Beauty in the Ordinary

This is not about being brilliant, or extraordinary, it's not about wanting to be famous, or making headlines, or trying to impress...this about sharing a 'gift' each day with the world...to lift the spirit of people when they read this blog, to show them the beauty in the ordinary.
"And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it." Raold Dahl

Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Friday, December 24, 2010

Off We Go!


And.......off we go.
Car is loaded with presents, deviled eggs, fresh baked bread.
Up to town tonight, then home!
Back again tomorrow...then home!
Can't wait for Boxing Day when we will crash
with daughter #1,
newspapers, books, lulus, a roaring fire and a whole lot of nothin'-to-do!
...'snow flurries'...Yikes!
what ever that means!
Merry Christmas Sis...hope the celebrations at your little house are 
Wonder-ful
Kiss those beautiful little boys for me!


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Thursday, December 23, 2010

WRAPPING!!!!


Is anyone else totally
rubbish at wrapping gifts?

It doesn't matter how hard I try,
I am utterly and totally useless at it.

Give me a meal and I can
plate it and make it look fabulous.


I make the prettiest bed ever. Cushions, pillows, not a wrinkle in sight.


I can even arrange a vase of flowers that is heads above the crowd,

but paper, box, ribbon and tape and arggggggggh!


One more sleep and it's Christmas Eve.



Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Christmas Traditions

We make three kinds of cookies
at Christmas in our family.
(and once you have read the recipes,
you'll understand why they are only made at Christmas!)


We get together in my father-in-law's teeny-tiny kitchen
sometimes ten, sometimes twelve of us, turn up the Christmas music, 
and bake all afternoon.


This year we were just ten, as youngest daughter and her hubby are
in Miami...but it was okay, we connected by speaker phone and shared some
of the afternoon with them.

Vanille Krunsl


¾ c sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
10 oz butter
1 pkt vanilla sugar
3 c flour
Icing sugar and jam to finish
  1. Mix all dry ingredients
  2. Rub in butter
  3. Add eggs and egg yolk
  4. Roll on lightly-floured board
  5. Bake on ungreased baking sheet at 325 for 12-15 minutes until pale yellow
  6. Sandwich with jam and dust with icing sugar

Rum Balls


¼ lb bittersweet chocolate
2 oz butter
½ c finely ground walnuts/almonds
1 oz rum
8 oz icing sugar
1 oz graham cracker crumbs
2 egg yolks
1 Melt chocolate and butter.
2 Add the rest of the ingredients.
3 Cool approximately 1-1/2 hrs
4 Roll into bite-size balls and decorate in chocolate sprinkles/coloured sugar
Makes approximately 36

and Lady Fingers


3 c ground walnuts
3/4 c flour
3/4 c sugar
1/4 c graham crackers
1 egg
1 egg yolk

Icing
1 egg white
7 tbsp icing sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice

Heat oven to 350 degrees.
1 Mix all ingredients until well blended and forms a dough.
2 Roll dough into a rectangle approx 1/2" thick.
3 Beat egg white and lemon juice to the soft peak stage.
4 Add icing sugar one tbsp at a time until icing stands in thick peaks.
5 Spread icing on dough. Cut into fingers and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
6 Bake for 3 mins at 350 degrees 
7 Reduce oven temperature to 200 degrees and bake until icing is dry (approx 45 mins).

and it certainly wouldn't be Christmas
without Kenny and Dolly


Tuesday, December 21, 2010

It's A Wonderful Life


Presents are awaiting the finishing touches



Tomorrow will be baking a few
new things






Mincemeat

225g soft dark sugar
200ml apple or orange juice
1kg grated cooking apples
225g currants
225g raisins
50g chopped nuts - walnuts, almonds
rind and juice of a lemon
scant teaspoon each of allspice and
cinnamon.


Melt the sugar in the apple juice and add all the other ingredients once the sugar has dissolved.
Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes until you have a soft mash. Put in sterilised jars while hot. Will keep for a couple of months.
Thank you Rosemary

The snow has fallen and softened
the world outside


I'm ready for the star





and the story



Happy Christmas Everyone!

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Friday, December 17, 2010

FAVOURITE CHRISTMAS MOVIES

Tonight hubby asked me if I wanted to 
go to the hockey game.
I said I couldn't.
One of my favourite Christmas movies is on



Home Alone I

I know it's on the tv all the time,
but I can only watch it at Christmas.

Here's another of my favourites at
this wonderful season of 
Peace on Earth



What can I say, I am an action movie junkie.
Shame that Jason Statham's Transporter series isn't set during Christmas.

However, in the interests of being a 
well-rounded human being,
I do like these two too


White Christmas
and
 It's a Wonderful Life 
(this is my favourite scene)



So...what are your must-sees for Christmas?


Friday, December 10, 2010

Sparkle!

Razmataz's photo challenge this week is 

FESTIVE!

I confess to being a bit of a magpie...I love things that sparkle,
so festive, sparkle and Christmas for me
are all synonomous.


snowflakes...




Christmas angel and dove of peace.

And here is my sparkly new top
that I am going to wear over the holidays




Bling!

Thanks for hosting Chania!
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Tuesday, December 7, 2010

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas...

If I could have my dream Christmas
it might look something like this.

Christmas morning, table laid for a simple breakfast...



white decorations throughout the house...






angel wings waiting, ready to transport me away...


to an enchanted garden




then home...



to climb into my bed with tea



and hide from the world,
just for a while...
image 1, images 2,4, image 3image 5, image 6,

Monday, November 22, 2010

Gifts...

...and gift-giving.


I've managed to get myself in a right muddle over this...




...especially this time of year, when it's about a baby born into poverty.

Who gave away everything he had.


The whole business of Christmas presents just won't sit right with me.

My family and friends must be sick and tired of me going on about this...

but I can't seem to get it straight in my heart.



Then today, I did something I rarely do...I watched Oprah.

I had some ironing to do, so I flicked on the telly and there

she was, giving away hordes of stuff, and the audience was going berserk.

Apparently this was day two of doing this, and her audience, filled with people who do good things all year round, had no idea that this was going to happen.

And, at the end of this over-the-top outpouring of stuff, she said something and I heard.

She said:

   "It's not about the stuff, it's about the possibility that when you least expect it, something good can happen."

...and now, strange as it may seem...I get it.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

CHRISTMAS

Settle down Tom...this is not a 
'seasonal post'.
It actually might be an anti-seasonal post.

Our little supermarket in town put up their Christmas decorations
dubbed "holiday decorations"  (but all I could see were candy canes and elves), yesterday.
I had a chat with the store manager, essentially asking "Why so soon?"

She told me that corporate instructions were to get the Christmas decorations up 
Halloween night, but they actually held off until yesterday, November 2nd.

My point (again) is WHY?

Poor old November...in my estimation, one of the most beautiful months,
just gets forgotten, sidelined.



This quiet, soft, subtle time of the year is swallowed up
somewhere between hurried-Halloween and corporate-Christmas.

Bah Humbug is all I have to say... 

Monday, October 18, 2010

Christmas is coming...

If you really, really, really love someone
buy them this for Christmas...


We just had the papardelle, with Italian sausage, asparagus in aioli and a dusting of parmesan
(a la Willow...thank you darling)
...it was sublime.


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