Happy New Year....

Happy New Year to all my blogging friends.

An Award....

I would like to say a big thankyou to Jan at Cinnamon Cottage for this award.

I'm just off out in a moment so will do the five things I love about Christmas later. xxxx

Edit

Five things I love about Christmas

A, is for alcohol, well you gotta a few glasses of white wine or champagne

F, is for family, its so nice to spend time with the family over Christmas. We had the best Christmas day in ages this year.

T, is for time off work, well we all love it don't we?????

B, is for baking, I just love the Christmas smells coming from the kitchen. Orange, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, roast turkey.

D, is for decorations. I love the house looking all festive and pretty, with fairy lights strewn everywhere.

Well I'm supposed to pass this on to five people, but as a few of you have already received this award, just feel to have a go yourself, and pop the award on your blog. xxx

No more Turkey Please.....

Look at the great solstice gift I received from my friend Sharon, isn't it great. Shes really worked hard and put a lot of thought into her presents. She made a few different hampers for solstice/Christmas presents. Mine contained home made sloe gin and rose hip syrup, home made green tomato and apple chutney, an orange studded with cloves and home made aura cleansing oil and a bag of homemade marshmallows and the river cottage 2009 diary in a lovely basket. What more could a girl ask for. Thanks Mate. xxx ( I did sample the sloe gin before the pic hic hic).

Well we had a homemade turkey and leek pie for dinner last night and we will be having the same tonight. I have a freezer full of turkey stock and turkey in stock for stews. We had turkey Xmas day, and boxing day and have eaten numerous turkey and stuffing sandwiches, but thank god after tonight no more turkey for a bit. that's what you get when you buy a 5kg bird. It was from the farm shop and cost a fortune so I wasn't going to waste a bit. Well tomorrow night I have my sister in law and brother in law for dinner and no turkey. So what are we having......CHICKEN......lol. Will I ever learn.

We had a lovely walk around the nature reserve this morning. Jack frost had been out in force and it was rather chilly. But I did enjoy hearing the ground crunching under my feet, and Woody really enjoyed the huge stick he found. I remembered this morning that its soon Seville Orange time so will definitely be making some marmalade this year as I missed it last year, so watch this space.

Have a good day all. xxx

A Great Christmas......

Well we had a great Christmas here. Christmas day was a success, all went well. It was the first year I've hosted Christmas, and my parents and my brother and his girlfriend came to dinner. We ate, drank and made merry. Its the first proper dinner I've eaten in ages, as I haven't been very well of late, due to sickness bugs and flu, which I'm still getting over, that's why the blogging has lapsed. I got some great Christmas gifts. Hubby got me the Merlin TV series on DVD which I love and the latest enya CD, bliss.

Also from hubby was this soft and squidgy hot water bottle cover, and these cow wheatie slippers which you heat in the microwave and they contain essential oils.

This little sign was from my sister in law, very apt I thought.

Woody has been on fridge patrol guarding the turkey.

Here's a pic of the Christmas table. The dining room really did look lovely.

I've also been busy making another sheep, which was an order for a Christmas pressie. Its the towelling one.

She took a while but I was pleased with how she turned out.

So all in all a really enjoyable Christmas, drank too much and have enough chocolate to open a shop but I'm sure it will keep.

Hope you all had a good one. xxxx

A cosy night in swap.....

A big thank you for my lovely swap parcel from Josie-Mary, what lovely goodies I have......

Look at this beautiful mug warmer, complete with mug and hot chocolate, not to mention a bar of green and blacks, and a green and blacks chocolate book, yummy.

Also this cute little knitted stocking. Thanks so much Josie.

Frosty Wednesday...

I didn't know what to call this post, so I called it frosty Wednesday cos it is. Its absolutely freezing outside today and the roads are like an ice rink, didn't like the drive to work this morning. My car had completely frozen over again once I came out of work aggghhhh. But until 2.00 I'm staying indoors in the warm nursing my sniffles. Look at the great buys I got on my little exhibition to Winchester on Saturday. I just love the tea towels and oven gloves, and I've always wanted one of these roasters with a rack. All these were from the sale at BHS which was fab.

I can't show you the presents I bought, in case they get spied by there owners to be. I'm off out to dinner tonight with a load of old work mates from my old job, so that should be nice, haven't got a clue what I'm going to wear though, I'm a bit short of clothes at the moment.

Catch you later folks.

cards and mince pies....

Well I sat down briefly earlier, put my xmas cd on and made a start at writing the xmas cards. Of course I had to have a cuppa and a mince pie too.
which was quickly spotted by woody.......

who then did the sad eyes and guilt trip on his mummy. So I did give him a little bit of pastry. well look at him.........

