Christmas

Happy Holiday

Enjoy

~Keep warm and well ~

Polly x

My Great Mince Pie Survey

Yes dear reader it's that time of year again - the one where I get to eat lots of mince pies
in the name of market research and producing a helpful survey ! ☺️
This is just my opinion though, taste is subjective 

Aldi specially selected all butter classic mince pies with Courvosier Cognac.
Please don't mistreat your taste buds with these, they are truly horrible.
I took one bite but had to remove it.
Zero rating, they don't even get on the scale.

Co-op irresistible all butter luxury mince pies with with rich fruit, nut and brandy.
Very nice, tasty filling, lovely pastry but it is very flaky 4/5

And these, also from the Co-op. I think it's their instore range. Orange flavoured pastry with a

mincemeat filling and brandy. Delicious and lovely pastry, I could really taste the orange 4/5

Greggs lovely pastry and very tasty filling  of vine fruits,

Bramley apple and candied orange and lemon peel 4/5

My favourites this year, M&S. Lovely firm pastry, and delicious filling of vine fruits, 
cranberries, clementines, cherries and brandy 5/5

~Keep warm and well ~

Polly x

Catching Up

Phew I seem to have been so busy I'm getting behind with blogging.
So what have I been up to?

Two Christmas meals last week, my book club and my art club. Both at lovely venues, both delicious food and both good company. My bowls club one is next week. 

The church in the village just down the road from mine held their annual Christmas Tree Festival at the weekend. All the groups in the area are invited to enter a tree. The public vote for their favourite and the judges vote for an overall winner. Once again there were some beautiful, clever and innovative entries. I had a very hard time deciding between two.

Let It Snow was exquisite. 

A white tree, sparkly lights and beautiful handmade dolls depicting winter activities.

And this gorgeous one

Santa's grotto

All beautifully hand made by the ladies of a sewing club


We Tree Kings was so cute.
The Kings were mini trees

and just look at how cute the camel is


The children at the village infants school made the poppies for Remembrance day.
They did a lovely job decorating the tree with them.

 

The Mad Hatter's Tea Party had the WOW factor. It had flashing stick lights 

and a revolving teapot

This was my WI's entry, celebrating the centenary of the NHS.
The red heart had a flashing light inside it which looked very good

There were many more entries, making a difficult job for the judges. We didn't win.

Back home

The badgers have been busy extending their home.

When they first started last year that pile of earth was level with the edge of the field.

As someone who almost gets ill with the cold I have always wanted a down coat, I bought a down jacket a few weeks ago but returned it because I decided I needed something to keep my thighs and bottom warm!
They are quite expensive so I asked my family if they would give me money instead of presents for Christmas. My darling grandson asked how much I wanted, and I'm sure if I had said £100 he would have given me it. 
I started looking online just to see what was about ............ and I found this

I wasn't planning to buy one until nearer Christmas but this ticked all the boxes, the right length, a belt, pockets and no hood but a lovely high collar. If I had waited and then found they had sold out I would have been inconsolable so I clicked the buy button! It's gorgeous, and I'm worth it! :-)

We had a lovely time at the Salvation Army on Tuesday, a quiz, a brass band playing carols and a delicious Christmas dinner. 
And then in the afternoon at art club the couple who run the club set a fun task for us. They chose a picture, printed it out and cut it into pieces, one for each of us. We then had to draw our piece onto card, larger scale and paint it.

It was fun seeing each piece put on the table and trying to guess what the complete picture was. We all use different mediums, oil, acrylics, watercolour, chalk pastels so the colours didn't always match. My piece was the one bottom left, second one up, done in watercolour. I think we all did very well.

It was Chagall's The Cellist. It was good fun, we all enjoyed it.

Christmas lights are up at the front of the house, and some inside. I've bought a real tree and will be decorating it at the weekend. How are your Christmas preparations going?

~Keep warm and well ~

Polly x