Christmas Day Concert

I forgot to mention the concert! It went off really well. ;o) Miss E played her violin with Grade 2 confidence and earned herself lots of grandparently admiration. Our carol duets on recorder were good and we had to play extras so everyone could sing along! The Master of the House played Edelweiss on his theremin and impressed everyone as none of them had seen him playing it before. My three piano solos were passable! My dad gave a really entertaining recitation of The Boy on the Train ("the cinnamon drop I was sookin, tumelt oot an' got stuck to ma troosers" been the line that always makes me laugh hysterically!!) followed by a Scottish song, the name of which eludes me. My mum read a great poem about Christmas and then a story about a lady writing to her true love as he sends her the presents listed in The Twelve Days of Christmas, very entertaining! Everyone has agreed that the Christmas Day Concert should definitely become a family tradition!

Christmas

Well, here we are on the other side of the Christmas festivities. ;o) I had a lovely time and, for a variety of reasons, enjoyed Christmas this year much more than the last few. I'm very pleased to report that everyone who received a "different" present seemed very happy with them and encouraged by that I'm already thinking about similar things for next year! I started my Christmas with a Midnight Eucharist service at a local C of E church and really enjoyed it. The church is quite high but even so the service was lovely and I even wanted to go up for Communion, which I did. I haven't taken Communion since I stopped going to my own church earlier in the year and I'm really glad that I went up, even though I had to do the chalice thing (ick!) and, my goodness, the wine was SO strong!! Christmas Day started later than anticipated as Miss E didn't get up until gone 9am and that was with some gentle prompting! Lunch went down rather nicely - I really enjoy cooking a good roast. ;o) I made Nigella Lawson's gingerbread stuffing which was scrummy although nearly didn't happen as the rest of the world and his wife apparently had the same idea and there wasn't a sign of a ginger cake in Sainsburys! I eventually found one in the Devil's Supermarket express shop. A side note while I'm on the subject of the Devil shop - at the beginning of December I filled out a comment/complaint slip asking why they don't stock organic skimmed milk (as Sainsbury's do) and this morning I finally had a reply (within seven days, yeah right!!) saying that they'd spoken to stock control and they would be stocking it in the next 7 to 10 days. About time too! But I digress, back to Christmas Day! We ate our lunch in the newly plastered "other" living room with a roaring fire. ;o) It's far from finished, of course, but we're SO much closer and getting there bit by bit. A boost to the house fund from our generous benefactor has also perked up the outlook house renovation wise too! ;o) And to Boxing day....we spent the day at my parent's house with more food, more games, more jollifications. ;o) This was followed by more of the same at my aunt's on Wednesday after we'd taken FIL home. That's my Christmas in a very small nutshell! I'm now revving up for a little gathering of friends on New Year's Eve and then plunging into 2007 with gusto! ;oD

Embarassing moment!

So, I'm standing at a pedestrian crossing in town on Thursday afternoon. It's freezing, my nose is running and I don't have a hankie. What's a girl to do? There was not a soul near me so I did a series of HUGE sniffs to remedy my problem. I should say here that I can't be doing with sniffing, I'm persistantly telling Miss E not to, but with no hankie to toot on it was my only plan of action! Only after my nasal misdemeanour do I notice that there's a woman stood not two feet from me giving me THE most disapproving look! I apologised profusely and fortunately the little green man chose that moment to put in an appearance so I shot off across the road like a whippet! LOL I now have a packet of tissues stowed away in my handbag!!

Mmmmmmmmm

I've been out for a Christmas meal this evening. ;o) I was supposed to be going with three other friends. Our children were all at primary school together and we still regularly get together to catch up on all the news. However, two of them had to drop out at the last minute leaving me and Miss E's best friend's mum. We decided it would be nice to take the girls with us as there was no way we were going to cancel a Christmas meal at the best restaurant in town! It was very enjoyable, we had alot of laughs and the food was as fabulous as ever. So, here's a little run down of my meal! I started with mushrooms (I adore mushrooms!) sauteed in a cream sauce in a (very light) pastry case. My main course was pumpkin and sage ravioli in a white white, cream and garlic sauce with some mushrooms and cheesiness on top. And I finished with creme brulee with a sweet waffle and honeycomb ice cream. *sigh* It was all totally scrumptious and completely worth every penny it cost me! Miss E had chicken caesar salad (this place does the best caesar salad I've ever had, I swear it's positively orgasmic although not for a 13 year old!), then she plumped for the traditional turkey dinner followed by cheese and biscuits. When we left the restaurant she said the best bits were all the laughs and the cheese and biscuits!

