Sleepy Day.

We've had a typical laid back Boxing Day, doing nothing much at all. Peter's back is much better and he had a clear out of his study which will be needed as a spare bedroom when Vytas and Sally arrive tomorrow. Smudge decided to join Elwen sleeping in the big pan.

It has been a sleepy grey day but luckily not raining so Romas and I decided to go for a walk. All the eating and sitting around was beginning to take its toll and we needed some fresh air.

We walked up to Bowden Corner and then to Rookabear Lane where we had a glimpse of the distant sea. We finished our walk by cutting through the fields which were very muddy especially around the gateways. We are now set for an evening of film watching, the heating is on and the chocs are to hand.

Christmas Day.

How sad to hear this evening of the bomb attacks on church goers in Nigeria. Our hearts go out to the affected communities and we pray for reconcilliation.

I hope that today has been a good day for all of you reading this post. We have had a relaxed day with Linas and Romas, eaten lots of good food and exchanged gifts. Peter's back was too fragile for us to go to church last night so instead I watched the Midnight Mass broadcast from St George's Cathedral. It had the comforting familiarity of High RC church which took me back to my childhood. While the pomp and ceremony is not the way we have worshiped for many years the preaching was thoughtful and sincere and after all we are all celebrating the Birth of Jesus.
After putting the rib of beef in the oven followed by a leisurely start to the day we gathered to open our presents. Lots of treats for everyone, mainly edible ones.

The boys have been so helpful this year, helping with food preparation and even wrapping up presents for Peter when he was confined to bed. Peter has been up and about today aided by tablets and a back brace. Right now the boys are dismantling/mending some old speakers on the coffee table, things never change.

The present that touched me the most was this selection of chocolate truffles flavoured with a variety of liqueurs including gingerbread cream, toffee cream and raspberry vodka. The boys spent most of Friday night making these after I had gone to bed. What a lovely present. Also much appreciated from Peter was a replacement wing mirror for my little car. The mirror fell out a few years ago and I promptly ran over it. While it is not a legal requirement to have a passenger door mirror it does make life a lot easier especially as I have no rear spatial awareness and usually end up getting out of the car to see how much room there is left behind me.

The rain has been falling gently all day so no incentive to go out for a walk. Our day has been a little food based, preparation, eating and clearing up. The fridge is full of food that will keep us going for quite a while now and I shall have to think about dieting again in the New Year.

Cat moment- Deep growls coming from Elwen who was curled up on the mat in front of the Rayburn with Speedy. Reason - Speedy had her tail in his paws and was happily chewing on it. Even when the chewing changed to a conciliatory licking the growls continued until Elwen snatched her tail away and tucked it safely beneath her. Poor Speedy does not yet understand that the older cats do not want to play with him.

Christmas Traditions

I've had a fairly relaxed day today. Peter's back has been playing up all week and just as he thought it was on the mend an awkward turn has rendered him immobile, pain free only when lying flat on his back and dosed up with painkillers. Not a good start to Christmas for him, poor thing. I've spent the day preparing food for our traditional evening meal. Our families came from Lithuania where it is traditional to have a special meal on Christmas Eve as the main celebration of the holiday. There should be 12 courses or dishes consisting of fish or vegetables with no meat or dairy products being used. We compromise by having 12 dishes on the table as a mainly cold buffet. I always try and get marinated herrings as well as ordinary pickled herrings. We are also having smoked salmon, prawns, hot prawns in batter and the boys are concocting something spicy with king prawns, (we dropped into the supermarket late last night after picking up Linas from the train station and got some good deals.) Potato salad has been made and a mixed bean and beetroot salad. I'm taking a break while the boys take over the kitchen. This is the last day of Advent and when I think back on all the things in my life that I am thankful for I can see that I have a good life indeed and much to be thankful for.
Gift giving is always a part of Christmas and although we have tried to scale back this year focusing on treats rather than grand items there is still a sizable pile in the spare room waiting to be put under the tree tonight. Ah! the tree that we weren't going to have because it is a 'quiet' year. A tree was requested so once again we have our eco-tree fashioned from the top of one of the prolific leylandii and decorated with lots of glass drops and 'crystal' decorations. When the boys were little we only put the tree up after they had gone to bed on Christmas Eve and we have carried on with not putting it up until Christmas Eve.

