A free-for-all Christmas prep diary, all food and non-food musings welcome!

[cherl889]

I like to enjoy xmas as much as everyone else so make sure im prepared and well orgainsed. Im not normally, life is chaotic normally except days like today. Hopefully i can get some sleep in a bit then need to have olivers uniform ready for tomorrow, he needs feeding tonight as will i then its dressed and off to work. I meet Mark in a service station and we swap cars. He comes home from work with oliver and i go to work without! Then tomorrow, he gets up and takes oliver to school, i come home and go to bed. Mark will then come home and get some sleep before he has to go to work and i will get up, get oliver from school and go and do a big shop! Military precision sometimes but its the only way we can afford to do it

 

[m-mouse]

woah that's extreme manda....

Cheryl is it calm because you're organised? and are you naturally organised? or did you get there because of your job/shiftwork?

I'm in awe hun x

I don't think I could eat it! I like mine lightly steamed too.

 

[alottolose]

Cheryl am I right in thinking Mark is also Emergency Services?... how did you two meet? at work? x

 

[Maintainer]

Chez that sounds MEGA organised... excellent! I usually do a time plan so that I know what is supposed to be happening at what time...

 

[cherl889]

Met mark in a police stn i used to work there. Started the ambulance service not long after. Im not that organised........im running a little late as logged on here to say BYE!!!!! xx

 

[alottolose]

were you civillian staff then hun?

Hope you have a good night xx

 

[cherl889]

Yes I was babe. Is it 7am yet??

 

[alottolose]

no sorry hun it's merely 1am x

 

[Maintainer]

5.30am... how ya doing Chez?

 

[dukandebut]

cherl - Be happy to look up some recipes for you. I'll try and remember to post them later today. Be warned, though, they are very, very, very non-Dukan friendly! ;-)

 

[cherl889]

Thats fine hun, im sure the family wont want dukan and im more atkins now anyway. Cant wait to see them.
xxx

 

[scrumper]

mmm Xmas in our house let me think ....Manic ..... We usually have the outlaws about but im not sure if they will this year
Ry has here birthday on the 1st Dec , so we dont do decs until the weekend after that or longer if i can get away with it ...
I have a run up of school carol services nativitys ect to get me in the mood .....When I grew up i loved the big family xmas, My nan was Flemish so it ment xmas lunch was an all afternoon affair , but nowdays my lot seem to eat their roast and then save pudding to the evening ,probably too stuffed on chocolate ....
We do have a staggered present opening in our house so the kids dont just toss everything to one side ..... and they always have a pressie on their bed at night just as a little extra usually pjs and a dvd so they can go to bed and we can chill ....
Im thinking of starting wrapping soon that is a mamouth task in its self
as for food its a whole gammon cooked allday xmas eve with celery cloves and onions that usually gets picked out and finished xmas eve too lol
xmas day will no doubt be beef and turkey crown .....I do lots of veg the kids would be happy with just carrots but hey ho
ive nearly finished the presents and as normal spent way too much

 

[anjuschka]

Yes good thought, must start wrapping soon I think my shopping is nearly done now, got a few small things just now, some are still in the post but I must stop picking things up for the kids now!!

I did my first christmassy home task tonight - started the Christmas baking by making the lebkuchen dough - it needs to rest overnight and then the biscuits should 'mature' for a few weeks. Te recipe I used, should you be interested (in German):
Rezept mit Bild: Omas Lebkuchen | Kekse & Plätzchen Rezepte

And it smells DIVINE already! Can't wait till tomorrow afternoon.

Next weekend is the first of Advent so that's when we'll get the decorations out (not the tree though), and light the first Advent Candle.

Hmm time to think about writing some cards - but I don't do a newsletter. With close friends we've been in touch throughout the year, a few distant friends get a personal longer letter and the other really don't need / want to know about our exploits.
What do you think / do? I do like receiving a few selected of the annual letters we get, but most I happily ignore - nearly.

 

[robinhood]

Yes good thought, must start wrapping soon I think my shopping is nearly done now, got a few small things just now, some are still in the post but I must stop picking things up for the kids now!!

I did my first christmassy home task tonight - started the Christmas baking by making the lebkuchen dough - it needs to rest overnight and then the biscuits should 'mature' for a few weeks. Te recipe I used, should you be interested (in German):
Rezept mit Bild: Omas Lebkuchen | Kekse & Plätzchen Rezepte

And it smells DIVINE already! Can't wait till tomorrow afternoon.

Next weekend is the first of Advent so that's when we'll get the decorations out (not the tree though), and light the first Advent Candle.

Hmm time to think about writing some cards - but I don't do a newsletter. With close friends we've been in touch throughout the year, a few distant friends get a personal longer letter and the other really don't need / want to know about our exploits.
What do you think / do? I do like receiving a few selected of the annual letters we get, but most I happily ignore - nearly.

