Feeling Festive

This year I have been determined to enjoy the run-up to Christmas, or at least be aware it's happening.  In previous years I have been so busy making things, packing, going to the Post Office, sometimes the decorations have only gone up on Christmas Eve night and the mince pies have been made after Christmas. 

I set a final date for web orders and while I have a backlog of orders waiting to go out it is manageable and I have done some festive things already - we have already polished off one batch of mincemeat pies.  I have started putting some decorations up in the house:

Nothing beats several sets of fairy lights scattered around.  The picture below is a string of fairy lights in a vase with some aubergine baubles and is sitting in the place of the usual lamp.

The Christmas has just gone up with an aubergine theme:

I have managed to make my Christmas cake - I know that purists would frown on making a cake last minute, but this is a really good recipe from Delia Smith -  Last Minute Sherry Christmas cake.  Click the recipe title for the link to the recipe.

I use stout instead of sherry as I think it gives a milder flavour (this year I used Unst Brewery's sjolmet stout), and tweak some of the other ingredients depending how I feel.

There is still lots to do, but this year I AM going to enjoy it!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend x