Christmas is nearly here, so why are most of the local shop windows display the abysmal black outfits?! It's becoming a joke. I want to see some colour and sparkle, not the dull clothes. Did I miss something? Is it some kind of a fashion statement? I walked in town with my camera, talking one photo of black-dressed mannequins after another. If I am not feeling lazy, I'll put them on my blog.
Giggling Eddie, sleepyhead who refuses to sleep, claiming he's not that tired.
On Tuesday I met with my friend Deb and her lovely little man in a Sainsbury's cafe for a cup of coffee and a good old chin wag. While her son was happily doing the stickers in the magazine I brought with me for him, we discussed school, kids, coming Christmas. And I had my first mince pie of the season.
I'm sure I have a photo from Wednesday on my mobile, but it's run out of battery, so cannot check right now. I have more photos of mannequins on my camera taken on Wednesday, but one photo of them is probably enough for one post.
Thursday was the Thanksgiving day. Our older son was born in the States, and though we don't really celebrate the Thanksgiving, I fancied baking one of the American pies. The pumpkin pie didn't quite appeal to my guys, so I baked a honey pie instead. I loved the filling, but wasn't so keen on the pastry. Next time it will be a Jus-Rol again.
This week I have been making lots of different chutneys, including this festive apple and raisin chutney with spices and grappa.
Today was a bit of a miracle day for us. Since last Christmas Sasha has been purposefully avoiding the company of his younger brother, and it's been very difficult to do anything together as a family. In fact we hardly did anything together recently, apart from our week in Cornwall. I didn't notice how it started this morning, but Eddie was playing with Sasha, and instead of escaping upstairs to the safety of his room, Sasha was smiling and playing along. They kept jumping and running from room to room, and I tried to follow with my camera. The photos I took are pretty wobbly and out of focus, but you can see them together and smiling. That is truly a Christmas miracle.
Love the look of joy on Eddie's face to rediscover his big brother :) And I didn't know honey pie was an actual thing, not just a term of enderament !
ReplyDeleteThank you Cheryl! Yes, I have discovered the recipe recently. It's really sweet, as you can imagine.
DeleteOh that's a lovely photo and explanation of the last one. Must be so nice to see them playing together. Hopefully it'll be the turning point.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of honey pie. Sounds interesting (I'm a big jusrol fan too!)
Thank you Emma! Jusrol rocks. I cannot compete anyway with my pastry skills
Deletewhen we moved to South Africa people would always say they could tell I was from the UK, as i wore very little colour in winter clothing, i explained this was because there is very little colour available in the shops
ReplyDeleteI love that last photo, a time to be treasured. I've avoided the shops full stop really so not seen the drab displays, doesn't look as if I've missed much #365
ReplyDeleteYour chutneys sound wonderful and give it a week and I bet those window displays will be festive!
ReplyDeleteHow lovely both the last picture and the sentiment behind it is, must make for a strained household when one person not talking to another.
ReplyDeleteThe honey pie looks like treacle pie that I make occasionally.
Your chutney sounds amazing