Took my cosy night in swap to the post office today, and then popped in the shop and picked up the next issue of sew hip, and two home mags.

Well off to work now folks have a nice afternoon. xxx

Some Christmas Pics....

Well we got the house decorated for Christmas this weekend. Here's our tree.
and the long awaited finished freezer unit and sideboard that my hubby has made. Isn't he clever.

a better pic of the tree.

Our Christmas dresser unit.

I'm really pleased with how the dining room has turned out. This time last year it was a shell, that needed complete renovation.

I love my little ducks.

and our new Gisela Graham apple tree.

This was my partylite hostess gift from my recent party.

The advent calender.

no door handle escapes.

more partylite.

I made this little tree a few years ago.

and the sideboard in our lounge.

I've got a really sore throat today and feeling very hot. I've only just shaken a sickness bug and still haven't got rid of my last cough yet, I really don't want to be ill again, I just haven't got time. I'm watching miracle on 34th street at the moment with a glass of milk, and hoping that I'll wake up tomorrow feeling bright as a button.

Night Night for now folks.

The Cake....

Well, feeling a lot better but still not right. We're both still not eating very much and feel tired and drained, but had to go back to work on Wednesday as neither of us get sick pay and we couldn't afford anymore time off. Thanks for all the get well messages. I did force myself to get the cake made tuesday late afternoon , but had to get Mr Pixie to stir it a bit, as didn't have the energy. Fruit cakes bloomin hard to mix up.
Anyway here it is before it goes in, it did smell nice and should be nice and moist.

and here it is after it had cooked and cooled. Its now wrapped in foil in a tin, for a while until I get around to marzipan it. I hope it tastes as good as last years.

Here's a pic of phoebe curled up with one of my bears. Its the first time I've ever spotted her sat here, shes normally a creature of habit.

I've made a start on the Xmas decorations and should have the tree finished tomorrow. When everythings done and cleaned up, I will put some pics on here, especially the pics of the freezer unit and sideboard that hubby's made for the dining room.

Catch you later folks.

A Poorly Pixie House

Hi Folks, sorry I wasn't around yesterday, Me and Mr Pixie have been poorly sick. I can honestly say I can't remember the last time I've felt so rough. We've been hit by a sickness and tummy bug and its knocked us for six. We spent most of yesterday either in bed or the bathroom. We both had yesterday and today off work, feeling a tiny bit better, but feeling dizzy and ache all over. My fruit for my Christmas cake is still soaking as haven't been well enough to make it. And poor Woody was climbing the walls as he didn't get his walk yesterday. We called his grandad to come and pick him up for a hour last night just to get him out. Hoping we will feel better later, and maybe get some food down.

See you later folkses.

The Christmas Market.....

Well, before I tell you about the market, This afternoon I went to make my Christmas Cake, but completely forgot the bit about letting the fruit soak overnight, alas I could only get this far and will have to finish it tomorrow, but all those glistening fruits do look and smell good. The recipe I use is from by favourite baking cookbook, How to be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson.
Anyway back to the market. What a cold and wet day its been, but I had my heart set on going, so we went. I'm afraid I forgot my camera but it was so busy the photos wouldn't have been very good. But I'm going again next weekend so will try and remember the camera then. The goodies pictured above were all from one stall that I cued for ages to get to, but they were such a bargain, the whole lot for £9.50.

I love this little ceramic Christmas cottage tea light holder, its so pretty.

and these two little characters caught my eye.

sorry the pics not very good, but she's lovely and a bargain at £1.50.

and this little fellow was £1.

I also visited my favourite stall from last year, and got a bag of Christmas pot pourri and a scented oil. Mind you this little lot wasn't cheap but the smell is gorgeous. I may use some to make myself a gingerbread garland, as I wasn't allowed one of the garlands on the stall, hubby said they were too much. :o(

We also had a mince pie each and I had a mulled wine and hubby a hot chocolate, yummy. Hubby also bought me one of my Christmas presents. Its a lovely snuggly sheep that you put over the sofa, and he has pockets to store things like remote controls, or in my case my sewing kit and wheatie. Can't show a pic though as its been confiscated for wrapping.

Popped into a little craft shop and got some brown felt and some tiny bells and red beads for xmas decs, then we headed for home, via Laura Ashley :o). Wanted to look around more shops but need to swap hubby for girls, cos men hate shopping and get too grumpy.

Going to snuggle up with hubby tonight and watch The Spiderwick Chronicles on DVD.

Have a nice evening folks

TTFN. xxxxx