Tag Archives: CHRISTMAS

Diaries of the Heart

MY TOP 10 OF CHRISTMAS

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What do I mean by the TOP 10 OF CHRISTMAS???

To me these are the top 10 things that we remember, celebrate, and enjoy at Christmas.

1.     JESUS, JESUS, JESUS

– To me Jesus is the MAIN reason that we celebrate Christmas.  If it wasn’t for Jesus we wouldn’t have Christmas at all.  He is the reason…

2.      FAMILY

– To be with my family at this time of the year is so special, especially now with a daughter married and living 2 hours away.

3.     FRIENDS

– This year our No 1 son has some friends coming for lunch on Christmas Day.  I think this is great that he has such a lovely relationship with them, and we hope they feel part of the family.

4.     CARING

– We should be caring about others whether family or friends.  We like to make sure that there is no one at church with no where to go. We should open our homes (If we can) to those around us who need love and care at this time of the year.

5.     SHARING

– Sharing and caring go hand in hand.  We have been so blessed in our lives, with where we live and what we can grow for ourselves.  If we keep it for just us we have missed the point.  Sharing it with others blesses us as much as it blesses the receiver.

6.     GIVING

– Let us not forget those that have nothing.  There are so many families suffering from low income or no income.  There are people out there who have no where to live or live in poverty.  Maybe we could donate money, time, food to people in need.

7.     LOVING

– We must love each other, not hold grudges and not need to get more out of a relationship than what we give.  Let us at this time of the year (and all year) forget the hurts and forgive and turn that into love.

8.     JUST BEING TOGETHER

– Let us just be together.  We don’t need to buy expensive gifts to celebrate, just being together and loving one another is enough of a gift.

9.     CHATTING

– I enjoy just sitting and chatting with our visitors and finding out what has been happening in their lives.  Some of our guests coming, we only see once a year, so there is lots to catch up on.

10.     EATING

– This isn’t important either, but it seems to be what we do.  I have been making slices and special things for a week now and freezing them.  I enjoy this side of it and consider it part of the blessing that we can give to people.

What are your top 10 for Christmas this year???

 

 

Kitchen Diary

WHITE CHOCOLATE CHRISTMAS CRACKLE

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I am really enjoying making these easy no bake recipes, they are so simple yet taste just delicious.

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Ingredients:

  • 3 cups rice bubbles
  • 1 cup dessicated coconut
  • 1/4 cup icing sugar
  • 150 grams white chocolate
  • 50 grams Copha
  • 1 packet of M & M’s
  • 1/2 cup sprinkles

Method

Mix, rice bubbles, coconut, icing sugar, M and M’s and sprinkles in a bowl.

Melt copha and white chocolate in a saucepan over low heat until melted.  Pour over rice bubble mixture and mix until combined.

Spread into slice tin and place in fridge until set.

Once set cut into fingers and store in a container in the fridge.  I don’t think I will have to store this for long…

PS:  I melted my copha before adding the white chocolate buds and then stired until the chocolate was melted.

ENJOY!!!

Cake recipes

MINI FRUIT CAKE MUFFINS

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With Christmas fast approaching I’m always on the look out for different fruit cake ideas.

I usually make the normal cake in a square tin and give these as gifts, this year I’ve thought of a different idea.

Mini Fruit Cake Muffins.  As I stated before I bought these really cool red mini muffin pans and they are great.  Muffins come out bite size and don’t stick – excellent.

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Here we go…

  • 375 grams mixed fruit
  • 3/4 cups brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 125 grams butter

Place the above ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for 3 minutes and then remove from the heat and allow to cool.

  • 1/2 cup Brandy
  • 2 eggs lightly beaten
  • 2 tblsp apricot jam

Add the above ingredients and mix well.

  • 1 cup self raising flour
  • 1 cup plain flour
  • 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt

Sift the above ingredients together and fold into the cake mixture.

Grease the muffin pan and fill with mixture.  Bake in a moderate oven for 10 mins.

I topped mine with royal icing cut into star shapes and then put a silver sugar bead on top.

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PS:  You can make these in a normal size muffin pan – just increase the cooking time by approximately 5 minutes.

ENJOY!!!

 

 

Tips and Hints

CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEAS

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I love giving gifts, it is a pleasure for me.

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We are a family who likes to make or do things ourselves and gifts for Christmas for the extended family are no exception.  I love to give them things that we have produced on our farm or something that I have spun or sewed or baked.

Christmas isn’t that far away now and it is about time that No 2 daughter and myself start thinking about appropriate gifts.  We usually make our own Christmas cards and send out about 60 of them.   We try and send these our the first week of December but sometimes it gets a bit later.

I was thinking this afternoon of what we could make to give.  Most

years we make up a hamper of goodies with homemade jam, a jar of our own honey, a block of homemade cheddar cheese, and some baking.

This year I want to add some homemade soap (need to get a move on and make it this coming week) and maybe I’ll get No 2 daughter to weave some oven mitts.

Here are some ideas I’ve had:

  • plum puddings in bottles (see recipe posted earlier)
  • feta cheese in olive oil with sundried tomatoes
  • cheddar cheese
  • woven pot holders
  • spun wool for the knitter
  • home made soap
  • honey
  • fruit cakes, yo yo biscuits
  • homemade pasta
  • knitted or crocheted dish cloths

Maybe you can package the gifts up fancy with a nice jar and spoon for the honey or by wrapping your baking in cellophane with pretty ribbon.12544568-sweet-honey-in-jar-with-drizzler-isolated-on-white

You might not have the ability to do these things this year, but maybe you could prepare for the coming years.

If you don’t have a homestead or land to use for bees or a milking cow or goat, you could just make some beautiful biscuits or cakes or both.  Who doesn’t love baking as a gift.  I know we certainly do.

JUST A WARNING:

This desire to make all our gifts can get a bit of a drag especially when you are running to a timetable, but it is something that I endeavor to do.  Just try and make sure that you have enough time and it doesn’t get stressful, otherwise it just won’t be fun.

What do you do for gifts, have you any more ideas for us??

this post is linked up here…

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