We had a wonderful Christmas holiday with both Boys at home.   Santa came which we were very grateful for.  Of course with a digital camera now you can just keep taking pictures so here are just a few of the sixty I took!!!  It is still a picture heavy post though.  Treacle had the best time helping everyone open their gifts and loved hers!!!!

Youngest and DH above and Eldest below.

Here is our table ready for Christmas Dinner.

We always open gifts from each other first and then after dinner open family gifts.  Treacle of course is in the middle whatever.

She had some new Reindeer Ears!!!! 

The Chocolate Log and our Christmas Cake which finally got finished on Christmas Eve morning!!!

Do you recognise the above house?  It is the Lego Home Alone House.  Eldest bought for me as there were 24 bags of Lego inside the box and thought I would make one bag up a day as you do with Advent Calendars!!!!!  I did not have time as I had not been well for three weeks and was racing to catch up, but on Boxing Day (I was awake at 3.00am!) decided to start it!  It took DH and I all that day and all the next day to get it finished!!!  It is a lovely piece but I have come to the conclusion that Lego is the modern day version of torture!!!! 

One of my gifts from Youngest was a new lens for my Canon camera which I love.  As part of his course he did camera work and is very good and is slowly teaching me.  Anyway he set the lens up and took this wonderful picture of Treacle.

I then had a play and took a couple more of Christmas things.

I hope you lovely lot had a great Christmas and I will be back soon after New Year with a few more pictures. 

Christmas Hugs & Love, Susie, DH, Eldest, Youngest & Treacle. xxxx

Wishing You A Very Merry Christmas

To All My Friends & Followers We hope you have a wonderful Holiday

Hugs & Love, Susie, DH, Eldest, Youngest & Treacle

XXXXX

As you can see this is from December 30th last year, so a past post really, but did I get what I had aimed to do done?  Some of it is the answer but not all of it!!!!!  Being ill put me really on the back foot with jobs for Christmas including getting some quilts done for presents.   I still have a Birthday present quilt which was due at the end of November not completed, I have two memory quilts I need to start and lots of Christmas things not even begun!  So for my Christmas Future I am going to get these Christmas things done which should have been for 2021 but definitely get them ready for 2022!!!

This lovely Snoopy material I bought to make Christmas gifts with and a quilt for me.  Needless to say it is still as it arrived and not cut out yet!  So this will now be for next Christmas.

Again these two sets of material were again to be for this year and they are sort of done.  I have quilted both of them they just now need the binding adding and sewing it down so these are a little further forward!

My good friend, Farm Quilter, suggested that the Boys should help and possibly get the Chocolate Log made.  Well I have the chocolate and the log and if they did help I can honestly say that the chocolate would not get onto the log as they would eat both trying to make it!!!!!!!!!!!!   They have managed to eat most of the Christmas cookies but they will have to wait for me to make some more until after Christmas now!!! 

I have managed to get most of my jobs done just some ironing to do now and finish the Christmas cake off by icing it and of course get things ready tomorrow for Christmas Day but that is it.  The weather peeps keep muttering on about snow over Christmas but not for us, it is just grey cloud and rain here BOOOOOOOOOO!  Saying that as it is dark all day the Christmas lights look wonderful!!!!

I hope your Christmas prep is going well.  Christmas Eve tomorrow. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Treacle xx

Having been poorly for three weeks it put me behind in my Christmas prep, but over the last couple of weekends I have managed to catch up.  This past weekend I did the Christmas baking.  I am a terribly messy cook but that is half the fun!  I made 48 mince pies. 48 Christmas cookies and 24 gingerbread biscuits.  I still have to make the Christmas log and marzipan and ice the Christmas cake but I am hoping to get that done today.

Just before I started making the mince pies!

Christmas Cookies cooling.  These are the Cranberry and White Chocolate ones and DH took 24 to one of the companies we work with, for their Christmas lunch yesterday!

Mince pies done and cooling

We got the Christmas cards written and stamped ready to post out and the few in the village delivered. 

Christmas packages wrapped and ready for delivery.  I managed to get three lots delivered last week, DH & I went over to Nottingham on Saturday and delivered the rest then.  We saw DH’s Cousin who had an operation last year so instead of taking her for lunch, with all the new virus issues, we actually met her at home with safety in place.  We sat in her kitchen socially distanced with masks on except for when we had tea and had the door open for ventilation.  This was to protect her so that she is able to spend Christmas with her children.  We visited DH’s parents grave and placed a wreath and then we were going to go out for dinner but it was very busy in the City because I think everyone was making the most of things in case the rules changed again.  We dropped off a retirement gift for the swimming club and delivered the last of the village Christmas cards and then got home and had a takeaway!!

This little monkey was just sitting on our neighbours conservatory on Monday morning (!) probably no doubt eating one of my Spring bulbs I have planted(!)  Treacle fortunately did not see him, otherwise she would have been going mad!  We have had to have a new tumble dryer delivered as our old one was “burning” the clothes!  It is very quiet when it is working but makes a clunking sound when it starts.  I put it on to run overnight last night and It must have startled Treacle as she was barking at 3.00am!  Of course I was the only one who heard her!!!!!

