Tinknbubb

So it is officially Christmas eve and we usually have a hectic day ahead of us. This year is different though as for some reason we did it all yesterday. Today is a bitter sweet day really, I have the excitement of the next couple of days with family and good food but Christmas eve was the day that I got the very last video of Mum ever. This is hard as I kick myself over videos and pictures of mum but I know that I cannot change that now. Anyway, I have a day of crafts and activities planned with my missy, she has really kept me going and kept me in the festive spirit. I hope you all have an incredible Christmas and have lots of rest and time with family. Make memories and enjoy yourself, thank you for joining me through the 12 days of Blogmas. Merry Christmas xxx

Isn't gingerbread the perfect snack for Christmas, so spicy and taste so yummy. We absolutely love making and decorating these around Christmas. It takes a little while to make the dough but they are well worth it. Here is an easy recipe for you all to follow. Recipe 350g Plain Flour 1 tsp Bicarb of Soda 2 tsps Ground Ginger 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon 125g Butter 175g Light Brown Sugar 1 Medium egg 4 tbsp Golden Syrup Method 1. Sift the flour, bicarb of soda, ginger and cinnamon into a bowl/mixer. Add the butter and mic until it looks like breadcrumbs, then add your sugar. 2. Add your egg and the golden syrup (oil the spoon so it doesn't stick). Mix it all together until it makes a dough. 3. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and put in the fridge for 15-30 mins 4. Heat you oven up to 180oC/Gas mark 4 and prepare your tray with greaseproof paper. 5. Flour your surfaces, roll out your dough to about the width of pound coin. Use any cutters ...

Another festive recipe for you all to enjoy, these are so simple to make and taste sooo good. These are Candy Cane Lollies which look amazing (I think). Lilly helped me make these, can you tell which one is hers?  You will need: - Candy canes - White Chocolate - Sprinkes - Lolly sticks - Baking paper Method 1. Cut canes down to size to for a heart shape with 2 canes. 2. Place onto a baking tray covered in baking paper and place a lolly stick in the middle. 3. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of hot water. 3. Pour melted chocolate into the heart shapes making sure they are full to thr edge  4. Add sprinkles for decoration. 5. Leave to set in the fridge for a few hours. And there ready! Simple :) *Republished*

At this time of year candles are essential for our house and them being scented is just a huge bonus. The home smells do festive when one of these are lot and I absolutely love the range of scents they have.  I have a few votive Yankee candles that I have, these include normal Yankee candles and the home inspiration yankee camdles too.  Christmas Eve - This is by far my favourite festive scent, this seems to be a mixture of everything Christmas, the fruits, the spices. It is just such a warm and cosy scent perfect for a wintery night. Christmas Memories - Another favourite of mine for this time of year, this one is a lot warmer and spicier than Christmas eve, this reminds me of all the Christmas baking that we do over this time of year with ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon.  Candy Cane Lane - This is a new one to my collection and I really like this. It is a mixture peppermint and vanilla so it isn't too overpowering and doesn't smell like tooth paste. ...

Wow, welcome to December, I am not quite sure how we are here already. December can only mean one thing, Christmas is almost here! I am pretty excited this year for Lilly but am also dreading it. I wanted to start the month off with The Christmas Tag as it gives you an idea of our Christmas. 1. What is your favourite Christmas film? I absolutely love the Arthur Christmas for a more modern film but I also have a huge soft spot for Home Alone too. 2. Have you ever had a White Christmas? I don't ever recall having a white Christmas, it usually snows in January or February which is a shame really. We haven't had a huge amount of snow since 2010 so quite a while back.  3. Where do you usually spend your holiday? We normally have the morning at home just us three, then go to a family members for lunch and some well needed family time.  4. What is your favourite Christmas song? I think my favourite song has to be Christmas time (don't let the bells ring) by t...

Viki has been loving - All out decorations, it makes our house so cosy - Reading, I am currently reading the Christmasaurus - Anything Harry Potter, since going to the studios back in Noember it's brought back my love for it. Lilly has been loving - Making Christmas treats with mummy - Cbeebies Nutcracker, she has watched it so many times now I swear she knows all the words - The Advent games on the Cbeebies website, she loves doing this every year. Liam has been loving - Our homemade mince pies, he has been gobbling them down - Farming simulator still....he is seriously addicted - Hogging the bed haha, I swear we need a bigger bed. My blog went a little messed up for a while but I believe I have sorted it out and will be posting these on the date they were meant to appear on my blog. Happy New Year.

Another month over, and another year over. It has been the most crazy and stressful year so far but we have made it though to the end.  December was lovely, my favourite month, just because of Christmas really. Lilly was so understanding of it all this year and was sure that Santa had forgotten her, bless her heart, but that did mean a very late night on Christmas Eve for us.  The rest of the month went by in a flash really, we had family to visit, Christmas fayres to go to, presents to wrap, food to buy and it just didn't see like I was very organised at all. And sadly this month, my car decided that it was going to give up all together and blow a head gasket :( so it's sadly off to the scrap yard.  The picture this month is one of my complete favourite photos of us together, it is taken from during Vlogmas when Daddy got his old Auorora AFX out, this is a kind of scalextric which Lilly found highly amusing and I managed to catch a picture of a purely am...

