Good health and happiness...

... to you all in 2011!This is a vintage hand-painted New Year's card - my mother gave me a small collection of really lovely cards, and I've added a few more over the past year.
When I saw French and British magazines doing Christmas displays with cards in jars, I knew I'd finally found a safe way to display such precious cards!The flags of the Entente Powers are shown on this wonderfully patriotic Christmas card of 1915.

Sweet, isn't she?

I was really pleased with this piece of translucent shop-wrapping paper, found in a box which had sold handkerchiefs, I think. It looks good behind the delicate Victorian card.

I had fun co-ordinating things around this glittery one (bought on ebay about a year ago).

Glitter, glitter...

Hearty Wishes!

I picked branches of rosehips to provide a bit of 'reddery' amongst my regular greenery. This plant is the mega-plant which now trails itself almost to the ground on one side of its tall bookshelf.

Under the cloche, Leslie wishes us a Happy Christmas... The fact that these cards were signed and sent makes them even more special.

So, to you all, I really do wish Good Health and Happiness,and every blessing for 2011. See you then!

Christmas 2010

The cake. The decorations going up.

The church spire through the window.

The cat.

The dog.

The tree.

The meal.

The pudding.

The game - kübb.

The grandpa.

The memories. Thanks for all your lovely Christmas wishes, and for all your blog posts, which I need to catch up with! We had a happy, quiet Christmas with my father. The hand-outline embroideries were my presents to all the family - thanks very much to Polka Dot Daze for the idea! The hands on the right are me, Ben and the boys, and those on the left are my dad, mum, sister and me. It was quite poignant embroidering them as I sat in the Hospice with my mum, and when I came home.

BREAKING NEWS: FATHER CHRISTMAS REUNITED WITH SACK!

See below for details.

Made it!

Without luggage, at shortly after midninght. Thanks so much for your good wishes!

Update: 22h10

Not here yet.

On time for Christmas?

Please excuse the random photo (entitled 'Cat with Muscat') by Son 1. Yes, the cat is sitting on the cooker. It was nice and warm on a cold evening. Yes, I wiped it with germ-killing stuff afterwards. The big question here, as in so many other homes, is all about planes and weather. My dad was due out with us this Monday, and managed the first leg of his flight (Edinburgh to London) and then got held up at Heathrow, with all BA flights to Toulouse cancelled. He made it in to London and has been staying there quite comfortably, and his genius daughter (i.e. my sister!) found him a seat on an Easyjet flight out of Gatwick tonight. So, if Gatwick is clear, and it seems good at the moment, he will be with us at around 9pm - hurray!
j
But where is his luggage? Well now, that's an interesting question. He's visited Marks and Spencer in London, so isn't short of clothes, but where are his Christmas presents to us? Where
are my sister's presents to us, for that matter? BA's answer to this is that they are in limbo somewhere between Heathrow and Toulouse. WHEN they arrive at Toulouse, we will be phoned... It may well be after Christmas.... Will it even be before my dad goes home?..
j
I will keep you updated! Have a wonderful Christmas - I think we will, because having grandpa here (with his new Father Christmas beard) is going to be far more important than having his presents.

Mince Pies - The Result

Oh, I loved your comments on my first mince pie post! Lululiz rightly pointed out: "Hahahaha, those are the best competitions, where you get to scoff lots of lovely things, and in the end it doesn't really matter who wins, because you are all too stuffed to care, lol."
Heidi of Bord and Butik asked "This may sound silly but I have never tried this pie. I always thought it sounded .....are there prunes in it?" Perfectly good question, Heidi - you've taught me a lot about food, so now I hope I can teach you a bit about British Christmas food! I'll begin with another email from a non-Brit (and you can tell...)

Green Thumb said: "Ha ha! it sounds like a competition for who's getting fatter!" But yes, my Italian friend, the British Christmas IS a competition to see who can get the fattest! Any Brits out there who disagree? Living in France has shown me that good food doesn't necessarily mean excessive food, but that came as a bit of a shock to a Brit!So now, to business. Mincemeat used to contain meat, in the Middle Ages, but now only the dried fruits, fat, apple, nuts, sugar and alcohol are left. Those are your basic ingredients - usually dried grapes in all their various forms, and citrus peel. No prunes, actually. Suet can be vegetarian, so you're safe if you don't fancy the traditional beef fat.

The pastry is very important. This is where I feel the Hairy Bikers' recipe really falls down. Theirs sounds good, with a lot of orange peel and orange juice in the mixture, but the pastry comes out of the blender like modelling clay and cooks similarly. Did you find that, Maggie? I tried it by hand and it was no better.Therefore, my pies, with the sweetened, enriched pastry recipe from Ben's 1990 Good Housekeeping recipe book, came out the winner. My mincemeat, à la Delia, also wins for the most traditional yumminess. (Delia is Martha without the home decor, for my American friends.) But we did like the HB's smoother, more citrussy mincemeat too, and I've put some of that into my own pastry cases, and we are looking forward to that tonight!

j

Perhaps the best result: Son 2, who is Picky Eater Number 1, decided to try his brother's mincepies because he was starving (nothing else would have motivated him) and he has finally decided he LOVES mince pies! Since then he as also tried mashed potato with pumpkin, which even his brother won't eat! So we have a more relaxed eater, willing try occasionally try a few new things. RESULT indeed!