We have always gone as a family to the midnight Service at our local village church but we will have to see how Peter's back is. Then it's time for bed so that 'Mother' Christmas can hang small stockings on everybody's bedroom door handle. Because the contents this year are mostly chocolates I shall not be wrapping each item. That used to take so long to do as I would buy small items all through the year for each of them. (Linas has just come in to say that they are sorting out all the rest of the meal.)

Looking forward to all the Christmas festivities - Merry Christmas to one and all!

Baking Day.

Today is the first day of my Christmas holidays and I am thankful for the fact that many years ago, without a lot of deliberation, I decided to get a teaching qualification after my degree. That was after I had failed to get the grades to take up my place at vet school, spent 3 years doing a degree in biology and was wondering what to next. Teaching has made it possible for me to fit my work around my family rather than vice versa. I was able to go back to supply teaching once Romas started full-time school. I don't know of many other jobs where you can work different days each week to fit around your children's appointments or be free for the school holidays. Even now I enjoy being in class though there are many aspects of the job that are too stressful so I am thankful also to be working part-time and not be responsible for a class.
Once again I have succumbed to the feeling that Christmas should be all about home cooking and attempted to bake biscuits (cookies). I never remember that this is not my forte and that baking biscuits (or cakes) in an oven that has no temperature control is asking for disaster. There is a gauge on the outside of the oven door that tells me how hot the oven is but then I have to adjust the cooking time or where I put things in the oven. Most years I struggle through a batch of biscuits and then promise myself that next year I will just buy some good biscuits. And then I forget.


I had a go at baking Snickerdoodles. First problem was that all the measurements were in cups so I had to convert them into ounces. Then, although I had looked at the recipe earlier and seen that I needed Cream of Tartar, when I bought some I picked up the wrong tub from the shelf and came home with baking powder which I already have. When I discovered this I simply used extra baking powder which might even have been the right thing to do as the recipe said baking soda(?) and Cream of Tartar. The first couple of batches spread all over the baking sheet and were too buttery so I added extra flour and now I have a tin of biscuits to offer my guests. (There was still a batch cooling in the sitting room.)



I also had another attempt at baking a Christmas cake using a recipe from Woman's Hour on R4. It is a lighter fruit cake being made without brown sugar or treacle and the mix tasted a bit sweet to me but hopefully the cake will be OK. Fruit cakes need long slow cooking so following the advice of someone at work I put the metal sheet, that has always sat on the bottom of the oven, half-way across to reduce the heat. Even with that and the baking parchment collar it still got a little dark on the edges. The only adjustments I made to the recipe were to use extra sultanas and peel to make up for the fact that I didn't have any currants or raisins. Also I didn't have any brandy to soak the fruit in, couldn't open the malt whiskey so used rum instead. I don't think I'll ice it as hardly anyone likes the marzipan or icing. That's my excuse anyway. Just as I was about to start baking the repair men turned up to fix our satellite TV as the high winds had affected the signal. That's what happens when you put the dish on the most exposed corner of the building.


The cats have been a dreadful nuisance through all my baking until I locked them all out of doors. No food is safe when Speedy is around. He also rips through plastic carrier bags to tear into bags of flour , sultanas or oats. Just now there was a crash in the kitchen and all the cats had ripped open a bag of peanuts which were bought for the birds, and were feasting on them. Arrgh!

Family Christmas.

A very relaxed Christmas Day. After a late breakfast of croissants and bacon it was time to open those presents so lovingly wrapped and placed under the tree. Despite appearances Patch was enjoying sitting on Linas' lap.