I have a super exciting experience coming up next month, The 30th of November I am off to Watford to visit the Harry Potter studios. I a a huge Harry Potter fan and this has been on my list of things to do since the studios opened. Well my Mum and Dad surprised me with the money for tickets to go when I wanted to. I chose to go in late November when Hogwarts in the Snow is on which makes it all the more exciting. I will definitely been blogging and vlogging my day for you all and for me to look back on.

I know that it is still only October BUT this takes a while to rest and you can't be too prepared for Christmas. This is a simple mincemeat recipe that has been passed down to me and I wanted to share it to you all. The recipe should make about 5-6kg's of mincemeat which can last a few years in jars, it only gets better with age. Recipe 2kgs of Apples 1kg of Currents 750g of Sultanas 750g of Suet 750g of Caster Sugar Rind and Juice of a Lemon 2 tsps of Mixed Spice 2 tsps of Nutmeg Approx 150ml of either Rum, Sherry or Brandy Method 1. Peel, core and slice all the apples. 2. Mince the apples with the sultanas (meat mincers work fine). 3. Add all the other ingredients and mix together well.  4. Separate into jars and lid them (sticker year onto them) 5. Leave at least 3 weeks to stand before using. It is that simple. Please let me know if you use this recipe, I would love to know.

It is 100 days till Christmas which means only one thing, it's time to get the recipe books out and start baking up a storm.  The first thing is the Christmas Cake , my favorite. We start to get the ingredients together now and start the baking in October, this may sound super early to some BUT there is a bit to do after baking and before you can tuck in.  Also in October we start on the mince meat recipe too, so that the mixture can rest for a few weeks. We do make this in huge batches so a batch can last us up to three years :) or mince pies all year round. They are the main bits to get done asap. No we come to December.....the main bulk of the baking is done in this month. We usually make many mince pies to get through, Lilly helps me with there, she rolls out the pastry and fills them with the homemade mince meat too.  to follow on are the  Melted snowman biscuits ,  Candy cane lollies  and gingerbread. These are usually baked/m...

For blogmas day 16 I thought I'd share a way of saving some money and doing your own.  I have been contemplating buying some of these hot chocolate cones for Lillys Christmas eve basket but people are charging up to £2.50 per cone. I thought about checking the price on the cones on eBay and to my surprise they were only 99p for 10 cone bags. The cone pictured below is 3 scoops of hot chocolate and some marshmallows for the pefect cup on Christmas eve. It took me not even a minute to fill and tie it up and is ridiculously easy to do at home rather than paying way above the odds for it. I hope you like this simple idea for a cute little stocking filler or Christmas eve box. Happy blogmas xXx

Blogmas day two is a Christmas Cake recipe for you. I make my cake in November to make sure I have time to feed it, but you can just soak the fruit and leave a week before icing the cake. I made a 7 inch square cake to cut in half. and here is the recipe for you all. - 965g Mixed fruit - 50g Ground almonds - 100g Glace cherries - 200g Plain flour - 1tsp Mixed spice - 200g Butter - 200g Brown Sugar - 1 Lemon rind and zest - 4 standard eggs - 100ml rum/brandy/sherry Method - Preheat oven to 200oc/ gas mark 6 - Line sides and bottom of cake tin with double parchment paper - Cream butter and sugar until fluffy - Beat in eggs one at a time, if starts to curdle add a little flour - Add rind and juice of the lemon - Mix flour, ground almonds and spice together - Toss mixed fruit and cherries into flour - Add fruit and flour to other ingredients a little at a time, add half the rum ( or soak the fruit in alcohol overnight) Save some ...

The best Christmas in a long time! Didn't end as planned but the rest of the day was brilliant. Food, presents, family and laughs.  Lilly was completely in her element with it all and I thinks little overwhelmed with the amount of new toys she received. So much to take in for her.  So we started off Christmas day with our traditional breakfasts, apart from my other half wasn't up for a fry up. So I had my boiling bacon with pickles, Lilly had Christmas tree crumpets with jam and a smoothie. This rocking horse was from Grandma and Grandad, it makes noises and moves it's mouth, Lilly now has a rocking horse at each grandparents house. We started off Christmas dinner with a homemade prawn cocktail which tasted amazing. All sat down to Christmas dinner, was so tasty but too much was made as usual, so much leftover meat and veg. Lilly wasn't too impressed with the food choice. That evening we went to great Grandma and great G...

Our Christmas Eve was perfect! So busy with getting last minute bits, baking and even seeing Santa fly over. By the time Lilly went to bed I was feeling more festive than I had all month. We had done so much and were ready for the next few days!  Here are a few pictures of our day. Lilly was really enjoying the cbeebies app with the advent calender,  So many easy Christmasy games for her to play.  This year we made some gingerbread for Santa along with a homemade mince pie. He also had a glass of sherry and some special reindeer food. Lilly also wanted to put a blanket out for him to be 'cosy' Santa came and left lots of treats for us, didnt realise how much we actually had lol. But made it look more special.  Lilly was exhausted by the end. Even though she was excited she slept like a log. Christmas day blog to follow!  xXx