Top 10 Food or Drink from the festive season #17

            

Only three more sleeps to go and wrapping of gifts has commenced! I'm not quite ready for Christmas but I've 72hrs left so what's the rush??! Hehe

This weeks Top 10 is all about food and drink that is related to Christmas and I have to say thinking about it all is making me hungry!

First on my list is a food that I love to eat during December even though it's available in other months and that's ...

1. Satsuma's

Next...I always think of goose fat! Yuck! But so if used when roasting potatoes is absolutely delicious and so popular these days here.

2. Goose fat

3. Yule log

As a chocoholic every Christmas has to have a Christmas chocolate Yule log. Especially as I don't like Christmas pudding or mince pies. It is usually very sickly but...it is Christmas!

4. Port

I don't like red wine but I am partial to a port or port & lemonade (rwhites) and this is very much a Christmas tipple.

5. Liver parfait

It's available all year round and it's my starter of choice but at Christmas I make this and it's delicious...even if I do say so myself! 

6. Chestnuts 

I don't like chestnuts but the smell of them roasting when it's starting to get dark, with the atmospheric Christmas lights and the hustle and bustle of a big city like London have left me with a fondness for them...if only to smell!

7. After dinner mints

As is traditional here...or at least in our house...you have a starter, a main, a dessert, cheese & biscuits, coffee and after dinner mints and then doze in the afternoon whilst the queen is giving her speech. After eights are the most traditional I think although I do like the crunch of Elizabeth shaw' mints too.

8. Hot chocolate 

Hot chocolate was included on my list of things I love about this time of year. My Christmas hot chocolate is with a shot of cinnamon and whipped cream. 

9. Tins of sweets

You can of course buy these all year around but during December they fly from the shelves...kilo after kilo...the options are usually roses, quality street, celebrations or heroes! But for me the most Christmassy is quality street with their shiny wrappers in Royal colours.

10. Candy canes

I couldn't ignore candy canes as they are symbols of Christmas and so here they are to finish off the list! 

Now don't forget to go and check out what food and drink Keebs and Tiff (links in the sidebar) are looking forward to in December.

Top 10 Christmas themed cross stitch charts

Top 10 Christmas themed cross stitch charts #16

I decided for this weeks theme to focus on one of my favourite symbols of Christmas, I apologise that I haven't gone with the religious side of Christmas in my choice, but I do love me some Santa!

I have chosen designs that I wouldn't necessarily stitch (although some I would) but which I would happily have stitched for me to hang on my wall! hahahhahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahah I need to get my nieces addicted to cross stitch.

So, here in no particular order.....

Don't forget to go and check out what Tiffstitches and Keebles have to say! (links on the side bar)

Ladies and gentleman....I give to you...my 500th post!!! (Top 10 #15)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is true. Here it is. My 500tth post in just over four years.I am not sure what I should write.

Should it be meaningful, profound, moving, or just plain fun?

The answer I thought was for me to bore you half to death with my blog stats, or write a mammoth list of 500 thoughts that I may be having at any one time. In the end after minutes of self-reflection and internal anguish I decided...

"Oh bugger it! I'll just write todays Top 10!"

So...here it is...

Top 10 Favourite films to watch at Christmas

I. as you know, love me a bit of Christmas, Xmas, Crimbo, Yuletide etc. and I am that person who (if they thought they could get away with it) would spend entire days throughout December watching the Christmas Movie Channel. Yes, not just big budget but low rent dodgy TV movies suck me in too.

Below are some picture clues to just a few films that I will be watching this December...some are lilnked to childhood memories and may not necessarily be Christmas themed, others I adore for there innocent joy and the others...well, who doesn't love a good giggle under the mistletoe.

Top 10

Coming soon to a blog near you.........

I thought I would take a moment to tell you all about the upcoming Christmas Rom-Com (12-part story) that as it has in the past will run from December 13^th until Christmas Eve.  I hope to make you all smile each day as the main characters get up to Christmas themed antics.

