Happy new year everyone! I hope you have all had a joyful Christmas. It has been so long since my last entry that I have a lot of areas to cover, from the more sensitive topic of the turkeys to the more creative project of homemade cards and gifts. My photographs span the last month and show aspects of our traditional Norfolk Christmas.
My home is not very clean or tidy. This is mainly due to lots of children, two open fires and a solid fuel stove. Thick layers of coal dust mix with toys out of place, crayons, lego, a stinky dog, various rescue cats and me-trying to cook. At Christmas time, we always have a real Christmas tree from Salle estate, as well as boughs of holly cut from the hedgerows around our house. Being teachers, we never decorate until we break up from school, drawing a firm line between work and holiday. The final day of term is usually a half day. On my way home from work I pick up a tree and a bottle of port. The afternoon is always spent putting up the tree, playing carols on the radio and decorating the house. For me, this signifies the onset of close family time, cooking and full-on Christmassy feelings.
Fresh holly mixed with fairy lights and carols in the background.
For the first time, I have attempted lino cutting as a method for creating my own Christmas cards. In the past I have used mixed media and textiles so this was uncharted territory. Browsing the Internet, I settled on a few designs I felt I could make my own. The weird thing about cutting the lino is remembering to leave what you want and cut away what you don't. The whole pattern is the reverse of how you imagine it.
Black against white and white against black proved to be the most effective colour scheme.
My most ambitious print was a thrush against a winter background. An R became my 'tag'.
This time of year is a time of plenty-thanks to my dad, a retired teacher, who has become a kind of professional beater. I can't remember when I became the person who was able to hang, pluck and gut the feathered bounty that feeds upon the crops and maize of our local fields. Certainly this wasn't me fifteen years ago. I have become a person who, with the responsibility of parenthood and country living, feels that we should all face up to the meat that we eat. I also don't say 'no' to anything free! Whilst the game and shooting industry in the countryside is often associated purely with the upper classes, this is far from the case. Local businesses, farm workers, retired folk, teenagers and local characters are represented in the shooting community. The meat that comes from the shoot is local, free range, traceable and 'farm to fork' in every sense of the term. Game meat is leaner, more flavoursome and more seasonal than any other meat at this time of the year. To me, a pheasant casserole is more 'right' than grilled chicken breasts, steamed fish or asparagus tart. I want my family to eat what is in season. It is the time for root vegetables and brassicas to accompany game birds. Mashed swede with butter and plenty of white pepper, roasted parsnips, turnip, shallots and swede marinated in rosemary and garlic deserve right of place with a pigeon carbonade. That's not to say salad is out of bounds. Homemade coleslaw utilises seasonal winter cabbage, carrots and onions. Mixed with a good helping of mayonnaise and a little garlic and pepper, crunchy textures of raw vegetables cut through the richness of seasonal meat.
Yes, if you want it for free, you need to be prepared to pluck the birds and do a bit of GCSE biology to take out its innards. Before you know it, you will have neat cuts of meat that look like you bought them from the butcher's. If you can't face this and are prepared to spend 3 or 4 quid, you can buy game birds very cheaply and oven ready.
No white Christmas but snow drapes the sash windows. Simple crocheted snowflakes from an Attic24 pattern.
Nigella Lawson's Christmas Rocky Road definitely has a height restriction-adults only! Expensive ingredients but simple to make, this chocolate treat makes the perfect homemade gift for friends and relations. No baking, just stirring and chilling, finishing with a dusting of snowy icing sugar.You only need cut them into little chocolate bitesize pieces-therefore you get plenty for your money.
Simply scrunch the pieces of rocky road into bundles of greaseproof paper and finish with a homemade gift tag and some silver ribbon.
I made a small star lino cut to utilise offcuts of card for gift tags.
Thanks to granny's clever shopping, my children always have beautiful advent calendars by http://www.phoenix-trading.co.uk/web/corp/?sortorder=1&itemsperpage=12&bid=0445d7181b581a7f034761ff2e0f2d93e1e5f5ea
These three dimensional calendars are full of illustrative detail without a nasty cheap chocolate in sight.
As I mentioned before, we always have a real tree. The fragrant smell of the pine sap belongs to our family Christmases. And-I am one of those worthy, fussy types who genuinely believes if you want a Christmas tree, have a tree, not a combination of green plastic and wire that pretends to be a tree.
Our decorations aren't matching colour schemes that compliment our curtains or armchairs. The tree, like many of my like-minded friends' trees, is full of mismatched, eclectic family memories. Homemade gifts from friends sit next to sparkly pine cones created by all of my children when they were at nursery school. Old 1940s decorations that were my nan's accompany wooden angels and soldiers collected on family holidays from times gone by. For me, the tree represents the family; past, present and future, not a preoccupation with expensive interior design.
Several years ago, I made this stuffed heart and star bunting to adorn the mantelpieces, fireplaces and beams.
Finished with a button and some pretty ribbon, they come out every year to make the hearth more cosy and homespun.
The fresh green hope of bowlfuls of hyacinth bulbs signify new year and the (slightly forced) need for spring and growth.
As with every year, I never know what colour they will end up.
Happy new year!
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