Sunday, 1 January 2023

Countdown to Christmas: Day 16


Another belated Christmas post from me!

Advent Tea



Day 16 of my Bird and Blend Tea advent calendar was Great British Cuppa!

Ninja Book Box Week 3





Advent Week 3 from my Ninja Book Box advent calendar brought Tony & Susan by Austin Wright, plus some gorgeous looking chocolate orange chai!

Christmas Earrings



Today's earrings were little reindeer and Christmas puddings.

‘The Twelve Days’



Today's Christmas chapter of Ronald Hutton's Stations of the Sun was 'The Twelve Days'.

Polar Horrors



A lovely thing that happened today... Rob surprised me with a pre-Christmas present, the British Library Polar Horrors short story anthology!

Rare Exports



Tonight's Christmas film was the wonderful Rare Exports.

Murder on the Christmas Express



I also read Murder on the Christmas Express by Alexandra Benedict today.

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).

Friday, 30 December 2022

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.