So, I do try and make my Christmas cards every year and I have done for over 10 years now (Sayyyyy whatt, madnesss)
This year, with all the craziness I almost didn’t… but then I thought, let’s just scale it back a little, keep them simple and I just do it for my fambizzle.
So thats what I did… if you are family and are reading this, maybe don’t or your card might be on here đ¤Łđ¤Ł
I still had loads of festive paper left over so I used that as the main design as they are pretty ones.
My calligraphy leaves much to be desired but, be won’t worry about that.
I really liked the simple effect of using the gift tags as part of the design.
I actually really enjoyed making these again. I have utilised Moonapig this year, in order to send cards all over the place, so it was actually really nice to be making them again!
Prehaps I’ll get ahead for next year whilst I’m enjoying it and have more time. It’s nice to do things when you have the time to enjoy it and it doesn’t become a chore.
Right, I’m off to organise our round for the Festive Boxing Day Quiz (2020 stylyyyy obv)
Especially because I feel like I haven’t done enough of these this Blogmas!
I do have another recipe up my sleeve, that I am hoping to make for our Christmas day dessert, so keep your eyes peeled for that one too đ
Chocolate Orange is one of my absolute favourite flavours ever, but I also think its quite festive too.
I used a ‘Tasty’ recipe this time which I will leave a link for here
I obviously adapted it to make them Chocolate Orange flavoured.
I added some cocoa powder to make the cookie batter chocolatey, a little orange extract instead of vanilla and I used chopped up Chocolate Orange segments, instead of choc chips.
These don’t take long to make, honestly the longest part is refrigerating the mixture for a minimum of 30 mins before baking. They only take 15 mins in the oven.
This is how they turned out. The chocolate orange pieces were all gooey đ
I hope everyone is doing ok here, in the UK, after the Corona announcements yesterday.
But, let’s try and enjoy what festivity we can, safely.
& one of the things we’ve still been able to enjoy is one of mine and my husbands favourite traditions…
The Christmas Panto!
This years panto, which we would usually watch at our local theatre, was offered as a live stream.
As you can see, this year it was their adaptation of ‘The Snow Queen’.
There were still a few people in the theatre (Covid regs in place) but we watched it on the live stream, from the comfort of our own home.
It was a blended panto, so that it worked for both the in house people and those watching at home, and honestly it was really impressive.
The way they incorporated the videos and video montages into the show as well as special effects onto the screen during certain moments was really impressive.
Considering you weren’t actually there it really was a lovely, intimate and immersive experience.
They also added interactivity to the show which was fun.
The troupe was made up of only 5 people, which is alot smaller than usual, but they did a fantastic job (as always) and they still played their instruments live, (always a favourite part of ours) They are all so talented.
It was great to see some of the familiar faces from pantos past.
And, it was as hilarious, fun and silly as always!
We thoroughly enjoyed the show! With snacks & drinks in hand.
I’m so glad we could still enjoy this tradition. Theatre is one of our absolute favourite pastimes, we love watching a show whether it be in a small theatre or in the West End.
It’s such a valuable and important part both of the entertainment branch and of our lives, and I for one hate to see it struggle.
We added a donation to our ticket cost to help support our local theatre.
I also donated to the Theatre Support fund. I’ve left a link below for you to check out how you can help, and the cool ‘The Show Must Go On’ merch that they have available.
During December, me and my friend at work have been trying out different mince pies. We work together two days so on a Monday I would bring one in and on a Thursday she would bring one in.
We got to try six different mince pies during this time, and we rated them to see which ones we preferred.
We tried the following Mince Pies:
Aldi Specially Selected
Gregg’s Bakery
Sainsburys Shortcrust Bakery
M&S Puff Pastry
Waitrose Extra Special
Co op Locally Sourced
⢠The Rankings â˘
We went for a few categories to score each mince pie on, these were:
Appearance
Overall Taste
Pastry
Fillage
And then we gave them an overall taste each.
