Gingerbread | A Spoonful of Style

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas filled with joy, presents, food, friends and family. Was Santa generous this year?

Unfortunately I was hit by the flu virus at the start of the week and by Christmas Day was suffering from a terrible head cold & a temperature of 39C 😦 Not quite the Christmas I wanted, but I managed to struggle on and enjoyed a lovely lunch with the in-laws and LOTS of present opening before collapsing into bed at 6pm. I’m slowly on the mend now and enjoying a few lazy days at home with my family, including much Lego building, watching Christmas films and consoling Baby Annabel when she cries (no, not a new bundle of joy, just the very lifelike doll that Clemmie got For Christmas!)

Given that I wasn’t exactly feeling on top of the world, I didn’t manage to take that many pictures on Christmas Day but here are a few from the last week:

{Baking gingerbread biscuits is a tradition in our household. I buy ready made dough from the Swedish shop so it is easy-peasy, just roll it out and let the children go wild with the cookie cutters}

{Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a few board games. Our favourites are Monopoly (ideally the Junior version as it doesn’t go on for hours) and Cluedo}

{All ready for Father Christmas. I bought new personalised Christmas stockings for the children this year as the old ones were in such as sorry state}

{This beautiful dragonfly necklace by British jeweller Alex Monroe was hiding in my Christmas stocking. Santa has obviously been reading my blog!}

{And finally, the children in all their finery before Christmas lunch with the in-laws}

Wishing you all a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! X

Hello there, First of all I just wanted to say a big thank you for all your lovely supportive comments on my previous post. It’s very comforting to know that I’m not the only one to be hit by bloggers block! How are you all bearing up under the Christmas stress? I finished the wrapping last night and today has been a mad dash (in the pouring rain, of course!) buying new shoes for the boys, haircuts for all the kids, and packing our bags for three nights away. We leave tomorrow morning and although it feels strange not to be spending Christmas at home, we are all very excited to be trying something new. We (hopefully) have a fun packed few days ahead and I’ve been cramming the suitcases full with fancy dress outfits, Black Tie attire, wellies and swimming costumes.

It may be a day late but I wanted to take a few minutes to do my weekly round up:

1. It seems like ages ago now, but Cameron was off school with a tummy ache last Monday. Once I’d finished work in the morning, we played quite a few boardgames including Junior Monopoly.

2. Luckily he had recovered by the following day and was able to do a reading in church at his school’s carol service.

3. Amaryllis = Christmas and ours is now in full bloom.

4. Christmas wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the big guy in red himself. The boys were happy to pose with Father Christmas (a really good one this year who took his time to chat to all the children individually) but Clemmie preferred to stay close to Mummy.

5. She did manage to divulge that she wants a dolly for Christmas and enjoyed the visit to the playground afterwards.

6. Another festive tradition is making gingerbread biscuits. I buy the dough ready made from the Swedish food shop, so much easier than making your own. I had planned to buy some writing icing to decorate them but the kids managed to eat every single biscuit before I had time. Note to self: Buy two batches of dough next year.

7. As we’re away over Christmas (it’s my dad’s 70th birthday on Christmas Day no less so we’re going to stay in a hotel for three days), we enjoyed a traditional Swedish Christmas lunch with my parents, sister and family and the in-laws yesterday.

8. Clemmie and her cousin are only six months apart in age and get on really well, chatting away in a mixture of English and Swedish. It will be lovely to spend three solid days together over Christmas.

9. And finally I just had to share my latest purchase with you – the Nars At First Sight eye and cheek palette. My mother-in-law bought me a voucher for Space NK for my birthday and this week I managed to nab the very last palette in stock!

Right, back to the packing it is and in case I don’t get a chance to post in the next couple of days: A very merry Christmas to you all! X