I don't like standard updates either, I'll write notes for those who get a yearly update (usually my Mum's friends who I keep in touch with, but I'll make an effort to write more often now). I don't see the point in sending cards to people who don't need/want updates (surely they don't care about the card either, then? Or maybe that's just me justifying why I send so few). Tbh, I do things the French way now and send no birthday cards and as few festive ones as I can get away with. I will email/write though (birthday cards are horribly expensive and also very ugly here). Husband sends none and phones instead.

I probably send about 20. I know one year when my Mum was in hospital in the run-up to Christmas, my Dad told her not to worry and he would 'organise' Christmas cards, etc. When she asked if he'd sent out to everyone, he replied "yes, everyone important". He sent 3 cards. My Mum usually sent 200+ (my Dad complained about the cost of stamps). When she was home from hospital, the phone rang non-stop as people were so worried they'd not heard from her over the festive season!

Lovely recipe too. I did have a go at translating it myself (and managed a bit) but the EL (for the honey) confused me. I presume it's soup spoons? Anyway, I'm going to give it a go!

 

[blodwen]

Tell me more about this recipe, i'm always looking for something different to do with my children(teens) sadly there's no way I could translate German still strugglw with Welsh and my 3 children speak it! By the way good morning!!

 

[cherl889]

Morning ladies. I never write updates. All my friends and family i send cards to keep up to date with things through out the year. I dont have any that live abroad so no need to worry there. I guess i send about 30 hard enough writing them out without a letter inside! I have done all of mine though and dont forget 5% off your stamps in superdrug.

 

[anjuschka]

0
Lovely recipe too. I did have a go at translating it myself (and managed a bit) but the EL (for the honey) confused me. I presume it's soup spoons? Anyway, I'm going to give it a go!

Hey COOL! We've just baked them today and they taste delicious, we had to taste test them of course but now they're hidden away to mature! As you can't get 'Lebkuchen' spice ready mixed here either I made my own too - so they will always taste different according to the spices you use. If you really have a go - it's a very sticky mix because of the honey and brown sugar, and mixing by hand is not easy, if you have a kitchen machine with a dough hook that will probably make life easier. Also might be an idea to halve the recipe, it was nearly too big for my biggest bowl, made about 5 (or was it 6?) baking trays full.

Yes EL is 'Esslöffel' - Tablespoon. Further down in the comments the author reckons 12TB is about 220 gr of honey so I measured it that way, rather than struggling with sticky spoons.

I had no idea if I can get 'Dinkel' flour here so used WM wheat instead (what I had at home), as well as the Rye required. So they're high fibre too - if you need an excuse

Any questions, I'm happy to help

 

[robinhood]

Hey COOL! We've just baked them today and they taste delicious, we had to taste test them of course but now they're hidden away to mature! As you can't get 'Lebkuchen' spice ready mixed here either I made my own too - so they will always taste different according to the spices you use. If you really have a go - it's a very sticky mix because of the honey and brown sugar, and mixing by hand is not easy, if you have a kitchen machine with a dough hook that will probably make life easier. Also might be an idea to halve the recipe, it was nearly too big for my biggest bowl, made about 5 (or was it 6?) baking trays full.

Yes EL is 'Esslöffel' - Tablespoon. Further down in the comments the author reckons 12TB is about 220 gr of honey so I measured it that way, rather than struggling with sticky spoons.

I had no idea if I can get 'Dinkel' flour here so used WM wheat instead (what I had at home), as well as the Rye required. So they're high fibre too - if you need an excuse

Any questions, I'm happy to help

Thanks Anja - and I'll weigh the honey and use the dough hook (great tip, I'd guessed it would be sticky). I presume that maturing them will make them really hard? I think I'll definitely use half (or even a quarter) of the amounts as if they are to be very hard, I won't dare give any to husband's parents (in case they break their teeth). Plus, not all the kids will eat spicy biscuits (amazing, since they are all sugar fiends) which would mean that I have to eat them (I LOVE any spices and the German Lidl Christmas things are all lovely - not bought any this year though).

So, I'll let you know how it goes!

 

[Bubblemum]

Oh sounds delish, rather complicated for me though, and I would want to eat them, so wont make them this year.
I feel in limbo at the moment, I am nicely busy with soaps but I really want to get going with Christmas stuff in the house, I want to blitz it , I really feel like the 'Christmas feeling' is brewing I want to eat mince pies and drink mulled wine and go for frosty walks wrapped up cosy with my gloves on. I feel a bit child like lol, but not for presents just for the ambiance really lol, that sounds really daft .

 

[dukandebut]

Cathy - I know what you mean about the ambiance. It's just a nice feeling. And, apart from all of the horrible elbow-digging bustle in the shops at this time of year, most people seem just nicer to everyone somehow.

Cherl - I'm so sorry that I haven't had a chance to post those recipes yet. I promise I will as soon as I have a little time to dig them out. (Just had a bit of a re-organise recently, so am still not sure where everything is.)

I've bought most of the presents now. Just need to order some things online for family abroad, vouchers for those who prefer them and to go into town to buy a little outfit for my cousin's new baby. So I'm feeling a little more organised now.