In a moment of clarity, I decided to hop off to the Devil's supermarket on the way home to get the last few bits of Christmas food shopping. There were very few people there and we whizzed round and collected our goodies and were in and out in no time! I can now officially state that I have FINISHED shopping for Christmas! Hoobloodyray! If I haven't got it now, we're not having it! There was one funny moment at the till when her ladyship asked me in her loudest voice "How much alcohol do you need?" causing the queue behind us a good laugh! I would like to point out that I only had two bottles of wine and some Barcardi Breezers so hardly a trolley full! LOL

Reading Matter

Just a wee post about what I'm reading at the moment. :o)

As ever, I've got several things on the go:

Anne of Windy Willows by L M Montgomery - the fifth book in the Anne of Green gables series
Screw It Let's Do It by Richard Branson - a Quick Read book, just a bit of Branson's life philosophy
Julie & Julia by Julie Powell - biographical story of a woman who decides to cook every recipe in Julia Child's classic French cookery book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, in a year, in a tiddly kitchen in a New York apartment.

All very different but I'm enjoying all of them! I'm hoping to catch up on some reading over the festive season. ;o) I have several books waiting in the wings too, Unbeaten by Kim Woodburn (of How Clean is your House fame), Digging to America by Anne Tyler and The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner. What's everyone else reading and enjoying at the mo?

I've kept a record of the books I've read this year and my current running total is 24. Not very high but then again I only record fiction and biographies really so it doesn't take into account the non fiction stuff I get through too, but that's usually of the ilk that you don't read the entire book if you know what I mean!

Also currently drooling over Nigella Lawson's latest, Feast and Jamie Oliver's new one, Cook with Jamie. Yum scrum, give them a look if you're into cooking and/or food!

Christmas 2007

Yes, I am talking about NEXT Christmas! LOL The thing is, I cannot abide the rampant commercialism that we're subjected to, seemingly from halfway through the summer! Even if I didn't have any Christian beliefs I would find it annoying. It's just not right! This year I have made some changes but I've still overspent. ;o( One of the changes I made was to go down the route of buying adoption/charitable gifts for some people. I've bought a goat, some chickens and some library cards (for Ethiopian children) via World Vision, I've adopted a donkey (Miss E wanted an animal sponsorship again since sponsoring a seal at the Sea Life Centre in Oban) and a vegetable (not any old vegetable but a traditional British variety) and planted a tree in the Caledonian Forest in the Highlands of Scotland. I'm not sure of the reception some of these gifts will get but I'll know soon! :o) It certainly made me feel good to know that I hadn't spent my money on something the recipient wouldn't use/didn't need or want but I suppose their reaction is also important too!
Next year I'd also like to make more presents but that requires organisation of course! And that's why I'm starting now! :oD I don't object to spending money (although I'd like to spend alot less!) but I'd like to put more thought, time and love into my gift giving. :o) Last Christmas I had a conversation with my mum about having a vintage/frugal kind of Christmas this year and talked about the possibility of only buying gifts from charity shops. Most folk know I'm a sucker for charity shops, car boots, junk shops et al and I pick up alot of stuff for use in my artwork via these avenues but I think I will indeed try to use them even more this year BUT still trying to ensure that I stick to my rules. There's no point saving money that way if you're buying crap that is still unwanted by the recipient! LOL I think it would be a good way to pick up raw materials for gifts though, for instance, I like the whole gift in a jar thing so I could keep my eyes open for nice jars and the required items to go in them.
I've cut down my Christmas card list quite dramatically this year and am wondering about cutting it further next year and making a donation to charity instead. Not really certain about that one but wouldn't we save alot of trees if we all did that??
Other things I'd like to try are:
* using an extra freezer to make and freeze food
* making my own crackers (or some version of)
* using more natural materials for decorating
* devising more home entertainment (we're having a wee concert this year on Christmas Day!)
* saving towards the cost of Christmas during the year to ease the shock to the bank account come January!
Ok, that's enough Christmas talk for now!

Daily Life

Hey ho, here I am with blog no 5! LOL This one's really just to capture all the stuff that doesn't fit in my arty blogs. :o)

2007 is going to be the year when I get greener, more environmentlly aware, live more ethically, be more frugal, however I put it, you get the gist! :oD So, expect alot of that kind of talk here! I'll also be posting house renovation exploits, allotment/garden doings, what books I'm reading, where I'm going, what I'm doing in my daily life and all manner of trivial everyday minutiae! So, beware! :oD