⢠The Results â˘
Aldi Specially Selected
Appearence: 9/10 & 8/10
Overall taste: 7/10 & 7/10
Pastry: 7/10 & 7/10
Fillage: 8/10 & 7/10
Overall Rating: 7/10 & 7/10
Gregg’s
Appearance: 8/10 & 8/10
Overall taste: 5/10 & 7/10
Pastry: 6/10 & 7/10
Fillage: 8/10 & 7/10
Overall rating: 5/10 & 6/10
Sainsburys Bakery
Appearence: 8/10 & 8/10
Overall taste: 8/10 & 8/10
Pastry: 9/10 & 9/10
Fillage: 5/10 & 5/10
Overall rating: 8.5/10 & 9/10
M&S Puff Pastry
Appearence: 6/10 & 6/10
Overall taste: 6.5/10 & 8/10
Pastry: 5/10 & 3/10
Fillage: 3/10 & 3/10
Overall rating: 6/10 & 7/10
Waitrose
Appearence: 8/10 & 8/10
Overall taste: 9/10 & 6/10
Pastry: 8.5/10 & 8/10
Fillage: 8/10 & 8/10
Overall rating: 8/10 & 8/10
Co-op Locally Sourced
Appearence: 6/10 & 6/10
Overall taste: 10/10 & 10/10
Pastry: 8/10 & 9/10
Fillage: 10/10 & 9/10
Overall rating: 9.5/10 & 9/10
So, the winner of our taste testing was… (drum roll please)
The Co-op Locally Sourced !
These are my favourite and even with trying others that hasn’t changed, and my friend agreed too.
I LOVE festive food (& food in general) and Christmas is one of those times of year where we indulge a little more, enjoy a few of our favourite snacks and have a nice time.
… I like having some of these, particularly, at Christmas as they make me feel super festive, but obviously alot of them can be had at other times of the year!
Here are some of my favourites…
A absolute festive staple.
This is one of my favourite chocolates. I would of course eat this at other times of the year but, I often just get the grab bags or bars, saving the actual chocolate orange for christmas time.
It always feels so festive, perhaps it’s the Christmas/clementine similarity.
And thanks to old Saint Nick, I always get one in my stocking.
Now I do only eat these ones at Christmas! Mince pies.
These are a treat that I have started to like only over the last five years or so, and I love them throughout November and December.
Me and my work friend did a mince pie taste testing this year so look out for that in a Blogmas post to come.
Shortbread is my favourite type of biscuit and I LOVE them at Christmas. I especially love the M&S Christmas, musical tins. These little packs of Chritmas trees are delish too.
Tesco’s Christmas shortbread selection tins are my favourite in terms of taste, super delicious and with lots of sugar on top.
PRINGLES! The ultimate crisps.
I try not to eat tooooo many because they really are addictive!! So I always get these for Christmas as they are a buffet essential đđť
Sour Cream and Chive are my absolute fave.
Hot Chocolate is a Christmas must have!
Perfect for the cold weather and these are a couple of my favourites.
I recently discovered the Cadbury hot chocolate and how good it is. I’m sure I’ve tried it before but not made it well, because I can’t get enough of it now!! I was definatly making it wrong Haha.
Mint hot chocolate is my favourite flavour and there is something about the minty taste that makes me feel super festive.
Hot chocolates are so cosy đĽ°
Crackers & cheese are a Christmas must have. Great as a little snack or part of an epic buffet.
& finally…
Our tipple of choice!
It’s got to be a nice, ice cold fruit cidar. I don’t really drink casually, but I do love to have a few of these in the fridge, ready for the festive period đ
It’s one of the times of year that I do actually fancy a casual one here and there.
I love stockings and finding little bits to go in them, (helping out Santa obv!)
I generally go by the rule of something edible, something to do something to wear, something to pamper and something fun/silly!
I feel like the fun/silly present is easier to be more specific, depending on who the stocking is for…
So, here are some general ideas for you!
A book đ Festive theme optional.Because is there anything for festive than a Chocolate orange ?!A pampering face mask!A useful item but also nice to receive, u think they are handy and its always nice to try new ones.Something fun! A little game like Top Trumps, Uno or Dobble are great for Christmas morning/day time for a bit of fun. I love Dobble.A new Christmas decoration. Little personalised or initial ones are cute.A CLASSIC. No explanation needed.A little filled bauble with some treats! Cute and a little different.Christmassy socks! Or cosy ones. Either way, who doesn’t love a sock (and they are always handy hey!)
Another little pamper product such as a bath bomb or something similar. Lush have some funky, festive ones.
Roseanne Byford 