Christmas photos

A few photos from our Christmas. These first two are shots of the panoramic Christmas jigsaw puzzle that the FH was largely responsible for completing. He had occasional helpers, but he did a grand job! There were 1000 pieces, and it took from Boxing Day to New Year's Eve.

And these are the two Christmas cakes I made. This first one was for my uncle, and we kept the second. I was so good and made the actual cakes way back at the end of October, but then my good intentions went to pot and I only managed to get the marzipan on them on Christmas Eve and they were iced on Boxing Day in the morning. It was a good job that we were so full that we didn't want any for tea on the big day! Boxing Day was the ultimate deadline as we had guests to tea and I thought that my uncle would want to take his home with him - turns out he wasn't going home but staying with my sister and he came back to Sunday lunch and took it home that night.

We had never had candles on a Christmas cake before, but this set looked cute and we indulged and bought them. We felt the need to sing "Happy Birthday!" to Jesus, though, and to blow them out before it was cut. It was a joint effort and seemed to be the best thing to do, otherwise there seemed little point in lighting them!

Quite apart from Christmas, the hens have laid more eggs today, and the FGs are all ready for school in the morning - just have to get me prepared for the early starts and packing lunchboxes again!