Christmas in England

I have never spent a Christmas in England and after last year's visa debacle, I wasn't going anywhere this year.  My Mom came back for a visit and the plan was to stay in our pajamas, bake an obscene amount of Christmas goodies, and relax.  Mission accomplished.

Above, I cut some branches from the neighbourhood bushes and plopped them into a vase: Christmas decor complete!  These two little elves helped (okay, they stood guard while I hacked away at the branches!): 

I can't remember when we made these profiteroles, but I do recall the batter being difficult.  Leave it to my Mother, the woman with endless patience for baking (of all things!  I seem to recall a not-so-affiinity for baking while I was growing up) to ensure that the sticky batter came together and that we plunked these beauties on trays to bake.  I'm not a huge fan, but they were a HUGE HIT and they looked gorgeous (sorry, no end picture).  This may have been the recipe I used.

We also stayed true to Mom's Austrian heritage and made vanillekipferl (sugar cookies with almond, doused in icing sugar).  They were wicked good.

Christmas Day was pretty lovely at our house (with our REAL TREE!).  Dad sent some gifts with Mom, which was a treat, and we all tore open pressies first thing Christmas morning.

This Christmas tree (which cost about ten thousand dollars at the garden centre) lasted close to a MONTH.  Yes it's true that I am still fishing needles out from under floor boards and at the seam of every single door in the house, but it was well worth it.  Roll on December!

And now for the obligatory around-the-table-at-dinner shots ;)

I don't think I was the only one happy to have me England-side when Santa rolled into town.

On Boxing Day, we had Steven's clan around for a big dinner.  How many men does it take to unfold the leaf from the bottom of the table (LOVE this table...best purchase yet!)?  

...while the slightly annoyed women watch on:

And for some, back to work came sooner than we'd liked...

...but soon enough, it was New Years Eve.  Ha!  We went to the local Thai restaurant at about 8 and headed to our favourite Old Man Pub.  Unfortunately, you had to have bought tickets in advance, so we were screwed.  We popped into this pub instead (that I swear served butter sandwiches after midnight) and found our own fun.  Love this man...no matter how crappy the local pub!

Happy Holidays!