Never did like royal icing or marzipan so never got excited about Christmas cake and can't remember the decorations we had as a kid except for there always being a frilly paper ruffle round the side. OH doesn't like all the icing either.
After years of making a cake with so much fruit it needed no extra sugar but getting very fed up with feeding it alcohol every week and then not eating it till Easter anyway, I finally switched to Delia Smith's Creole cake which has all the fruit soaked in a mix of booze for a week before baking and can then last weeks or months just wrapped in foil. It still doesn't get eaten till Mardi Gras or later and is never decorated but is luscious.
As for house decs, OH has done his outside lights and I have finally got the branches in the kitchen and dining room hung and decorated. The Scandi style tree is hanging in the hall and the real tree is now up in the living room. I'll do the lights and decs tomorrow.
Getting there slowly.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
I have to confess to eating the first cake I made, so much nicer without anything on top. I’ve made another with marzipan and soft royal icing, just ‘cos it Christmas.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
I will be spending Christmas with Son 2 so I didn't think I would have a tree. I've always had big real trees before I moved house, now I don't have much room. Last year I bought a small fake tree for the kitchen. I've changed my mind about not having a tree so I went to the local GC and bought a fake one. I'm in Dordogne, France.
Small kitchen one.
Bigger sitting room one
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
Good move @Busy-Lizzie unless you're going for the whole 12 days of Xmas?
Don't like marzipan - texture and always a bit chemical to me - but, oddly, love frangipan, Bakewell tart, almonds ground, flaked, chopped and whole. So versatile, tasty and nutritious.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Finally got mine up, after dithering about should I shouldn't I. Incredibly difficult to photograph and get it to look as good as it does in real life, honest. 😉
Need extra tacks to straighten out the twinkly lights. 😅
“Coffee. Garden. Coffee. Does a good morning need anything else?” —Betsy Cañas Garmon
Lovely, @D0rdogne_Damsel! Worth the effort, you’ll feel very Christmassy now! Ive decorated my hanging basket again this year, extra baubles, and surprised to see how the contents have grown. I must cut back the aptemia, looking a bit dead, but I took some cuttings which are rooting in water.
Beautiful photos everyone. As @D0rdogne_Damsel said, it's very difficult to take a good photo because it never looks like in real life, but here are some of my decorations.
It’s half past three on Christmas Eve and I have just finished putting up the two garlands in the dining room. That’s #67 and #68 crossed off the ‘to do’ list.
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After years of making a cake with so much fruit it needed no extra sugar but getting very fed up with feeding it alcohol every week and then not eating it till Easter anyway, I finally switched to Delia Smith's Creole cake which has all the fruit soaked in a mix of booze for a week before baking and can then last weeks or months just wrapped in foil. It still doesn't get eaten till Mardi Gras or later and is never decorated but is luscious.
As for house decs, OH has done his outside lights and I have finally got the branches in the kitchen and dining room hung and decorated. The Scandi style tree is hanging in the hall and the real tree is now up in the living room. I'll do the lights and decs tomorrow.
Getting there slowly.
I will be spending Christmas with Son 2 so I didn't think I would have a tree. I've always had big real trees before I moved house, now I don't have much room. Last year I bought a small fake tree for the kitchen. I've changed my mind about not having a tree so I went to the local GC and bought a fake one. I'm in Dordogne, France.
Small kitchen one.
Bigger sitting room one
Don't like marzipan - texture and always a bit chemical to me - but, oddly, love frangipan, Bakewell tart, almonds ground, flaked, chopped and whole. So versatile, tasty and nutritious.
Need extra tacks to straighten out the twinkly lights. 😅
Ive decorated my hanging basket again this year, extra baubles, and surprised to see how the contents have grown. I must cut back the aptemia, looking a bit dead, but I took some cuttings which are rooting in water.
This year
Last year