A Final, Final Pause in Advent 2010!

Thanks so much for your lovely, supportive and understanding comment on yesterday's penultimate Pause! Today I want this post to be about all the Pause in Advent bloggers - thank you so much for all your news, thoughts, ideas and inspiration over the last four weeks. Here is a selection of key words that I've picked up from you as I've been reading your Advent posts this year:

j

j

Some of the words are about what Advent means to us, and some are about what we hope for from the season. The bigger words are ideas that appeared many times. This is what Wordle can do for you! Clever Wordle.

j

So for you all, those who have posted and those who have read and those who have commented, I wish you every blessing for a Christmas full of:

j

Love

j

Simplicity

j

Fun

j

Tradition

j

Celebration

j

Memories

j

Peace

Nearly my last Pause in Advent 2010!

There are two posts I want to write this week, so this is the first of two Advent Pauses! It's the personal one - tomorrow I will post my final one, thanking all you lovely bloggers who've taken part in our little bit of peace in the midst of the preparations. What I want to write about is gratitude for the past year, and trust for the year to come. When I looked in my prayer journal to see what was on my mind this time last year, I recalled that we had been terribly worried, as a family, about poor little Son 2, who had started College, the French secondary school, at the age of only 10. This is perfectly possible, given the way that the French school ages are organised, but by Christmas last year it was clear that he wasn't coping. His classmates were a particularly big, grouchy and underachieving bunch, and he was a terrified little learner, with a big fear of failure, amongst them. He was frequently in floods of tears over unfinished homework, and had difficulty sleeping.
j
We've known how our prayers were answered - the College reluctantly agreed this summer that Son 2 could redoubler, or take the year again, and we can see (and constantly remark on) how much happier he is this year, amongst children nearer his age and with aspirations more similar to his own. But to see our fears recorded in writing, and to think back over how things came together to this happy resolution, really makes me feel confident in the grace of God to see us through this next year, too.
j
This year poor old Son 1 is having the problems! (It's good of them to spread it out for us like this, I have to say...) He has coordination difficulties, a kind of dyspraxia, and because he's bright he always seems to get on OK, just with rubbish handwriting. But handwriting is such a key thing in the rigid French education system - all lessons are copied down from the board and re-learnt from your own writing - that as he gets higher up the system the tension of trying to finish lessons under physical stress (and then being told to try harder...) has really taken its toll. He has experts coming out of his ears - psychomotriciens, psychologists etc, all pointing out the physical difficulties he faces and asking the school to give him a break by providing photocopies of the lessons. So far, no go, but we think that his form teacher is now on-side and should get this organised for next term. But the stress of Raja's illness, his grandmother's death, and all this, have led to physical manifestations of the anxiety he's been suffering - recently he's developed trichotillomania, which is pulling out your hair. It's well under control now and he can add a psychiatrist to his list of experts (boy, did she write a chilly letter to his school...). But you can see why it has been very valuable to look back to our worries last year, and their resolution.
j
This is not a Christmassy song, but I can't think of a better way to end my post:


j

THIS, this is the God we adore,
Our faithful, unchangeable Friend;
Whose love is as great as his power,
And neither knows measure nor end.
'Tis Jesus, the First and the Last,
Whose Spirit shall guide us safe home;
We'll praise him for all that is past,
And trust him for all that's to come.

The Great Mince Pie Race of 2010

It all started when I met Maggie B. She popped over from Normandy (in Blogland, anything is possible) and mentioned that this year she was making the Hairy Biker's Mince Pies, in place of Delia's.
j
Son 1 one was interested. He is a fan of the Hairy Bikers. He decided that he would make their mincemeat and mince pies.
j
Meanwhile, I would make Delia's mincemeat and use pastry from The Good Houskeeeping recipe, as I usually do.
j
And there would be a competition, judged by the family, for the best recipe...
j
So far we are just enjoying eating an AWFUL lot of mince pies!
j
Stay tuned for the verdict...

Festive Front Door

I didn't tell you one of the best things about my Cookie Exchange with the MOPS last week... One of the mums, Amy, showed us a wreath she'd made and took orders for more...

Today I drove down to her small town and met her and a friend for lunch, and got to take home this wonderful hand-made wreath I'd ordered! It was a lovely chance to meet up in a French café, chat, and relax. And our front door looks better than it's ever done before...

Recipe for a 12th Birthday

Begin the day with White Hot Chocolate, from The Barefoot Contesssa's recipe, as won by the Birthday Boy in Sherri B's competition this summer. Wow! This possibly contains enough calories and delight for the day...

But... Add light lunch with carrot cake and 12 candles.Introduce six more boys, aged between 11 and 13, and take to Laser Game, Toulouse.

Return home and light bonfire.

Cook and eat sausages, and provide little light-gel sticks, intended for garden lighting, but much more useful as Light Sabres if you are 11 - 13.

