2015...with a bit of Christmas and crafting thrown in!

May 2015 -Summer 2015

September 2015

November 2015

 

December 2015

 

Ninja Turtle

Purple Minion

Knitted Fairisle Hat

Christmas Eve

Mini mincemeat pie (using up the pastry)

.Rosace a l'orange

Garlic Focaccia

Gifts from Nursery Children

Some of my Christmas Presents

My childish love of the Moomins

Bean, Bean doing a fine job of opening her pressies

First time trying lobster

New Years Day

Chevy '57 #2 cocktail

 

2015 has been a bit of a whirlwind for us both, what with me changing jobs to be closer to home, and adding a new addition to our family in the form of a crazy Rhodesian Ridgeback girl, I feel like our feet have hardly touched the ground. I've had tonnes of time to craft and made quite a lot of different items, however, I couldn't find my mojo to blog about them.  Perhaps it's because I've had a lot of mixed emotions especially towards the latter end of the year about decisions I've made and losing another loved one to cancer late in November...heck at one point I  even considered cancelling Christmas as I felt too emotional.  Even a trip to the Christmas Market in Edinburgh on the 23rd did nothing to lighten my spirits. Usually, this event gets me in full swing for all the festivities to come, but nope...all the beautiful German stalls of previous years have been taken over by cheap tat and duplicated stalls, which left us both a bit sad. In an effort to capture any Christmas spirit we both locked out the world on Christmas Eve, we put on some Christmas movies, listened to Christmas classical music and made our traditional Mincemeat Pies; we've been making these together now for nearly three years.  I think the latter activity gave me the slap around the head that I needed to make me realise that I should be happy and thankful for what I have in my life.

Christmas morning was relaxed, Paul and I don't rush into opening our presents, we prefer to have breakfast first then we each decide which present the other should open first, then second and so on.  We then spend an hour or so looking at our new gifts while sipping some Bucks Fizz (orange juice and sparkling wine, another tradition) and watching Christmas T.V.  Then, we both get dressed and prepare the Christmas dinner together.  We opted for a traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings, the only difference this year was our starter. Usually, we have smoked salmon pate and a prawn salad but this year I wanted to try lobster.  I was worried it was going to be too fishy, but it was actually quite subtle in flavour and enjoyable to eat. Would I have it again? Mmmm! I thought it was a bit pricey and I have to admit I did miss my smoked salmon pate and prawn salad...so I don't think this will be a tradition for next year.

Talking about traditions, we have both decided to start a new tradition in 2016...instead of opening all our presents on Christmas Day,  we will keep one main present back and our stockings so we can open them on New Years Day.  A much better way to celebrate than being hungover.

What Christmas Traditions do you have?  I would love to know.

Squirrel  xoxoxo