This year is going to be a little different, and I am asking you (the readers of this blog) to choose each day’s perspective….What?! I hear you cry!

Day 1, I shall post the first part of the story where you will meet the two main characters, then before midnight (GMT) each day you need to vote on whose viewpoint you would like the next day to be from…and the one most voted for will be the one that is posted the next day. It will all make more sense once we get started!

So…what are you letting yourself in for? What’s in store?

‘Santa-bloody-tastic Land’

Top 10 Things I Love/Hate about Christmas/Winter #14

NOBODY TOLD ME IT WAS WEDNESDAY TODAY!!!!

Again I am late...I am sure I was a white rabbit in a past life...hehehe...so here is my list of Top 10 things I love about Christmas.

1. The lights

I love the lights, especially when you walk past windows and see the twinkle of lights on a tree, it just adds to the atmosphere. When it’s so dark and cold and you see the warm glow of Christmas lights you can’t help but smile, or at least for me it’s like a gentle hug.

2. The music

The sound of the bells jingling, the happy tunes, whatever the music whether spoof, cynic or love tunes, the music always gets me into the holiday spirit. I once took my mother to the Ritz in London for their high tea. It was early December and as we supped out tea and thought about leaving a choir arrived and was singing carols and it was like stepping into that movie moment. Carol concerts, little kids singing badly or overly sweetly is pretty adorable.

3. The movies

Where do I begin? One of the first movies I ever saw at the cinema was Santa Claus: The Movie and I guess maybe that started my love of Christmas films. Miracle on 34th street is still my fave but literally any Christmas themed film I will watch. Overdose maybe but it’s that romantic in me – Christmas is the only time my Cynicism is off duty!

4. Christmas trees

I sort of explained the lure of Christmas trees with the lights in item 1, some people here do have outdoor lights like in America but the houses that do are few and far between. Christmas trees for me should be adorned with beautiful baubles – and I had been collecting them (a special one each year) – but I lost them in the fire and I guess I could start again but the lustre is dulled slightly. My grandmother has always made Christmas decorations and this year I have made…ahem…three! But I am aiming for five before the big day! I like Christmas trees and would have one in every room of my house, if I had a house!

5. Cinnamon

Hot chocolate with cinnamon, I don’t think it requires further explanation…hehhehe…and cream…and chocolate sprinkles…too much?

6. Chocolate

I do like to get a selection box for Christmas but I haven’t had one in years! Apparently once you are over 18 you don’t get them, to be fair I did until about 30…maybe I will treat myself this year?

7. Family

As much as family can send you demented from January 1st to December 31st, at Christmas time there is a moment…possibly just after Christmas dinner when everyone is feeling happy and relaxing and aglow with the love that they feel and share with their families on this day. I am lucky that my sister doesn’t mind me shoe horning myself into her Christmas and playing the Christmas angel every year (as I won’t have my own family) and it’s at this time when I see ‘my’ girls joy and excitement that I feel part of a family the most.

8. Wrapping

I love to wrap the presents, to choose just the right paper for the person, a pretty bow a handmade card, invisible tape! Yeah! It takes ages but if you are going to give a gift then make it look like it’s given with love.

9. Surprises

That present you didn’t know you even needed! I will say at this point that I don’t think Christmas is about gifts and it’s not important how much you spend, what’s important is that you do give even the smallest token as it shows that even for a moment you spent some time thinking about that person. You may disagree, but the day I wake up and so….nah I can’t be bothered…come shoot me! I won’t stop being a sentimental fool.

10. Laughter

In our family, a lot of laughter is shared at the dinner table, because 50% of us miss our mouths and the other 50% spill something on the table cloth that will stain (like gravy or red wine). So with torn paper hats hanging off of messed up hair, nice new clothes spattered in gravy, we share jokes – even the cracker jokes! These are hilarious through the eyes of a child and its these times when memories of family are made and make your heart just a little fuller for next year.