I don’t know about you, but in our house we’ve been more than a little slow off the mark this year. For a number of reasons, I’ve found myself out of the house repeatedly for the last few weeks making it impossible to shut up shop and crack on with Christmas. Not so this weekend however. Christmas has never really lost its shine for me, so I’m like a little kid and a big part of it is decorating the house. Not do we decorate the tree whilst listening to some carols; we also bring in a whole heap of greenery from the garden and decorate our lounge with it. Its a big variety of different hollies – some varigated varieties and some with beautiful berries; as well as ivy, pine and other evergreens. Its just somehow makes the place smell amazing. Couple that with a beautiful log fire, and that is a pretty awesome situation!
I will also start making my Christmas presents this weekend which can be a big job. I have a very big family with a wide variety of cousins and uncles and aunts – all of whom are luckily very keen on marmalade! So I will be making a vat of marmalade this weekend, which will probably take me about 4 hours work, due to the sheer quantities I have to make. Plus my dad will be expecting about 10 jars himself, which may or may not make it to the new year!!! 2 really great recipes on here, if nothing else, check those out because they really are family heirlooms. I’ll let you know how it goes later this week! Top tip for making marmalade – when you get to the end and are pouring it into the jars, pour it in little by little in stages. I tend to pour a little bit in each jar and then keep going round until they are all filled. This is important because it stops all the stingles (peel) from all rising to the top and makes sure it is evenly distributed throughout the jar. Check us out at www.country-bumpkins.co.uk Give it a try and let me know how you go!
Christina x
