Diary

Christmas is coming!RSS feed

Posted: Sunday 21 November, 2004

by Rosemary at 1:14pm in Anything goes Comments closed

I expect you'll have noticed that Christmas is coming! We had a fall of snow today. It wasn't much but it fell on frozen ground and, not surprisingly, froze. Conditions underfoot are pretty awful, so no riding today.

It's really miserable ouside - cold and damp. Dan went running and took the dogs. Tess wasn't all that keen to go and when they returned, it was a fight to see who could get closest to the fire. Dan didn't have a chance.

I've done three things in preparation for Christmas this weekend. Firstly, I've made mincemeat. It will be used for mince pies, for inclusion in apple crumble and baked apples and in our Christmas cake. Secondly, I've made our Christmas puddings, four in all; one 2lb, one 1lb and two half pound. They're currently steaming away and will be ready about 6pm. This is the only time of the year I'm allowed in the kitchen other than to pick up humble kitchen porter duties.

I did decide a couple of months ago that I would just buy puddings and stuff but I like to make our own and it's so easy. I use Delia's Christmas recipes and they never fail. Usually, I make the Classic Christmas cake but this year I'm going to try her Last Minute Christmas Mincemeat Cake. If it turns out OK, I'll put on a photograph.

Every year, I say I'm not going to get sucked in to Christmas but I can't help it. I despise the commercialism and the excess but there's a bit of me that wants it to be as it should be.

Anyway, the third thing I've done is bought Christmas presents for our six boys. Dan has two nephews and I have four great-nephews. (I don't look old enough to be a great-aunt. Honest.) Every year we toil with what to give them - my four live in Lancashire so we don't see them very often - so in the last couple of years, we've given them money. This year, they're getting something different!!

On behalf of each of them, we've bought a brood of chickens for a small farmer in Africa. We've done this via an organisation called FARM-Africa, which supports small farmers in Uganda, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia.

If you're wondering what to buy for someone who has everything, (and let's face it, many of us have everything that's important) the site is worth a look. You can buy a goat for £30 or a brood of chickens for £10. You get a model goat or chicken and a pack explaining what the projects are about and a farmer in Africa gets the livestock. You can buy via FARM Africa's related site at Farm Friends

Good, huh?

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