Countdown to Christmas: Day 15

Another seasonal celebration post, and hopefully this one will give a bit of explanation as to why these posts have been an important part of our festivities this year!

Advent Tea

Day 15 of my Bird and Blend Tea calendar was Morning Kick!

‘The Origins of Christmas’

I went back to my seasonal reading of Stations of the Sun by Ronald Hutton today. There are ten (ten!) chapters devoted to the history of Christmas, so I started off with reading 'The Origins of Christmas' today.

A Trip to St Ives

We went out for a little day trip to St Ives today. It was freezing! But still a very nice and picturesque trip.

Cornish Mist

While we were in St Ives, we went for lunch at Scoff Troff Café, a lovely little place we first visited when we were in Cornwall last year. And I tried their Cornish Mist tea (Earl Grey with vanilla and steamed milk).

Brandy and Clotted Cream Ice Cream

Even though it was freezing, you can't go to the seaside without having an ice cream! And Moomaid of Zennor had a festive menu, so that seemed perfect. I tried their Brandy and Clotted Cream flavour, which was absolutely delicious!

Seasonal Whisky Tasting

Throughout our year of celebrating the seasons, Rob and I have been buying each other little gifts of whisky to mark each season. The idea was that we would save them all up, and then enjoy a special whisky tasting session together at Christmas. We did this while we were away, and we accompanied each whisky with a look back over what we did that season (using these blog posts to remind us). We also had some little seasonal playlists and a cracking cheeseboard! This is definitely a tradition we're keeping!

The Gift

The next book I read while we were away was The Gift by Louise Jensen, though the titular gift is most definitely not a Christmas present!

Countdown to Christmas: Day 14

I am determined to publish all my Countdown to Christmas blog posts, even though it's taken me until New Year to write them. I think my stubborn completist streak has kicked in. Anyway, here's another day of festive stuff from our pre-Christmas trip to Cornwall.

Advent Tea

Day 14 of my Bird and Blend Tea advent calendar was Birthday Cake (a tea I drank quite a lot of back in August)!

Christmas Earrings

Today's festive earrings were little gingerbread houses.

Muddlebox Cocktail

Somehow, we've managed to fall very far behind with our Muddlebox cocktail subscription boxes this year, with some sitting in the cupboard for far longer than intended. This seemed like a good time to catch up a bit! This box was from March (can you believe it?), and it was a Mai Tai!

Chocolate Fudge Cake

Bit of festive baking today. It looks a bit wonky on this picture, though it wasn't quite that bad in real life! (And it didn't taste wonky, if I do say so myself!)

Figgy Pudding Liqueur

This was a nice little festive tipple I'd be saving for a pre-Christmas treat: Figgy Pudding Rum Liqueur from Riverside Craft Spirits.

Scrooged

We watched Scrooged tonight, another of our regular festive films.

The Sentence is Death

I do like to save murder mystery books for this time of the year (as well as ones set in Cornwall or at Christmas), and so the next book I read was The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz (and I LOVED it).

Countdown to Christmas: Day 13

Another day of Christmas fun, and the first full day of our annual pre-Christmas Cornish retreat!

Advent Tea

Today's advent tea from my Bird and Blend Tea calendar was Tea and Toast (which you may remember we had at Lammas as well)!

Wireless Station

First proper day of our holiday in Cornwall. We're staying in Lizard, at a National Trust property that was once Marconi's wireless station!

Fuzzy Duck Gift Set

Back at the beginning of my Halloween celebrations in October, I won a Baylis and Harding Fuzzy Duck gift set on a tombola at a funday at Boggart Hole Clough. I saved it for my winter holiday, so I've got Mulberry and Mistletoe body butter and Frosted Christmas Tree shower gel to enjoy while we're away.

Don’t Look Back

I usually read a lot while we're away in December, so all year I've been saving up books to bring that suit the season and/or the location. The first book I read from my pile was Don't Look Back by Ben Cheetham, which is set in Lizard.

Sint

Continued our annual Christmas viewing with Sint (aka Saint) this evening.

Stay Another Day

I read another book tonight that I'd been saving for Christmas, as it's super-festive - Stay Another Day by Juno Dawson.

Countdown to Christmas: Day 12

And we're off! We left today for ten days in Cornwall, our annual holiday, so a big chunk of the day was spent loading the car and driving down the country. But it was the start of our holiday!

Advent Tea

Today's advent tea from my Bird and Blend Tea calendar was Jasmine Poached Pears!

Driving to Cornwall

The M6 was a Winter Wonderland!! It was so pretty! (I tried to persuade Rob to drive in the slow lane so I could get a better picture, but he wasn't having it!)

Christmas with the Kranks

The first night of our Cornwall holiday meant the beginning of our annual Christmas film binge. We have a pile of films that we take away with us each year, and we started off this year's Christmas viewing with Christmas with the Kranks.

Countdown to Christmas: Day 11

It's the last day before we go away for our annual December holiday, so today (or this evening at least) was a mad panic to get everything finished before we head off to Cornwall for ten days with no wi-fi or mobile signal!

Advent Tea

Today's advent tea from my Bird and Blend Tea calendar was Mulled Cider!

Virtual Writing Retreat

Today was also my final Virtual Writing Retreat of the year (a thing I do with some other writers who have been on my Hannah's Bookshelf radio show on North Manchester FM). As it's December, this month's retreat had a festive flavour.

Countdown to Christmas: Day 10

Day 10 of my Countdown to Christmas was a busy one (with an incredibly festive evening). Only two days left until our December holiday, so there's still a little bit of work stuff included in this one. But, as in previous blogs, it's work-but-make-it-festive.

Advent Tea

Today's advent tea from my Bird and Blend Tea calendar was Salted Caramel Lebkuchen!

Christmas Earrings

Today's earrings were my sparkly Christmas puddings!

Christmas Fayre at The Miners

I was at a Christmas fayre at the Miners Community Arts and Music Centre this afternoon.

Christmas Fair at St John Bosco’s Church

And then I was at the Christmas fair (spelt differently) at St John Bosco's RC Church after that. Work stuff, but at least no one can say it wasn't festive (and I did have a Gaelic coffee)!

Christmas Dinner on East Lancs Railway

We had Christmas Dinner on a steam train tonight! We've been looking forward to our annual trip on the East Lancashire Railway all year! Dinner tonight was Mushroom and Tarragon Pate, Roasted Chestnut and Parsnip Soup, Festive Wellington with Brie and Cranberry, and Christmas Pudding with Rum Sauce. Plus a glass of fizz, a glass or two of red, very fancy Cognac, and coffee (with a mince pie). Perfect.

Countdown to Christmas: Day 9

Another belated Countdown to Christmas post from me. I'm wondering if I'll get all of these up before the big day. I can but try!

Advent Tea

Today's advent tea from my Bird and Blend Tea calendar was Irish Cream!

Ninja Book Box Week 2

This week's Ninja Book Box advent parcels included A Bespoke Murder by Edward Marston and a lovely homemade paper decoration!

Castleton Literary and Scientific Society Talk

I gave a talk tonight to the Castleton Literary and Scientific Society (that's Castleton, Rochdale, not Castleton, Derbyshire) on one of the my favourite subjects: the Medieval Blackley Deer Park. Eagles! Boar! Unauthorized deer leaps! Bankrupt barons! It's got it all! And although it wasn't strictly speaking a festive talk, the drive there was amazingly Christmassy with all of Middleton and Castleton lit up and sparkling through the wintery mists. Just beautiful.