Let the festivities begin

Last week we put our tree up, and two days later the nice new LED lights decided not to play. I did some pouting, and then we managed to unravel them from the tree and put on the good old reliable ones we’ve had for several years. Crisis averted, and not a broken bauble in sight.

On Saturday we had some friends over for a wee Christmas do, and Gareth got festively creative with holly from the garden,

while I made further use of the pot pourri pine cones.

We served up mostly Asian Christmas fare – dim sum from the local Chinese supermarket, and M&S Indian and Chinese party food (and Gareth earned some sort of home Michelin star with all the steaming, heating, plating up, and time managing).

We had mulled wine and mince pies, of course (Sainsbury’s even does dairy free/gluten free/wheat free ones),

and I managed to get some gingerbread cookies on the go, using this great vegan recipe. They even got a big thumbs up from Gareth, who normally shudders at the thought of vegan baking. I didn’t have any iced for Saturday though – this is me playing with the icing on Sunday. Just as well, as it turns out neat icing takes a whole lotta practice…

And inspired by Kate’s lovely crackers, I put together cracker-making supplies, got everyone to bring along a secret little gift and their best/worst jokes, and we did cracker making. This was good fun, and later on we did a lucky dip for a cracker each, and a big group pull which was even more fun! There was tugging and some frantic pulling of un-banged bangs, confetti bits everywhere (it’s not mess if it’s festive), and the excitement of a flying gift that went missing (under the sofa) for a wee while.

We’re so doing these again next year!