Merry Christmas To All and To All a Goodnight.......

Well, Christmas week is finally here and the winter weather has come too....I hope that none of you have been stranded!

We have done well with our pledge and our festivities this year have been done without the help of the high street (but with the exception of one supermarket shop which I think is allowed?!?)

I have made marmalade.....

 .....made decorations.....

baked, cooked, sewn, thrifted and recycled and had a HUGE amount of FUN doing it - and all on a shoestring!  Though I must admit the thing I have needed above all else is time and for having that this year I am truly grateful.

And now all the gifts are made and wrapped,  it is time to open our hearts and our home to loved ones.....

.....The Angel Window that greets them...

.....The Festive Dresser.....

.....Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree.....

.....The Festive Dresser's little sister....

  Warmest Winter Wishes to you all and to all a goodnight!

Cally x x x

Sugar and Spice (and all things nice!)

No Topsham market this week, so I decided to take a leaf out of a new book I'm reading at the moment, which I'm sure you've all read before me! In case you haven't, it's called "The Thrift Book" by India Knight:

The leaf that I selected this weekend was marmalade making! Again, I'm sure that lots of you can do this with your eyes closed, but this was my first time. I'm fairly pleased with the results, but practice makes perfect! (My husband is quite content to act as guinea pig). Next batch is a Nigella Lawson pink grapefruit recipe, very simple sounding - if it works well I'll post the recipe.

How amazing that this.....                .....and this.....

.....produces this!!!

So, along with marmalade making I made some spice biscuits for a friend who was coming for tea as well as cinnamon and vanilla sugar all ready for Christmas baking.

                        Tea for two.....                    

Preparing for Christmas!

(The lovely sweetpeas in this photo were grown by Lainey - thank you!! xx)

                       

After all this much-enjoyed domesticity, time to relax in a lovely hot bath!  So - candles lit, wine poured.....

 

.....a lovely end to a lovely day!

Warm Wishes for a wonderful week

Cally xxx