Christmas Eve

Daniel, Heather and Danielle came over this evening to open their presents. As it should be, it was all about Danielle. She looked so pretty in her Christmas dress and sparkly silver shoes, but she was very excited and was running everywhere. She didn't quite get the idea to go and get a present from under the tree, but her cousin Katelynn did. They made a great team. Katelynn ran to get the presents and Danielle ripped the paper off them.
Here she is.

This was the last present standing. It was so funny as they couldn't move it. They were both huffing and puffing trying to, but it didn't take long for the clever little monkeys to figure out that they could just rip the paper off right there.

Uncle Jordan supervised and was left to clean up the wrapping paper.

We had a lovely evening. I was full of memories of when my children were small and the pranks that they got up to. I'll miss having Daniel and his family tomorrow, but I understand that this year they want to be their own little family on Christmas Day.

December Chicken of the Month

This is the very last Chicken of the Month; a Polish non-bearded Black Crested White Hen, and I dedicate it to my friend Laurel who gave me the calender in the first place.
I'm kinda sad to see the end of the chickens but I do have an idea for a monthly series next year, unless I get a different calender to feature. We'll see.

It's Snowing!

It's snowing in Arizona! Well, at our house anyway.
We bought some foam snowflakes that were covered with silver glitter, strung them on silver rope and hung them in the windows. The small window is my office, the large one is the exercise room (well, where we store the exercise equipment!) and the one overlooking the porch is our formal room.
I think they look lovely!

English Christmas Fare

Somehow this year I felt like I wanted a little bit of English fare for Christmas. It's never bothered me before but this year I thought I'd give it a try.

Here's my recipes:
Mince pies
Make some rich shortcrust pastry: Sift 8oz flour and some salt into a bowl then rub in 4oz butter of marg until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in 1 teasp. sugar, 1 egg and cold water to mix. Roll this out and line lightly greased tart tins.
I only had deep muffin tins but it worked out okay and I didn't have scone cutters so I improvised with a glass (actually 2, one was slightly smaller for the lid).
Spoon in some mincemeat, brush beaten egg around the edge and cover with the pastry lid. Brush beaten egg over the lid and sprinkle with sugar.
In the US, mincemeat is available from Costplus World Market for about $5 a jar. A bit pricey I think, but worth it to have a taste of England.

Here's the finished result. They can be sprinkled with powdered sugar to make them look more attractive.

Christmas puddings

When I was a girl I remember my mom getting up really early and steaming the Christmas puddings. Well, no longer. This is a great microwave recipe that my mother in law gave me and I used when I lived in England, but this is the first time I've made it in the US with "alternative" ingredients. It was lovely to pull out the recipe in her handwriting and I felt like she was with me when I was making the puddings.

Mix together: 8oz sultanas (white raisins), 4oz currants, (I couldn't get these 2 items in my local grocery store, but found them at a ranch market) 8oz raisins, 2oz chopped mixed or lemon peel, 1 grated medium sized carrot, 4oz flour, 4oz fine brown breadcrumbs, 4oz dark brown sugar, 4oz soft butter or marg, 2 tablsp. black treacle (I found dark molasses was the same), 2 eggs, 4 tablsp. milk, 1-2 teasp. mixed spice (I used allspice).
Cover with cling wrap and leave overnight. Put into a lightly greased 2 pint pudding basin , cover with cling wrap and microwave for 5 mins. Leave to stand for 5 mins then microwave again for 1 further minute.
I used double the recipe as I have lots of hungry mouths to feed and these puddings freeze so well. I couldn't find traditional pudding basins here, but I used this Glad ware and microwaved them individually with the lids on lightly for 3 mins each, let them stand for a couple of minutes then put them all back in the microwave for 4 mins total. They fluff up nicely and smell so great.

Here's an individual one on a plate.
Traditionally they're served with sweet white or rum sauce, but pouring or heavy cream will do just great. For the uninitiated, these puddings are very rich and you would only eat a very small portion.
Enjoy!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We put the Christmas lights up this week end and these pictures just don't do them justice at all. They look really pretty, especially the tree.
Here's the outside of the house. We have a few more things to do yet, we're thinking of hanging large snowflakes from the porch. Hhhmmm, maybe,
The Christmas tree looks really blurry in this photo, but it really is very pretty.

The tree is decorated in red, green and gold, and I bought a new angel for the top of the tree and a new tree skirt for the bottom!

This collage shows just a few Christmas touches around the house.