We like to give silly presents and generally attempt to disguise our presents using recycled packaging.
Vytas was very happy with his Dremmel (craft drill) which he wanted for his model making.

At the end of the present opening we sit amid a sea of wrapping paper, some to be saved but most destined for the fire. The boys spent most of the day attempting to repair the straps on the snowboard before hitting the slopes (Ron's field) and taking advantage of the snow while we still have it. A late Christmas dinner followed, it's hard to cook a dinner which mainly consists of items needing to go in the oven - bird, sausages, stuffing, parsnips and roast potatoes, when the rayburn with its tiny oven drops its temperature every time a new dish is added. Nevertheless it was a slap up feast and there is plenty left over ,( and from our fish based Christmas Eve meal), so that we won't need to do any major cooking for the next few days. Not to mention all the chocolates, German salami, Indian sweets and dried fruit that made up a large part of our presents to each other. I foresee a return to the diet in January but for the time being I'll enjoy the nice things that have been given to me. A wood fire and light tv viewing are now making for a relaxing evening.

(It would have been fool hardy to drive out to Shirwell for the midnight service so we listened to the morning service from St Martin's-in-the-fields.)

Christmas Greetings.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

to all my friends and visitors.

Have a wonderful day.

The Night Before Christmas.

T'was the night before Christmas

and all round the house

the garden was covered

with snow and with ice.

(Say that in a posh voice and it will rhyme.)The air was all still

as I marched round the hill

with cards from afar

left safe in my car.

Two sons then came down

with food bought in town

and stored in the car

by their Ma and their Pa.

Then off sons did trot
to the Muddiford Inn
but no bus to be got
so a bit more walkin'.

Not much to buy
when to town they did go,
but they gave it a try
before meeting big bro'.

Down motorways long
from the north he had come
for the call it is strong
to spend Christmas at home.

Now all are home safely
Christmas can start.
With Jesus and family
close to my heart.

Disclaimer - I'm not a poet, and I do know it.

Snow Joke.

Same old snow keeping us stuck in our valley. I went for a walk up the hill to stretch my legs and see what the road at the top was like but there is no chance of driving out. I would just like to get those last few presents and collect any parcels and letters that are waiting at the Post Office and pick up some library books. I tend to leave that job till last and often end up with nothing new to read over the holidays. I'm hoping that Peter isn't working all day on Friday so that we could go in then. I haven't heard anything from Vytas who is due to drive down on Friday but the road conditions don't look very good so he might be stuck up North for Christmas. Sheep always look grubby and yellow against the gleaming white snow.
There were a few moments of sunshine but the wind was really icy. I could hear the Hunt's dogs down along the valley (must stop thinking evil thoughts about people who kill animals for fun). Some of their vehicles were parked up at the top of the drive, fleeting thoughts of flat tyres crossed my mind but I resisted.

Both Linas and Romas have got heavy colds. Linas spent most of the day under his duvet but Romas who is a hardy soul went outside to enjoy the snow and I could see him cutting swathes down Ron's field with his snow board. I'm trying to put school to the back of my mind and have spent time reading lots of blogs and checking out webcams around the country to see what the weather conditions are like.

Final job of the day was to bake a batch of Christmas biscuits. I don't know if it is due to me nibbling the dough but it always seems a lot of work for not that many biscuits (30) and they could still do with icing. That's probably the reason I only make biscuits at Christmas.

Bonus Post.

Had to post a picture of my 'home-made' tree which I rather like though I could do with a chunkier star on the top. It is making the sitting room smell really nice, no need for pine scented candles or room sprays.
And just for fun some typical views of my kitchen Rayburn festooned with drying clothes & shoes. The cats have been taking it in turns to occupy the warmer oven and the boots were there to be made a bit more flexible by the heat.

Elwen doesn't usually get a chance to occupy this prize position and is making the most of it.

Christmas Day.

Jesus is the Reason for the Season.

Have a wonderful day everyone!

I'd love it if any readers would say Hi today in the comments section, I'm assuming that somebody out there is reading this blog.