Sunday 25 December 2011

We've had...

...a cosy Christmas Eve last night with the family, as always, at my parents'.
And as always, we had spuds salad (two kinds, one with mayonnaise and one without) and sausages. I have probably mentioned this before, but there is no spuds salad like the one my dad makes!

Mum made baked apples for dessert. This is a traditional winter dessert in Germany. The core is taken out and the apples are then stuffed with a mixture of raisins, almonds and/or nuts, as well as some sugar (I think) and, if desired, some brandy or other alcoholic drink. If anyone is interested, I can of course ask my mum for her recipe. The apples were from the garden, and my mum brought the pan to the table with sparklers on top, which made for a very pretty effect à la "Captain's Dinner" :-)

The (real) candles on the (artificial) tree were lit after that, and we exchanged our gifts.
Every year, I wonder at the amount of parcels piling up under the tree, with there being seven adults each giving each other (normally) just ONE present. Well, I should not be surprised - simple maths show that 7 x 6 (because nobody brings a parcel for themselves, obviously) makes 42, and if you consider that sometimes there is more than one parcel from one to the other, we easily get to somewhere around 50!

This year, I had some things I'd already known about, because I had either said I needed it (such as the pretty Cath Kidston toiletries bag, a gift from my sister, and the cushions for my kitchen chairs, from my parents) or because I had chosen it for myself (such as the fluffy red zip-up and the dress I am going to wear on New Year's Eve). Most of the other presents I received are useful and much appreciated, such as the wild rose shower gel (I like the scent, and it is going to be used up and not stand around for ever) and the assortment of kitchen ingredients (a jar each of pesto, a bruschetta spread and aioli).

When I unwrapped the presents from England this morning, at first I thought "oh no! nobody has sent me any chocolate this year...", but then I opened the handbag (not really my style) from my mother-in-law and found  inside a box of Cadbury's Roses, a Terry's Orange and a box of Maltesers (all very much my style!).

A gift I can not wait to make use of are the two vouchers for the nearby beauty-and-wellness "temple"! I love going there for a massage or a pedicure or some other treatment, but I never buy any of their treatments for myself. They will definitely have a phone call from me next week!

Hope everyone had a time as lovely as I did.

19 comments:

  1. Merry Christmas!
    Love the Christmas tree with real candles! So happy that you got your English chocolate, we really do know what is the good stuff in life, eh?
    Love the baked apples with sparklers, Richard says that he used to have them that way in England too, just not with sparklers!
    What a great photo of you in your pretty dress.
    Hope you have a lovely Christmas Day!
    Oh, and in England they have Boxing Day, the day after England. Is it celebrated in Germany? It is just the day after Christmas in the USA, but this year, Richard and I are taking the day off. We have two whole days off together for Christmas.
    Oh, and C. looks more like Richard now that he is older. Poor guy, I know he got tired of being told he looked just like his MOM!

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  2. I hope that you are having a happy Christmas Day. Mine is over and I am now just into Boxing Day and ready for my bed.

    My Mum made baked apples too just as you described them and so do I. Wonderful.

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  3. Fantastic dress!
    Just zipping through blog land to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

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  4. Thank you, Kay! The sparklers on the baked apples were my mum's own idea and are not actually part of the tradition :-)
    The 26th here is a holiday; shops etc. are closed, but we do not do anything particular on that day, just rest and eat the leftovers and play with our presents...

    GB, baked apples are indeed wonderful, aren't they! We would have liked to have ice cream with them but we thought of that too late, and there wasn't any in the freezer.

    Thank you, Macy! Of course when I'll wear it on New Year's Eve, there will be make-up and my hair won't look as if I'd just come out of the shower (which I had, actually, minutes before I took the picture), and I'll carry my pretty little evening handbag (which is too small to be of any use in everyday life) and not the fishnet stockings but something that matches the dress better.

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  5. Merry Christmas! Everything looks wonderful! Love the dress!

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  6. Merry Christmas to you, too, Mary! And thanks :-)

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  7. Love your dress and see you are wearing your dancing shoes. What a wonderful Christmas and such great presents.

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  8. It was indeed wonderful, Jill, and I am both happy and lucky to have such a great family and friends! These are not my dancing shoes; I might show them in a different post some day. The ones I am wearing here are the best of both worlds: sturdy and comfortable enough to carry me through a whole day working on a fair, but still good enough to go with something more elegant than a business outfit.

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  9. And you'll certainly look stunning!

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  10. I'll second GB. Stunning. Our very own resident model.

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  11. Lovely dress and you look smashing in it too...you'll knock 'em bandy!

    SP

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  12. What a pretty array of presents, too, and a real spirit of Christmas in your post. I cannot BELIEVE you are so slim when you are such a chocolate fan, I could fit 2 of you into my silhouette :)

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  13. Jenny, most of the presents are really pretty, there are just two items I won't keep because they don't match anything else in my wardrobe and are simply not my style.

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  14. Great dress! And the apples look so festive!

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  15. Thank you, Sonia :-) And yesterday, I have just found the perfect pair of tights to go with the dress, with tiny dots on like in the fabric of the dress.
    The apples were delicious, and the sparklers on top made them extra festive.

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  16. Well here it is New Years Day and I'm just getting around to wishing you a Merry Christmas Meike! I'll bet that wonderful dress was a smashing success on New Years Eve, hope it was a delightful evening and your New Year is filled with JOY!
    xx
    Julie

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  17. Thank you, Julie! The whole evening (dress included) was a success, and the perfect end to a great year as well as perfect start to the new one.
    Happy New Year to you, too!
    - M. xx

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