We have had a very nice, and very traditional Christmas this year – this is the first one in 5 years where we have not been away on holiday (first Prague then 4 years in Spain) and Ellie really wanted a traditional family time now she is away at University. 

So we had a very lovely time – helped by the very seasonal weather – the first white Christmas I can remember for at least 35 years. 

There was snowman building on Christmas Eve – 

And lots of baking as we decided to make our own Yule Log this year – 

The gingerbread house kit I bought had suffered a bit of structural damage but Ellie got very creative with the pieces – 

I bought myself  Nigella’s Christmas cookery book as a treat – for the last few years when we have been away I have done a pretend Xmas dinner before we go but it has not been much more than a glorified roast but this year I did lots of domestic goddess stuff and thoroughly enjoyed it – even started off Christmas Day with watching Nigella on TV and doing a bit of stitching before sorting out the turkey as I was up ridiculously early (of course the teenagers didn’t surface for presents till after 9!) 

So we had a very nice lunch with some special additions of parsnip and sweet potato bake (not Nigella, think that was Good Food mag), and brussels with pancetta and then the buffets included Nigella’s Chilli jelly (bit liquid rather than solid but very tasty) and some other recipes from my new tapas cook book. 

We had lots of lovely pressies and I was very pleased that Jake and Ellie liked their hand knits – they had both asked for money and a few stocking pressies this year and as I have been trying to make a hand crafted gift for most people this year I made them both wrist warmers and Ellie got a matching hat as well. 

 

The patterns for these items are all freebies from Ravelry. 

After Xmas lunch we went sledging which the kids very much enjoyed – 

As well as the knitting I have been busy finishing the Xmas stitching. The Noel ornament from Helga Mandl  that I have mentioned before was my ornie of choice for the girls who are my very good friends here in Hudds so this was the collection I finished just before Xmas – 

I am actually taking the pattern away with me to stitch one of my very own for the tree for next year. 

I have also just finished these which are for my relatives in Spain – this is from the Gift of Stitch Mag – this year’s Xmas ornie edition. 

All of these are once again stitched over my favourite 28 count sparkly evenweave (need my glasses to stitch this these days!) with Silk Mill threads. 

We are off to Spain in the early hours of tomorrow morning (snow permitting!) so am looking forward to some warm weather (it is 21 degrees there rather than -3 in Yorkshire), some cycling, some lovely tapas and the Three Kings festival on Jan 5th. Am taking lots of stitching and my latest knitting project as well. 

Hope that you all have a very happy New Year and let’s hope that 2010 will be filled with plenty of time for textiles! 

Thank you for visiting.