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Christmas countdown - week 2




 The mince pies are made. And just in time.  The mincemeat I made last week was vanishing fast. It was so delicious, each time I passed the fridge another spoonful disappeared from jar to mouth!




I am slowly crossing things off the to do list.
Make mince pies - tick
Write cards - tick
Decorate cake - ah yes. The question this year is how to decorate-
Should I go
a) retro and kitsch with roughed up icing and a plastic Father Christmas? This is the cake I remember from my 60s childhood; mum in a faint panic on Christmas eve spreading royal icing over the cake and positioning a plastic robin and snowman amidst the 'snow'. I like this idea. I'm feeling nostalgic. But there again, I don't really like a lot of icing and with dire warnings in the media about how much sugar we are consuming, maybe this should be relegated to the not good for us list. ( Though I don't want to make anyone feel guilty, it is Christmas after all!)



Or I could go for
b) minimalist and sophisticated. Ready to roll fondant icing and some cut out stars, holly and silver balls etc can give a very professional look. This is a tempting option, but there again all that icing..


so that leaves me with
c) rustic and natural; marzipan covered sides and a random selection of nuts and fruit on top. We love marzipan chez fenland lottie. And, although I know marzipan has a lot of sugar, it also contains almonds and almonds are officially good for us. ( I'm hoping that all the sugar doesn't negate the benefits of the almonds!)

So there we are- 3 options. Which way to go? Watch this space!


How are your Christmas preparations going?
I am a little disappointed, that with only a couple of weeks left until The Big Day, there have been no Santa sightings around here. I am getting a little worried that we have somehow been missed off the map!

If you happen to see Santa, do remind him to visit us over here in the Fens.






annjenny x



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Comments

  1. mamasmercantile11 December 2015 at 18:28

    My Grandson Bertie who is now 4 went to Copenhagen to see the real Santa, apparently some of the shops have helpers who dress up as Santa but they are not real. Watch out for the fakes!!!!!

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    Replies
    1. annie11 December 2015 at 18:50

      True! I have sometimes seen more than one Santa at the same time, so some of them can't be real!!

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  2. CJ11 December 2015 at 19:59

    I remember that roughed up icing with the plastic decorations too. We fitted loads on ours, all different scales, it was fantastic. The marzipan version sounds delicious too though. I'm not a fan of eating icing, the sugar doesn't agree with me, although it seems to be okay in the cake. Your mince pies look delish, I must get round to making some soon. I've mislaid the Christmas cards. They're here somewhere, I'm just not sure where. CJ xx

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  3. love those cupcakes11 December 2015 at 22:34

    Call me old fashioned but the cake here will have the usual snow effect royal icing and the motley assortment of decorations we've had for donkey's years. I'll also dot around some silver balls because, well, I always do. We're missing two batches of mince pies because I've eaten them (not all in one go, I hasten to add!). Santa was in our road tonight. He was most definitely the real one.

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