Welcome to 2025

Welcome back, friends, and welcome to a brand new year. If you are visiting for the first time, thank you for stopping by and visiting this small corner.

Firstly, how did your Christmas festivities go? Hopefully, you all had a wonderful few days with family/friends celebrating in your special way. 

After attending the Christmas Day church service, hubby, D and myself had Christmas dinner at our son's house. Everyone bought something for the meal, and we sat down to enjoy eating it. It was a lovely afternoon and far more relaxed than in past years. Usually, I would be chasing around until the very last minute, but with other events this year, I couldn't contemplate Christmas until halfway through the month. 

Poor hubby was most disappointed that there was no homemade Christmas cake, and the shop-bought ones were hardly large enough for one who loves his fruit cake! A few days before Christmas, I found a simple fruit cake recipe and thoroughly adapted it to the existing ingredients in my cupboard. It has turned out to be one of the best fruit cakes I have ever made. 

Ingredients

140g raisins

140g sultanas

200g glace cherries

several tbsp rum, brandy or sherry for soaking fruit

225g butter

225g caster sugar

275gpl flour

1tsp baking powder

4 eggs

Method

1. soak the sultanas,raisins and cherries in the alcohol over night.

2. Grease and line a 20cm/8" tin

3. Preheat oven to 160c/140c for fan/gas 3

4. Mix butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the  eggs, one at a time.

5. Mix in the soaked fruit and liquid remains. Add the flour to make a soft dropping consistancy. Spoon in to baking tin and lightly level the top.

6. Bake for about 2 1/2 hours or until a skewer inserted in centre of cake can be cleanly removed. 

I have already promised another cake before too long, and hubby can share it with our son, who also loves fruit cake.

As many of you know from the few pictures I posted last year, I started a cross-stitch project as a surprise gift for my son and new wife to celebrate their August wedding. I foolishly believed that I would finish it quickly. If you are a fan of this type of crafting, then you will likely be laughing uncontrollably by now. I have asked D to remind me of the reality of how long these projects actually take when I have my next big project idea.

Despite finishing it just before Christmas, I am super happy with the design. I changed some of the details to make it more personal to C and J.

The wedding was at Clearwell Castle, near Monmouth, so this is their special place. I used the picture from their wedding invite to make up a castle motif.

The groom's suit was a very pale green/grey, which I changed from the navy one in the original pattern. I also changed the bride's hair colour and style to more accurately reflect the day.

I had to change one row entirely as it wasn't right for the personalities and style of the day. C and J are adventurous people, so I kept the hot air balloon but not the Cinderella coach. I made up a sparkles motif because we enjoyed those in the evening and added the words 'New Adventure' and 'Sparklers'.

I can breathe a sigh of relief now that I have finished the project and know, most importantly, that C and J loved the Christmas gift.

Now, I'm looking for a new 2025 project!

The days between Christmas and New Year seemed to pass very slowly here, but D busied herself in the kitchen with more baking, and we both continued with some decluttering jobs. The biggest job for D was all the old paperwork she no longer needed. What a paper mountain that was- but it's all done now! 😊

The New Year was a quiet affair, apart from the fireworks at midnight, as it rolled into 2025. Can you believe we are starting the year that marks a quarter of this century? It only seems a short while since the new century began!

Have a great week, everyone. 

x

Ps I have added the missing eggs to the recipe. Thank you to Jan for pointing it out.