitting the north. The Little One got suddenly worse again, was spectacularly sick on the doctor's waiting room floor, and got antibiotics. But it's yellow medicine for a yellow-obsessed boy, so he's quite pleased about the illness now.

And today I am being shouted at by same Little One to 'come upstairs' as I quickly catch up on the net having done the housework (couldn't do a thing yesterday due to a miserable little boy). The Big One is upstairs in bed, also ill. The Tiny One has replaced his cold with vigorous teething. And the husband is at work while barely functioning due to a very grotty cold and little sleep. Good times.

Friday 2 December 2011

Special things

I wrote once, quite a while ago, of the dream I had of my life before I got to live it. This year I slowly sewed that dream together. Then I ripped the stitches apart, or the sewing machine broke; I'm not sure what analogy fits best. Now I am stitching again.
And here is a little scene from my domestic dream made real. The beautiful flowers were from a lovely friend, but due to my pause-from-life kidney infection no one watered them. They are now crisp as a, well, crisp. But they live on in this picture! And here is the kitchen table with the highchair, just as I imagined it (though not, sadly, old and oak). And, most importantly of all, the drawing being made by my yellow-obsessed (notice the drink) Little One.

He is two-and-a-half now. Babyhood behind, and at the moment the two littlest ones are in the grips of a nasty cold. But this picture reminds me of a happier time, just a few weeks ago. His drawings are nothing remarkable, but to me they look so clever, so beautiful. I loved to draw as a child, and I hope that love will make it through to my littlest boys.

Right now, the domesticity has to be eschewed for the domestic: the tumble drier is beeping insistently at me. Bottles need sterilising. Bed is calling. Floors need quickly clearing. But I thought I would write this first and remember that moment. Perhaps we will live it again tomorrow or, at least, when the stinking colds go away.