Christmas Countdown 2013 - 23 Sleeps to Go!

Choose a New Ornament for the Tree

Well, actually, we go shopping for a new ornament.

When the children grow up and go forth to seek their fortunes in the big wide world they will, if nothing else, have enough Christmas Decorations to adorn their own tree. Hopefully they might have a few social skills and a decent work ethic to boot, but those aren't quite as sparkly. 

There is a part of me that actually cringes at the thought of buying decorations. I love how they look etc, but I was brought up in a family with a bit of an environmental conscience along with a disposition towards financial prudence. Christmas decorations, particularly commercially produced ones, really do seem to be an antithesis to such principles. So, I have to tuck my nagging scruples away and indulge in this crazy frivolity, justifying it all by telling myself we will make some frugal, eco-friendly decorations later on.

Today we went looking in 3 different shops for decorations, but DD had already decided where she wanted to buy her decoration from so the first 2 were visited very briefly. By the 3rd shop, DS was more interested in looking at toys so really wasn't very amused with being dragged over to the Christmas display. Perhaps I should have just let him buy a toy seeing as he really gets more enjoyment from flipping the card over than doing the activities anyway.

The bonus of shopping for these decorations after November 30th is that the stores start reducing prices to shift excess stock. I would lay claim to a bit of frugality by doing it this way, but the kids decorations were joined by a few other bits and bobs seeing they were going cheap. Consequently I blew my budget. Oops! 

So, we now have a Santa bauble for DD and a Slinky Dog (that does look suspiciously like a toy) festooning our tree. And while David Bowie & Bing Crosby sing of peace on earth, I hope that perhaps we might just have peace for 5 minutes while we enjoy the tree.

 

Christmas Countdown 2013 - 24 Sleeps to Go!

Put up the Christmas Tree

I have always liked having a Christmas Tree. In my early 20s I bought my first good quality artificial tree along with some matching swags. While I like the smell of a real tree, I have always hated the mess they make and the nuisance of having to dispose of a tree carcass in January. Plus I have a small fixation with symmetry and it is really difficult to get a perfectly shaped tree that stands up to my nitpicking.

 I have traveled a fair bit over the years and I have enjoyed collecting tree decorations. I thought going into Harrods at Christmas time was a bit special until I got let loose in Germany and Austria. Dressing the tree has a wonderful nostalgia as I bring out all of those little baubles of memory.

Keeping the tree "tasteful" and "balanced" is something I love to strive for, but I have had to loosen up my expectations now that I have little helpers. And the little helpers do love to rearrange the ornaments as the season progresses.

So today, we have put up the Christmas Tree. Hopefully that will bring some relief to DD as she has been pestering me about the tree for a few days now.

Christmas Countdown Eve

It's 25 sleeps to go....

... until we celebrate another Christmas in our little family.

Celebrations are an important thing to us. We like a little pomp and ceremony. Of course, Christmas is a little different to other celebrations as it is not focused on one specific member of the family. Rather, for us, it is a celebration of our family; it is a time where we like to celebrate that our lives have been touched and improved by many amazing people. Christmas is not a day, it is a season. We spend almost a month doing things that reaffirm our family unit and oftentimes make us look outwards to our wider circles of friends, acquaintances and community.

As mentioned in my previous post, last year was the first time we did an activity based countdown. I made up little activity cards that were placed in a string of numbered felt stockings. This year, I wanted to ditch the stockings in favour of playing with my die-cutting machine. So I bought some graphics sets from Lettering Delights, downloaded some free digital papers from Digitee and Smitten Blog Designs and messed around until I had some card concepts that I liked. I printed the cards and cut them out (using my very spiffy machine) and then I printed and cut coordinating stickers with the daily activities to stick on the back of each card.

It was quite a bit of work, but  having seen how much my kids have pulled out last years cards and played around with them throughout the year, I am happy to put a bit of work into something cute for them.

Now for the fun to begin....

December is Coming...

... which means that Advent Season is almost upon us.

Well, really, as a non-religious household it is actually Christmas Countdown Season for us, but that is quibbling isn't it?

Last year I decided that I didn't like the concept of getting sweets/lollies/candy each day as part of the countdown. After and extensive amount of Googling (huh? my spellcheck doesn't think that "Googling" is a word) and wasting several hours of my life on Pinterest, I figured that something that involved me spending dedicated time with my kids each day was the way to go. Because I'm not very good at that on a normal day, the kids loved the countdown and were very disappointed when it was over. 

So, guess what......

I am going to do it again this year. It has already been a good 6 weeks in the planning. I didn't want to repeat every single activity from last year so I have had to devise some new ones plus I have to work around preschool schedules this year. I think I am almost ready to go.

