Countdown!

Have you started planning yet? It’s just 6 weeks till Christmas, but doesn’t feel very wintry with hollyhocks and roses still blooming in the sunshine. Whilst I haven’t made any lists yet, we have placed a small order with M&S and I’ve made the first batch of mincemeat, currently upside down on the worktop. I don’t make Christmas pud as so few of us like it and the last time I made Christmas cakes was with a group of children in an after-school club. We cooked them in small baked bean tins then put marzipan and fondant icing on the top. Two or three coloured packs gave them the freedom to put trees, stars or leaves on top of the white icing. A wide ribbon was tied around the outside, then it was onto a tiny silver board and finally bagged with a gift tag. A couple of mouthfulls and it was gone….quite different from my mothers’ royal iced monstrosity that seemed to go on till Easter!