Play night-time table tennis (optional).

Add fireworks.

Introduce treacle tart, warm from the oven.

Toast marshmallows over embers.

Go to bed happy. Now, get ready for Christmas!

A Third Pause in Advent

If you're reading Simple Abundance, then you've already encountered this, but I think it's worth reading again!
j
"Today let's ruminate on the Real role of gifts in the Christmas story. Those gifts were wrapped in miracles, which is probably why we can't find them at malls or in mail-order catalogues. "The first gift was of Spirit: unconditional Love.

"The next gift came from a Jewish teenager named Miriam, who was known to her family and friends as Mary. Her Christmas present was selflessness, the complete surender of ego and will needed to bring Heaven down to earth.

"The gifts of her fiancé, Joseph, were trust and faith. He trusted that Mary wasn't pregnant with another man's child; he believed there really was a Divine Plan to get them through this mess.

"The Child brought forgiveness. Wholeness. Second chances. The angels' gifts were tidings of comfort, joy and peace, the reassurance that there was nothing to fear, so rejoice...

j

"...To give such gifts.

j

To truly open our hearts to receive such gifts gratefully..."

j

j**********************************************

j

Don't forget to visit the other Pause in Advent Bloggers - on the list to the left. It's a great way to find out what friends old and new are doing around the world as we prepare for Christmas.

j

PS If you were thinking, "I didn't know Simple Abundance was a Christian book," you'd be right, it isn't!

A Christmas List

Lorrie over at Fabric, Paper, Thread found this meme on Vee's blog and it's fun! Why not have a try yourself? The questions are available at the bottom of this post for you to cut and paste.

j

1. Hot Chocolate or apple cider?
But where is Mulled Wine on that list? We make a good non-alchoholic one if you prefer...

j
2. Turkey or Ham?

Both, although we cook a capon here, as the birds grow up happily free-range across the stream from us.

j
3. Do you get a fake or real-you-cut-it-yourself Christmas tree? The real one which grows in a pot outside our house - it stars in blog photos every now and then. It's looking a bit scrawny this year but the decorations should pep it up a bit!4. Decorations on the outside of your house?
This year I've put what I hope are artfully arranged combinations of silver-birch logs and pinecones around the place, with some gold ribbon to cheer them up. Ben may put up our string of plain lights too. Or he may not. 5. Snowball fights or sleddin’?
Ah, Son 1 broke his ankle sleddin' last year... So I may go for the snowballs if we have the option this time round.

6. Do you enjoy going downtown shopping? Nope. Haven't done much of it for some years. The Challenge of the Utmost Kind was most useful.

j
7. Favorite Christmas song?
Jethro Tull's Another Christmas Song (it's not my favourite of their songs, but it's better than other Christmas songs, I think).


My favourite Christmas Carol is It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, because of a memory (see below).

j
8. How do you feel about Christmas movies?
Not overly enthusiastic.

j
9. When is it too early to start listening to Christmas music?
Before December, although we are personally holding off chez nous, and waiting for some kind of as-yet-unheard family signal that it's time to get out the CDs... that will probably be the week before Christmas.

j
10. Stockings before or after presents?
Before!

j
11. Go to someone else’s house or they come to you?
This year, my dad's coming to us! It will be our first Christmas at home for three years.

j
12. Do you read the Christmas Story? If so when?

We tell it with our daily Advent Nativity scene, and various other Nativity scenes that we put up on Christmas Eve. I read it as part of my Bible readings too, and the boys have some lovely illustrated versions they still look at.

j
13. What do you do after presents and dinner?
Walk.

j
14. What is your favorite holiday smell?
Spices in the amazing sauce Ben makes for my Christmas Pudding - his own recipe!
j

15. Ice skating or walking around the mall?
Ooh, Ice Skating please!

j
16. Do you open a present or presents on Christmas Eve, or wait until Christmas day?
On the Day itself - I think that's the British tradition.

j
17. Favorite Christmas memory?
Sitting on the rug in front of the fire (electric, I think), looking at the ethereal pictures illustrating 'It Came Upon a Midnight Clear' in a little book my mum had given us.
j
18. Favorite Part about winter?

So far, the colours - sky, trees, everything faded but still there.

j
19. Ever been kissed under mistletoe?
Mais bien sûr!

Now, over to you if you want to have a go:

1. Hot Chocolate or apple cider?
2. Turkey or Ham?
3. Do you get a fake or real-you-cut-it-yourself Christmas tree?
4. Decorations on the outside of your house?
5. Snowball fights or sleddin’?
6. Do you enjoy going downtown shopping?
7. Favorite Christmas song?
8. How do you feel about Christmas movies?
9. When is it too early to start listening to Christmas music?
10. Stockings before or after presents?
11. Go to someone else’s house or they come to you?
12. Do you read the Christmas Story? If so when?
13. What do you do after presents and dinner?
14. What is your favorite holiday smell?
15. Ice skating or walking around the mall?
16. Do you open a present or presents on Christmas Eve, or wait until Christmas day?
17. Favorite Christmas memory?
18. Favorite Part about winter?
19. Ever been kissed under mistletoe?