First make your Mincemeat, and a Poorly Pippi

 

Tam arrived yesterday, and the tree is finally up.  So far the kittens have idly tapped a branch but that's all.  Mind you, poor little Pippi made herself feel very ill last night by finding a cup of sardine oil which I had drained when making Keith sardines on toast for lunch.  I quickly removed it, but the damage was done.  She spent the evening sat very quietly, obviously feeling very sick.  I hated to see her like that.  This morning she is back to normal but has an oily throat so will have to have a little rub down with a warm flannel or she will soon start to smell somewhat rancid!

We didn't put the best decorations on the tree, but instead hung them on the pair of Japanese bronze candle holders on the sideboard. This has given my sewn decorations top billing on the tree!

Two photos demonstrating daftness of kittens!  This is Pippi (pre-Sardine oil!) wriggling round under the end of the sideboard, sticking her head through the cut out bit at the end.  I was worried she would get her head stuck and then we would have to lift the darn thing up, and it is solid oak and weighs a ton!

I had an enjoyable day in the kitchen.  One of my cookery magazines had a recipe for  Mincemeat and Banana cake.  I began to assemble the ingredients and then noticed that the Mincemeat I intended to use was two months out of date.  Fortunately I had a recipe for Mincemeat in the same magazine, and all the ingredients, so in next to no time I had 3 jars of home made mincemeat and enough for the cake too.  

I had an even more enjoyable video chat with my dear friend Rosie in NZ too.  She is laid up with Covid (more like a bad cold with her) and this will mean that the family Christmas lunch is on hold for a week or so until she is better.  It was just like we had only spoken yesterday - not 12 years ago when she came to stay at Ynyswen, and I got our close friend group together to stay. That made my Christmas, it truly did.  I even know which keys to press to get the camera and audio back on the video (these always seem to fall pray of cats wandering across the keyboard!)

Right, this won't do.  I need to have a sort out (silently as Tam is in the bedroom above, and the floors aren't very sound-proof) and get started on more baking.

Merry Christmas everyone, and all the best for 2023, although I shall be back before then!