Christmas Traditions

Hi Guys!

I hope everyone had the most wonderful Christmas Day yesterday! I had such a lovely time with my family 🙂 I thought I would do a post on some our Christmas traditions and show you a few snaps from the big day itself!

The first tradition that occurs in my family is our annual trip to the farm to cut down our Christmas Tree. Equipped with warm clothes, wellies and a saw we hunt round the forest, finding the perfect tree; a big one for the sitting room and a smaller one for the lounge. This is often followed by lunch out together at Beetham Nurseries.

If you have read any other of my posts this week then you will know how much I love to bake during the Christmas period! Check out my Baileys Cupcake Recipe and how I went about making a Gingerbread house on the links.

I always make a batch of mince pies but seeing as my family aren’t a massive fan of them, this year I did something a little different. I made half of them the usual way and then for the other half, I used pesto and mozzarella instead to create a yummy savoury snack! One of my best tips for mince pies is to use puff pastry. Often they are used making short crust pastry but I think the puff pastry is just so much more delicious!

I had seen Strawberry Christmas trees on Pinterest so I thought I would try and create my own. I made a basic cone shape using just an A4 piece of card. I then struck it to a plate using icing sugar. Once it was secure, I melted a bar of Green and Blacks Milk chocolate and used this to stick strawberries to the base of the tree. Seeing as I only had a small handful of strawberries, I used raspberries for the upper half of the tree. This worked out quite well in the end as it meant to the tree got narrower.

I drizzled the remaining chocolate over the finished tree and then around the plate in a nice, decorative (though slightly messy) way 🙂

Decorations! I love making the house lovely and sparkly in preparation for Christmas. It is always so exciting getting out the baubles, tinsel and fairy lights for the tree.

I often spend my Christmas Eve doing some last minute wrapping! I was very lucky to be sent this gorgeous candle from Kiss Air Candles. The flavour is ‘almond macaroon’ and it smells absolutely divine. It is very similar to marzipan and for me this is the perfect Christmas accompaniment. It reminds me of my Mum’s Christmas cake so much as she always uses a lovely thick layer of marzipan. I had this lit for most of Christmas Eve and Day! So delicious. I was also sent a ‘strawberry daiquiri’ scented candle which is equally lovely! I can’t wait to use this when I am craving a more summery smell.

When all the Christmas preparations are complete, the only thing left is to make sure there is a mince pie for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph! Looks like this year, Santa was treated to a G&T too! Stockings hung up and full of anticipation, we spent the evening watching films… I still get so excited at the age of twenty!

Christmas morning! After seeing what Santa left in our stockings we sit down to a lovely family breakfast. This year I made us all french toast and blueberries… delicious!

The picnic of turkey, brie and cranberry sandwiches is prepared and then we set off on our annual walk to Arnside Knot.

The view this year was absolutely stunning. It had just been raining but the appearance of the sun not only created this beautiful rainbow but it meant that the colours were just incredible. The array of blues and purples over the high tide was spectacular!

Once the picnic has been eaten, we head back home for a slice of Mum’s home made Christmas cake… yummy! How cute are the little decorations on top too!

Perhaps a little later than most, we then go and open our presents from under the tree. This year I received some lovely presents from my family and I am so so grateful for them!

Now all that is left is Christmas Dinner! My Dad always manages to create an amazing array of food and this year was no exception! Little brie bites and a glass of prosecco to start…

… and then a lovely plate full of duck, vegetables, potatoes and bread sauce! Perfect 😀 I don’t actually like Christmas pudding so instead we had a chocolate pudding from M&S and my strawberry/raspberry chocolate tree 🙂

I had the most incredible day with my family, I hope you did too!! What are your Christmas traditions? How do you like to spend your day? Post your links below 🙂

(I hope you noticed my adorable festive earrings from Accessorise in the pic above! I love them :D)

Anyway, that’s Christmas over for another year! Now it is time to get excited for New Year!

Lots of love,