My question to you is this:

Would you like me to Blog about it this year? If you would be interested in seeing a blow by blow account each day (or maybe just a photo with a bit of a descriptions on what we are getting up to) just leave a comment below.

Parenting Lessons

My daughter has just turned 5.

Where I come from, that is a milestone age where, amongst other things, you get to start school on your actual birthday (unless it is school holidays). Where I live now, it is not quite as big a deal, but the old ways are to let go of.

Up until now, my daughter's birthday parties have been family affairs with very few children (will give a dissertation on large age and geographic locale gaps between cousins some other time). We usually have a surfeit of food (because I can't resist) and more often than not the cakes have been a little over the top. But, I don't tend to decorate the house and in my mind they are fairly boring parties for a kid.

Cakes of Birthdays Past

So, this year was to be the big whammy! A full-on birthday party with a truck load of kids, party games, props and everything. This was going to be the party to put us in debt for years to come. Seeing as DD had requested a Snow White cake, an Enchanted Woodland theme was decided on (by me, of course). And then I gave Pinterest and Google a workout..... 

The decorations were going to be amazing, the games were going to ensure that at least 3 kids burst into tears for one reason or another. There was going to be bouncing and running, music and dressups, themed food and photo opportunities. I was even going to hire tables and stools to really set the scene.  Then I spent hours creating the invitation.

The Invitation - so close yet so far...

But then it happened.....


A month out from the party (yes, a full month - I see the problem with this now), my daughter and her brother decided to engage in some monkey business that resulted in a whole tub of rice being spread between 3 rooms. Now the rice wasn't the problem, it was the subsequent behaviour. When she was asked to stop and clean up, she refused to acknowledge the request let alone anything else. After several attempts and the requests turning into orders, she actually engaged in worse behaviour. So that is when the threat of cancelling her birthday party came up. Her behaviour got worse so I had to follow through. 

NO PARTY!

Now, I think I was more upset by that than her and the guilts kicked in a bit. A couple of weeks passed and I made sure she remembered she was not having a party. She did ask for me to make new invitations at some point, but I would not be moved. Finally, as a reward for some good behaviour, I decided that on the day of her birthday she could have a small afternoon tea with 3 friends from pre-school. In my mind this wasn't a party - there would be no hoards of kids, games, exciting birthday cakes or excessive party food. There would simply be one or two snacks and some cupcakes.

Fast forward to the day...

The celebration food consisted of some fruit kebabs, a bowl of pretzels, some cupcakes and some cordial. As DD had been so vocal in her request for a Snow White cake, I made absolutely certain she couldn't say that's what she got, so I added some edible dinosaur images to the cupcakes. The kids came. They proffered gifts, played rowdy games of their own devise, ate their snacks, sang Happy Birthday and left within a couple of hours. Cheap, simple, understated, nice.... but feeling oddly party like to me (despite all my attempts).

DD and her Dino-Cupcakes

Before she went to bed DD said she had had the best birthday ever. The next morning, upon quizzing her about the dinosur cupcakes, she told me that they were even better than Snow White!

Lesson to Me...

My daughter is still a small child. She has delightfully simple expectations that I complicate in my quest to be a "good parent". 

So, in the end, the punishment didn't really exist. Will work on that next time the moment calls for it. As for that much anticipated debt... not to worry. Our little dog decided he would help out with that instead. Veterinarian bills - blerghhh!

What happens when you get into a bigger dog's territory

Spicy Fruity Breadiness

I'm a bit erratic with recipes.

There are some dishes which I use the same recipe year in, year out like my coveted lemon meringue recipe, the family belgian biscuits, Nigella's snickerdoodles etc. Others - I try a variety of different recipes, never really getting emotionally attached to them. Easter Buns (Hot Cross Buns) fall into the latter category. 

The key Easter traditions in my family as I was growing up were that we had Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday and then a visit from the Easter Bunny on Easter Sunday. I don't know whether this was really the case or not, but in my memory those were the only days that we consumed those particular food items - none of this having a bit of munch from January onward. Even as a teenager I was very strict with this and refused to consume Easter Eggs before Easter Sunday! But I digress....

Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday, especially making them myself, is a tradition that I still love. Admittedly, I do gobble up some store bought ones in the lead-up as I really do like the spicy fruity breadiness of them. However, whenever possible I make them myself on Good Friday. 

Some years it is with the help of an electric bread maker, some years it is with a recipe that only has one rising. This year is a repeat performance of last year's experiment with a multipurpose bread recipe that I received from a friend's mother years ago. I loved them - I hope you do to! 

Happy Easter to you all!

