Tuesday 27 December 2011

This Christmas

Hello lovelies ,
What's your favourite part of Christmas? I think mine is Christmas eve, when all the decorations are looking lovely and the children's anticipation is infectious. This year I noticed the wonderful seasonal colours in the treats laid out on our coffee table... Quality Street are traditional in the BM household...they taste yummy and I just love the colours of the wrappers.
 I was very happy to pick up these clementines locally...I adore the fabulous shiny fruit in their cute little wooden box .
  Another tradition is nuts in shells...mostly because they remind me of my childhood Christmases .......






Over on the sofa  the Christmas cushion cover I made a couple of years ago was making me smile...it could be the robins slightly odd looking Santa hat ....never the less , I still love it .....it was inspired by a Christmas card brought home by one of my boys and simply appliqued onto a plain cover I already had.......




Sadly I didn't have much time to sit down as baking was required for our Christmas eve visitors. Along with mince pies and fairy cakes I decided to make a  cake .
Not your traditional Christmas cake (which I love, but the boys are not keen on) but yummy chocolate cake . I added some red,white and green sprinkles and my mums old cake decorations to make it look more festive......


I was thinking about cuckoos wonderful baking when I finished this ...that girl is an amazing cake decorator ( scroll down this post to see her beautiful cake )....mine looks so basic in comparison, but then I realised I could borrow something Id seen on her wonderful cake .......a fun banner...yes!! no cake decorating skill required:0)  
I literally threw this together in less that ten minutes. I love it when inspiration strikes and you end up with something similar to what popped into your minds eye with very little effort.......just a couple of kebab sticks, some yarn ,ready made pompoms,and some coloured paper. I was going to write the letters on the little triangles but came across a stars alphabet I printed  ages ago ( from here ) and they looked perfect .......



The pompoms were threaded onto the yarn with a large needle and the boys reminded me to add two dots above the E ......

                                                                            LOVE IT :0)


Something I'm also loving is my Pay-it-forward gift sent to me by ANDAMENTO. Isn't the wrapping lovely.............


I was very good and waited till Christmas day to open it, only to find lots of individually wrapped items...



Inside were these lovely things........


No less than three tree decorations , a pretty glass magnet, mulled wine sachet , chocolate coins , and a little red box containing this tiny  Nativity scene........


I love it all , thank you :0)
I now have a year to make three parcels of my own to pass onto any lovely bloggers who are willing to do the same.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I do love it ,but I will admit to being ever so slightly relieved  when it's over . Still, the decorations will be staying till new year and I've found another spot for my impromptu cake banner...it's now an impromptu hyacinth banner ......



Jacquie x

21 comments:

  1. i love christmas eve too the anticipation, the tracking santa. it's funny how a bowl of shelled nuts remind us of our childhood isn't, those and dates thet seemed to sit there for many a day or month after the festivities had ceased!!! i love the cushion and the impromtu make of the banner i made a couple of cushion this year a reindeer one and a tree one that i had seen on a 365 pinterest blog.
    pay it forward is such a lovely idea isn't and you received such lovely gifts too. i would love to be popped in the hat so to speak.
    hope you have a great day tracy x

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  2. What a lovely post Jacqui - belated Christmas greetings to you!

    the banner on the cake is a wonderful idea might try it on my mum's birthday cake tomorrow!

    your house always looks so cosy, loving the robin cushion.

    I love the idea of the pay it forward and would really be pleased to be included if possible...

    Enjoy the holidays!

    Helenxx

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  3. The chocolate cake looks delicious. I love christmas eve, especially pottering around in the kitchen listening to the radio with all the christmas songs on. Children make the time so magical, they are so excited and it is infectious.
    The banner is beautiful. I call inspiration like that a "mammy moment". Mammies can fix anything and make everything look perfect :)

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  4. Christmas eve is my favourite ~ I think it is the anticipation of the next morning that does it for me too. We always settle down to watch The Polar Express on Christmas eve ~ I love that film. Your Christmas goodies all look wonderful! I'd love to have my name entered into the PIF ~ it's a great idea :O)xx

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  5. Hey Jacquie, that lovely chocolate cake has me drooling it looks delish and that bunting does look very festive. It looks like the 'finish line' in the Hyacinths .....first to flower and get over the line, hehehe.......

