Mulled Wine and Mince Pies

"Fat Baby" Adipose from Doctor Who - all the girls got a cuddly fat baby from Dad

Well, we had a very nice couple of weeks off... Christmas was very relaxing and quiet. Even the time leading up to the big day was relatively relaxing. I did most of my shopping on line, and because I had to get everything for family and friends at home shipped by Dec 10th, I was done pretty early!

I didn't do as much baking as I usually do - that doesn't seem to be the big thing over here. They are big on the mince pies, Christmas pudding (which is more like a drunken sticky dense muffin than a pudding - but they use the word "pudding" differently than we do...) I also discovered mulled wine, which is a spiced wine with fruit and cinnamon served warm - its really nice with a warm mince pie. I tried Christmas pudding too - served up with some heavy cream spiked with brandy- yum. In the end I did make some fudge and macaroons. The fudge was a challenge because they don't have marshmallow cream here... I found a recipe which called for marshmallows - which they do have here, but they are not the same... It turned out ok, but not quite what I am used to. Having said that, everyone who tried it LOVED it and asked for the recipe - isn't it odd to imagine Christmas without fudge? My mother and grandmother always made fudge and sugar cookies and 500 other varieties of cookies... if we are still here next Christmas, I'm going to bring out the big guns and bake for real!

One other fun thing I did to prepare for the holidays was to make my own wreath! My neighbor is a florist and held a workshop showing us how to make a holiday wreath from scratch! Mine had spruce and ivy and holly and dried fruit and cinnamon sticks - it turned out pretty good and I had so much fun at the workshop chatting with other women from the village and, of course, drinking mulled wine and eating mince pies!!

So for Christmas, I think everyone got what they wanted - Audrey's big gift was a Nintendo DS, so far her favorite game is Cooking Mama (thanks Unka D!), Zoe got a dollhouse and a digital camera which takes still photos and videos - the kids have had a blast making silly little videos! Pat got a solar powered watch that communicates with the atomic clock in Greenwich, and I got a fantastic digital SLR camera... I have a lot to learn about how to use the thing, but the basic photos it takes are amazing!

New Webkinz from Grandma A

New jammies from Gramma C

Shattered from sooo much Christmas excitement! We all got sick leading up to the big day - Zoe was even running a temp on Chrismas day, poor thing!

On Boxing Day we were invited our neighbor's house for lunch and drinks - the kids played and we drank and ate - it was a lovely extension of Christmas - I still have no idea what Boxing Day really is... any excuse to eat and drink more and have an extra day off of work!!

We made a day trip to Cambridge to try out the new camera - unfortunately the colleges were closed and it was sooooo cold out that I snapped a few shots and we spent the rest of the time checking out the sales - hee hee

Cambridge

By the beginning of the second week we'd had enough of being stuck inside because of the cold, so I took the kids to an indoor play area and they ran for three straight hours. On New Year's Eve we went to some friends' house and partied the night away - first time I've made it to midnight in a few years I think! Everyone slept late the next day and on the weekend we visited the Cotswolds - a truly fantastic area - totally quaint stone buildings with thatched roofs and stuff - it was lovely!

Chipping Camden in the Cotswolds, Quaint defined!

400 year old market area in Chipping Camden

Believe it or not, it was one year ago this week that we moved into our new home at The Croft. I really can't believe that a whole year has passed by already... In many ways I'm already sad that we only have a year left here - two years just doesn't seem long enough to do all of the things that we wanted to do while we are here! Again, I feel so lucky to have had this opportunity and plan to attack the coming year with a new gusto - still have so much of this country to see, and so many things we still want to do on the Continent - I better get busy!

First - I'm going to bed :)

later hommies!