Traditional Hot Cross Buns
(Based on Lynn Hutchison's Chatham Island Bread)

1/4 C Sugar
2 t Salt
20g Butter – melted
500ml Warm Water
1/4 C Milk Powder
1 T Cinnamon
1 T Mixed Spice
14g Dried Yeast
1 egg – lightly beaten
1/4 C Currants
1/4 C Candied Peel (can be ommitted)
1/2 C Sultanas
750g Flour
8g Bread Improver

Mix together Sugar, Salt, Butter, Water, Milk Powder, Spices and Yeast. Leave in a warm place for 10-20 mins (until frothy). Mix in the egg, the fruit and finally the remaining ingredients, turning onto the bench and kneading until the dough is elastic (about 10 -15 mins - when you press down with your fingers, the dough should bounce back). Pop into a bowl that is at least twice the depth of the dough's volume. Leave somewhere warm to rise until doubled. Punch down and shape into buns and place into a well greased baking pan, just touching each other. Leave to rise again. Once doubled, you can pipe crosses with a paste made of flour and water, or you can cut crosses into the top with the tip ofa sharp knife. Preheat oven to 210C. Bake until well browned and the buns sound hollow when tapped (sorry - I never recorded a time as I always do it by feel). Turn the oven off and glaze buns with sugar syrup (1 part sugar dissolved in 1 part water) and return to the oven for 5-10 minutes.

Chocolate Hot Cross Buns
3/8 C Sugar
2 t Salt
20g Butter - melted
500ml Warm Water
1/4 C Milk Powder
2 t (rounded) Cinnamon
1/2 t Ground Nutmeg
14g Dried Yeast
1 egg – lightly beaten
750g Flour
1/4 C Cocoa - sifted
8g Bread Improver
1 C Chocolate Chips (whichever strength that suits you)

Proceed as per Traditional Hot Cross Buns, but don't add the chocolate chips until after the first proving as they tend to melt.

Recipes of the Mystical Kind

I'm not entirely certain of what age I started baking.

I know it started with simple jobs like pressing down biscuits (cookies) with a floured fork or a recycled thread spool to give them an interesting pattern, but at some point I was allowed to do my own thing, unassisted. 

I suspect learning to bake well was something akin to osmosis. All the women around me baked very well and were always doing it. And they always encouraged “helpers”. Maybe my tendency of being somewhat literal helped as well. I wasn't inclined to do things that weren't stated in recipes. As an example, when I was 12 or 13 I was babysitting some children and the mother allowed me to bake some biscuits in her absence (clearly this wasn't in the Noughties). When she got home I told her that I had put the leftover dough in the freezer. When asked why there was leftover dough, I responded very matter-of-factly that the recipe had stated that it made 24 biscuits and consequently there were leftovers. I guess I must have made them quite tiny as well! 

 

As time progressed, I started collecting recipes. The year I turned 13, my Aunt gave me a blank recipe book so that I could do this. However, the little red book wasn't always on hand when I was procuring recipes. Sometimes I would take them down over the phone, other times I would be visiting somewhere and would end up with a scrap of paper. Because baking (and cooking in general) was somewhat formulaic to me, I ended up just jotting down ingredients and important details such as temperatures. I assumed that that the “method” would be clear to me just by looking at the ingredients. 

Just recently one of these oddly transcribed recipes has shown up. Judging by the memo cube paper that it is written on and the look of my handwriting, this one goes back a good 20 years – maybe even further. What is interesting is that I didn't even bother saying what the recipe was for. 

In the interests of passing down some useful recipes to my children, I figure it is probably a good thing to flesh these “skeleton” recipes out. This particular recipe seemed like a good place to start. 

• So – what is the recipe for? I figure it is a chocolate cake. 
• Why does it have two measures of milk? I have absolutely no idea, but I suspect one is for dissolving the baking soda in. 
• Are the ingredients listed in order of use? Don't know – we'll soon find out!

Having decided this is a cake recipe, I then needed to decided whether I would use the creaming method or the sponge cake method where you whisk the eggs and sugar together (can you tell I don't know the proper name for that one). I chose the latter and knew as soon as I added the sugar to the eggs that this was the wrong decision. So if I make it again, here is the recipe that I will use:

Light Chocolate Cake 
2 cups Sugar 
225g Butter (softened) 
3 Eggs 
3/4 cup Milk 
2 cups Flour 
2 tablespoons Cocoa 
2 teaspoons Baking Powder 
1/2 cup Milk 
1 teaspoon Baking Soda 

Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Sift flour, cocoa and baking powder together and add alternately with the milk. Dissolve the baking soda in the second measure of milk and gently stir into the batter. Bake in a prepared pan (probably 20cm/8” - I don't know for sure as I didn't do my test bake in cake pan) 
Bake at 175ºC / 350ºF for 30 minutes or until done. 

If you do decide to mix it a different way (l actually melted the butter in my previous attempt), don't worry – the results are still quite acceptable.