by Gill 29 Replies latest jw friends
I've just finished making our christmas cake!
It took nearly five hours to cook but it's a beauty.
It contained nearly 4 lb of mixed fruits
12 eggs
1 1/2 lb flour, sugar and butter
spices, orange and lemon peel and 1/2 pint of brandy.
After it was cooked I cooled it and poured on 1/3 bottle of best brandy.
It's about to be wrapped securly and hidden away until December 23rd, when I will thickly marzipan it and stick on my christmas 'peoples'!
Let the good times roll!!!!!
Whoops! Apologies for double post! Must have got carried away there!! Too many brandy vapours in this room!
Nothing like being prepared Gill, we haven't really thought about Christmas yet. It will be my 2nd xmas out of the org, and I mean to have a good one, but we won't start planning just yet.
Hi Linda!
We usually start planning for christmas on December 27th!
My husband is the lighting fanatic. Our garden is 'always prepared' for Christmas. Our Christmas tree is pampered all year round in the garden, and brought in as soon as school breaks up, on or around 19th December. This will be our third proper christmas, though we still don't keep the tree downstairs.
Next year we're thinking of 'going for broke' and having a big tree in the front garden!! And the lights!!!! Oh the lights! Oh the strange looks from the JWs as they drive by!! Makes it extra fun!
We're making up for our own forty years without Christmases! That's a lot of making up to do.
The older kids have a few years making up to do themselves. It's the youngest one that has the 'normal' attitude to Christmas. Though she did jump into bed with me after my husband had gone to make tea, and we started on the carol singing this morning!
Our 'large chest' in the loft is already half full of presents! By the time Christmas eve comes and we do our 'bring down' ceremony, where we all wear our christmas hats, the chest will be overflowing. After a few years, and five kids, you soon get into your own christmas traditions.
The making of the cake is the beginning of our traditions. And we've already begun on the mince pie eating tradition as well!!
Only about 72 days to go!
I went 25 years without celebrating xmas Gill, and didn't celebrate it nuch last year. Having only been out of the org for 2 months or so, I felt guilty about it. If it hadn't been for Trev, I doubt I'd have bothered. I didn't live with him then, but we had got together, without telling anyone, early in December last year, and he did all the xmas preparations, while I just tried to enjoy them.
He asked me to move in with him on xmas eve, probably the best present he could have given me. He said the best present he had last year was seeing me quit the org. I think this xmas will be much better for me than last year somehow.
Every year should get better and better as you leave those chains behind!
Yeah, Trev says it gets better year after year, as you get further away from the org, and he's been out for 7 years at the end of next month, so he's had a lot more "worldly" experience than me. We'll probably start planning things next month, but we have our wedding to plan as well, although we've sorted quite a few of the details of that out already, so it's going to be a busy few months for both of us.
It sounds great. No wonder you wanted to get started now. The anticipation of eating it will be exquisite.
Way cool Gill. A friend of ours, who lives in Weybridge, made a cake for her daughter's 25th wedding anniversary. She made it a week ahead and used royal icing. By the time they went to cut the cake, they had to practically use a buzzsaw to cut through it!
Dumb question, if you don't mind: why cook it so far in advance? Is it better if it sits (or steeps) for a while?
Oh Big Tex! You have never eaten a rich fruit cake that has spent nearly two and half months steeping in brandy! Plump cheeries ooze alcohol, and the fruits are all luscious. The 'cake' is moist, fruity and delicious! The marzipan is laid on thickly and adds a succulent balance to the slightly sharp flavour of fruits and alcohol!!
Serve with coffee in the morning, with a cup of tea in the afternoon, and with a glass of port in the evening!!!
Roll on Christmas!