Treacle is loving today as both Boys are home!  Youngest finished yesterday for Christmas as he has quite a bit of holiday left and they cannot carry it over so he will not be back at work until January 4th.  Eldest is off as he is busy trying to sort his latest project out and hopefully if all goes well he will also be starting on January 4th.  SO I have them at home, together, Hmm!!!  It is like when they were little and at home from school.  They really do revert to being six and ten years old despite now being 22 and 26!!!  Anyway Treacle is happy!

We had an early visit from Santa last week with the local Rotary Club collecting for their charity.

Youngest on the right and our Swimming Club Head Coach dancing at the Club Presentation Night last Friday.  The swimmers had a great night.

The above picture is outside the Swimming Club’s President’s House!

Above and Below are our outdoor Christmas lights, not that you can see much of them when all the vehicles are on the Drive!!!

I have ironing to do later and get those cakes done and tomorrow I have a meeting in the morning and then finish the final things.  DH finishes tomorrow and Thursday we will be getting the fresh food, I will be doing Home jobs and the final bits of washing and ironing and then we will be ready for the big day and for Santa to visit!!  Can’t wait for some down time!

I hope you are all having a lovely run up to Christmas. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Treacle xx

The above picture is my Grandmother, my Mom’s Mom, taken when she was in her early twenties.  I spent all my holidays with her and my Grandfather as both my parents worked.

In the run up to Christmas I got to help her with all the Christmas preparations.  My Great Grandmother also lived with them so Christmas was a real family affair.  Grandma always mader hear own door wreath from holly and greenery from Granddad’s garden.  She was also a great baker and would make the Christmas Cake, Pudding, Mince pies, biscuits and truffles.  In fact it was Grandma who taught me to bake.

The day the Goose arrived, which we always had for Christmas dinner, was a very busy day.  Grandma had a sitting room off her kitchen and we closed all the doors and Grandma would pluck the goose and I collected the feathers which she would use to re-stuff the cushions in the sitting room.  It was always great fun especially as the white feathers made it look like it was snowing. 

I used to help wrap the presents as well and Grandma was very creative with wrappings and I think this is where I have got my creativity from.  She also taught me to sew and she would help me make gifts for my friends for Christmas.   I loved the time spent getting ready for Christmas. 

On Christmas Day itself we went to Church in the morning and then we would get back home and my Mom would be helping with the dinner and I was allowed to make the gravy.  We always ate at about 2.00pm.  My Grandparents home was a big old Victorian house and the dining room overlooked their garden.  They had a large table which extended and we would have dinner and then sit afterwards and play board games.  Then we would move into the sitting room and watch a Christmas film and have Christmas cake and tea for supper. 

Boxing Day was a more relaxed day with everyone getting up a little later and helping themselves to breakfast and then luncheon was buffet style with the food laid out in the dining room for everyone to help themselves.  We took the dogs out for a walk before lunch and then spent the afternoon reading or playing board games again. 

This picture was taken in the 1960’s when my Grandparents were on holiday in Devon.  This is how I remember them.

I treasure the memories of my family Christmases and do hope that our Boys will remember ours in the same. way.  I hope you have enjoyed a look back at my Christmas Past.  I am going to, between Christmas & New Year, look out some more of the old pictures of our family and load them onto the computer.

I hope your Christmas preparations are going well. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Treacle

Got some pictures of the decorations we have put up.  This is the sitting room bookcases below.

Our Nativity.

Some of my Christmas books waiting to be read.

Our fireplace decorations and candles.

Our Tree behind the sofa.

A close up of some of the decorations.

Our Dining Room has a few new decorations.

A few of the decorations in our kitchen.

Treacle helping with the pictures.

Peep Bo!!!!

The weather here over the last few days has been yuck, sleet/rain yesterday and cold and just a lot of rain today and high winds have been forecast for tonight again!  I think I would like the snow back please!!!

Tomorrow I have my booster jab for the Covid vaccine which I am hoping will not affect me.  DH had his a couple of weeks ago and just had a bit of a sore arm so am hoping that is all I will get!!  I don’t need to lose anymore days, I still have lots to do!! 

I hope you are all having a good week.

Hugs & Love, Susie & Treacle xx

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.” ― Edith Sitwel

“At Christmas every body invites their friends about them, and people think little of even the worst weather. I was snowed up at a friend’s house once for a week. Nothing could be pleasanter.“ “Emma” Jane Austen

Literary Monday and two quotes which sum up the season!  We got our home decorated for Christmas over the weekend and The Boys helped. I will show you pictures tomorrow. Still have a few more jobs to do and hoping to get them done this week.  Also have a few nice things coming up including lunch with Jayne on Thursday.  It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…….!

DH’s two events went well and the weather was kind for the light switch on.  This weekend we have another swimming event on Saturday evening and then DH is out all day Sunday at another swimming competiton which will give me time to finish off the jobs!  Cannot believe that it is only three weeks to Christmas!!!  I honestly don’t know where the time is going. 

I hope you lovely lot had a great weekend and a good week ahead. 

Hugs & Love, Susie & Treacle xx

Mom I need my Biscuit, it has gone past 12 midday!

All these Christmas decorations, I had better stay out of the way!!!