'Twas the Week Before Christmas, and All Through the House..
Well, let me see:
One of the cats is climbing the Christmas tree and eating the Christmas decorations.
The other one has entered in to the spirit of Christmas by bringing us a perfectly disembowelled rat kidney as a present.
It is the sticky season, ie gingerbread is us. The entire floor is coated in a lovely veneer of butter and icing sugar. This year we had a traditional offering (above), and an Australian interpretation (below). Note the grass and the kangaroo.
I had a green and thrifty gingerbread moment this morning. Usually I buy giant sheets of cellophane from the florist to wrap up the houses until Christmas Day to keep the nasty flies off them, but today I realised I could store them in the glass-fronted cupboard in the dining room to keep them safe instead.
Our other gingerbread save involved finding a recipe for a tiny family friend who is severely allergic to dairy, eggs and nuts. I found this useful vegan gingerbread recipe which made gorgeous little gingerbread men, and I think I like them better than butter gingerbread. The coconut oil made them crispy, like gingernut biscuits. Yum. We substituted lemon juice for the soy milk. We don't believe in soy milk.
We have had ballet concerts, choir concerts, Speech Night, end of year assemblies, the last of which I get to attend in an hour from now, after which the last of the girls will be on school holidays, and apart from a break-up pool party in our backyard this afternoon, there will be peace, perfect Christmas peace.
I can't wait.
Comments
It was lovely while that thought lasted.
We are now going on a Christmas lights cruise on Friday night, and I have friends over on Sunday for lunch. Plus, we're potentially going to be trekking half way across the universe if this car the bloke has his eye on is as good in the flesh as it is on the screen. So that'll be Saturday afternoon taken up. Ah well.
Gretchen Joanna, the coconut oil smell was quite obvious as dough, but I couldn't taste it once it was cooked. As you say, maybe the spices? Also, used treacle instead of molasses in the original recipe, which made them more golden, less healthy no doubt!
Glad to hear your whirlwind pre-Xmas windup is over and you can take a big breath and relax! cheers Wendy
Fran, I went outside this morning to discover the egg ninja had been - thankyou so much! I am so sad to have missed him, I was going to load him up with lemons:( Ha, that bikini-clad gingerbread was meant to be me, isn't it lovely to have witty daughters!
Tanya, I would never in a million years choose to make a gingerbread house. It is all the girls' doing. I just get to mop afterwards.. Hope your chocolates remain uneaten until Christmas!!
Linda, we don't allow soy milk in the house because it tastes nasty! Although apparently there are people in the world who like it.. so we hear..
My house making, my my my, the BF who never wipes a bench even noted the change in surface texture. Not to mention the concrete on the floor! That required some serious water and elbow grease to remove!!
Merry Christmas!
Agree with you on soy milk. Don't know why it is called milk anyway. Should go by its real name: bean juice.
And it's a fraud keeping it in the dairy section. Keep it with the juices, on the shelf. It doesn't need refrigeration. It's not dairy. (Opps, said that already.)
Hope life settles down for you after Christmas and you have time to read. (Selfishly, I am missing you on my blog. Your comments always make me smile.)
My youngest breaks up today too and we are having a Christmas party. It will be indoors making crackers and melted snowman soup, and playing rather messy games with squirty cream. It really gets you in the Christmas spirit. Oldest daughter has made a fab chocolate christmas cake with santa bursting out of the middle. Floor is clean so far, but soon to be covered with squirty cream and glitter :)
Merry Christmas Jo and followers!
Sarah, well done on the gingerbread domestic-goddess-ness.
Tammy, my darling daughter made the plump, bikini-clad gingerbread person in MY image apparently... not that I have worn a bikini since 4 extremely enormous babies ruined my stomach forever..
Lucinda, yes, another thing we agree about. Bean juice. Haha!
I now have parents, a son and a husband all under one roof, and our very last Christmas event last night. Apart from teeny amount of shopping, should be free to pepper all your blogs with endless comments now:)
Judy, please post photos of melted snowman soup. The mind boggles!!
Enjoy your Christmassy mess:)