Stir Up Sunday

Today is Stir Up Sunday; the traditional day for making the Christmas Pudding.

In my family it is, by tradition, the day when preparations for Christmas begin in earnest. The Christmas cake would have been made either the week before or that weekend (with everyone having a stir of the mixture and making a wish), advent candles and calendars would be bought and the food list be written up.

So in keeping with tradition, I have now started buying the non-perishable food.  The ginger marmalade is in the cupboard, together with the crackers and the chocolate biscuits. I have my advent candle ready and waiting for next weekend and the invitations to the Sleigh-Run Dinner are ready to go out.

It is also the weekend after Beaujolais Nouveau comes in (on the third Thursday of November). While this isn't the big event it used to be, it is still worth celebrating - so we did!

Food For Thought

As I have mentioned before, the theme this Christmas is 'Christmas Puddings' and this weekend, inspired by finding some pudding cup cake toppers in Hobbycraft,  our minds turned to food.  What can we do to reproduce puddings in different ways?

There are always cupcakes using the toppers, but there are other ways of using them (especially as we're not really cup cake people because they tend to be so sweet).  We thought first of shortbread rounds with the toppers in the centre. Okay, the colour is wrong, but it plays into the theme and we are very much a shortbread family!

What about chocolate crispy cakes with, placed on top, a dollop of white icing with green holly leaf shapes and red circles, if we've already used the toppers?

I'm also keen to go with a Chocolate Orange unwrapped and with a topping of white icing and the green leaves and red berries.

Then, today in Tesco's I saw these:

Christmas Pudding chocolate muffins!  The fact that they were reduced made them irresistible …

From the Jaws of Defeat

The original plan was to spend the weekend cutting images for cards using our new-ish Cricut machine.  Unfortunately, we found that the design area of the website refused to load, and you can't use the new machine other than through the online design software.

We salvaged something from the weekend by using it to stamp, colour and make-up some other designs.  But it does illustrate the need not to leave everything to the last because of those problems over which we have no control.

All very annoying …

Just the sentiments to be added to the cards we did make and that will be done shortly before we send them to allow for personalisation.

The Dilemma and the Compromise

Once October comes I have a dilemma to face.  The shops are full of the Christmas stock and I know that if I'm to be ready without a last minute panic then I really do need to make a start on getting things bought and made.  BUT, I really don't like to start everything too soon; rushing into Christmas and missing out on all that autumn has to offer.

Once upon a time I didn't start working on Christmas until mid way through November when it was time to make the cake, and that gave me plenty of time.  However, things have changed over the last decade; I am busier at work, have increased family commitments and much less energy.  Waiting for mid November would be a recipe for disaster.

So I compromise.  I gather together all the Christmas craft items, work out what else I'm going to need and get it bought.  I make a start on the crafting and I make lists but at the same time I make sure that I take time to appreciate the fruits and colours of autumn.

Last weekend we went to a craft show and bought the rest of the coloured card we will need for our Christmas things. We also managed to pick up a few more items including a couple of stamps.  This weekend I have been sorting through the textile items I need - wool, embroidery threads and Christmas patterned fabric. This coming week I plan to make a start on the embroidery and after that it will be time to start making cards.

But just to even things up, I have also been for a autumn walk and remembering my late brother-in-law's superb pumpkin and ginger soup.

Autumn

Well, autumn is certainly here now.  I'm no longer getting stuck behind combines on my drive to and from work, but I am seeing people with buckets collecting sloes; I've picked the apples from the tree; more importantly, the Royal Mail Christmas service leaflet is now out at Post Offices.

The summer celebrations of family birthdays (including 21st) and graduations are behind us, and I'm now thinking seriously of Christmas preparations.

The key thing for me is that we have a new toy

A major Landmark

One major landmark on the way to Christmas is Easter.  More about Easter preparations in a future post, but for now here are a few pictures of our Easter celebration preparations ...

This is the Easter door wreath I made for the porch to welcome people to our family celebration.  The basis is a wicker wreath I bought and then stripped down and re-assembled adding some extra items.  More on this in the future.

Generation after generation make these chocolate crispy cakes.  This year my niece made milk and white chocolate ones.

My younger nephew's contribution was the Easter cake.

Mixing the Seasons

Spring flowers are everywhere now; in gardens, by paths & roadsides and in the shops.  This makes it a bit difficult to be thinking of Christmas, but the planning goes on!

Every year, just before Christmas, my family gathers together for what we call The Sleigh Run.  It is the day when we meet to exchange the bags of presents we will be opening on Christmas Day. And, because our informal family motto is "where two or three are gathered together, there shall be a celebration", we have a special meal with fun, games and small table presents.  Come Christmas Day itself, we will be celebrating in a number of different homes, but this is the day we celebrate Christmas together.

Our festivities include some sort of activity or game to reflect our chosen theme and my mother has just proposed the one for this year.  Based on the traditional village hall beetle drive this will be a Christmas Pudding drive, with a race to add dish, pudding, custard, holly leaves, holly berries and currants.  She even had a sketch to show me - and bearing in mind that she has lost a lot of her sight, that was no mean feat! So her sketch and notes are in the file and another item has been ticked off the Master List, a highly satisfying feeling.