    Of course I love your Robin cushion and I think that's what I need for my couch this Winter a cute little English Robin to brighten things up.

    Love the slice of dried orange on Andamento's PIF parcel, sweet gifts wrapped up in brown paper.......

    Hope you have been able to relax and put your feet up and finish the Quality Street, now that the big day has passed.

    Claire :}

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  6. Happy Christmas Jacquie!

    I know just what you mean about Christmas Eve. Mind you, I love this post-Christmas bit - pottering around in comfies, picking through the leftovers in the fridge and not caring about the house being a tip! :-)

    I adore your robin cushion and am totally inspired by your little banner - my own hyacinths NEED one!

    Wishing you a super relaxy day.

    Hx

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  7. Hi Jacquie,
    I love your robin cushion. I was thinking of doing something similar with felt, but need to find the right plain cushion cover first.
    I'm glad you like your PIF gifts. There should have been a glass bead bracelet too. I'm sure I included it as I checked there were 8 items per parcel, if you can't find it I can send you another one.

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  8. Weren't the PIF parcels from Anne lovely :) I've started recruting for people for me to send parcels too :)

    Your cake looks great - the banner is a great idea :)

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  9. I love your robin cushion and I am with you in loving Christmas which also includes when it is done and dusted.

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  10. Love the cake banner, must have one of these in m Xmas decs next year, so clever.

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  11. ........|___|.....
    ........|000|.....
    ........|000|.....
    ........|000|......
    ........|000|....... PROSPERO AÑO NUEVO!!!
    .........\00/........ QUE TENGAS¡¡¡MUY FELIZ 2012!!!
    ..........\0/.........
    ...........||.......
    ...........||.........
    ...........||...... ...
    ........._||_.......
    ¡*ALEGRIA*SALUD*AMOR*!
    (¸.•´ (¸.•` * ¸.•´¸.•*´¨)(¸.•´ (¸.•` * ¸.•´¸.•*´¨)

    UN ABRAZO GRANDE ☯
    C@

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  12. Lovely to catch up with you Jacquie, your blog has been a constant source of joy to me this year. I am often told this by peeps who call on me in the Attic, and it feels rather wonderful to say the same to someone else!
    I also wanted to mention how much I am loving that LOnG list over on the right of blogs that you visit, I'm working my way down it and discovering some new ones which is lovely. I do love fresh ideas and inspiration, such talent and creativity in Blogland, I'll never tire of it.
    Wishing you a very happy and peaceful remainder to the year, I think 2012 is gonna be a cracker!
    lots of love as ever
    Lucexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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  13. Love the cake and the banner,Jacquie,Wishing you a happy new year and look forward to reading your lovely blog in 2012.juliexxxxx

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  14. I too feel a sense of relief when Christmas Day is here at last and then over. My children are still at the age where they get a bit too giddy and, therefore, naughty in the run up to Christmas! Christmas day was great, but I enjoy Boxing Day the most. I think the best meal of the year is the leftovers from Christmas dinner chopped and reheated all together in a frying pan!!
    I wonder why we only ever had shelled nuts at Christmas when we were children? Do you think it was the only time they were available? I love that teeny Nativity set. x

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  15. Hello Jacquie,What a lovely post. As always I love your well taken photos. Pretty and cozy Christmas stuff.

    Have a wonderful new year!!!

    Anna

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  16. Yum chocolate cake, and that gorgeous banner, Ill have to remember that for a future chocolate cake myself!! Thanks for stopping by thegreendragonfly today! Janettexx

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  17. Your cake banner is just great! And your cake looks very yummy! Happy New Year!

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  18. FELIZ AÑO NUEVO,me encanta todo el blog,tienes prendas preciosas,que colorido más bonito.

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  19. Hello lovely :) thank you so much for giving me inspiration your blog always makes me smile and im so happy i stumbled across it. i hope you have a lovely new year.
    much love Lizii x

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  20. I love your blog and his colors. Very nice.
    Saludos desde Argentina.

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