Showing posts with label traditions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label traditions. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Prepping and fluffing for the festive season...swags, soup and cranberry relish.

We are getting ready for Christmas here in The Humble Bungalow.

I love using things found in nature...greenery, pine cones and plants.
A white amaryllis sits on the dining room table almost ready to bloom and paper whites are growing on a bed of river rocks in a clear vase on the window sill in the kitchen.


Friends met up last weekend to make door swags from greenery and pine cones.




I made a big batch of Mulligatawny Soup to serve for lunch at the swag party.


It's a hearty soup, served up in my friend's arts and crafts Roycroft china bowls.
One bowl of this soup fills you up and I had no room for dessert...
I bought the soup base at The Root Cellar and you can order the Cowichan Valley Soup base  here.

Mr. HB and I have hosted our family's Christmas dinner here in our small and cozy Humble Bungalow for the past 30 years...
When everyone is here we need to spill out into other rooms as our living room is so tiny...
our family have been very gracious and are quite tolerant coming here to celebrate considering ours is the smallest of all of the houses.
I am very grateful that they have opted to join us and make our Christmas celebration, a family affair.

We are cooking an organic turkey and will serve a whipped potato bake, green peas, Brussels sprouts, stuffing and gravy....my sister brings a yam dish and mom brings some buns.
I make a cranberry dish ahead of time as we like to have it on hand for the feast and then after for turkey sandwiches. This recipe can be made a week in advance so I am sharing it with you now...

Cranberry Relish

1 12 ounce bag of fresh cranberries rinsed and drained
1 3/4 cups white sugar
1 cup water
1 Granny Smith apple chopped
grated zest and juice of one orange and one lemon
3/4 cups raisins
3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Cook cranberries and sugar with 1 cup of water over low heat for 5 minutes until the skin of the berries pop open.
Add the apple, zest and juices and cook for 15 minutes.
Remove from heat and add the raisins and nuts. Stir and let cool, then refrigerate.
I like to use a silver dish that has been in our family for years to serve this relish...it looks lovely in a crystal bowl.

It also makes a great gift for a busy hostess.


I was tempted by this sweet little snowman cookie at Starbucks.
I resisted though and enjoyed a skinny egg nog latte...
isn't that an oxymoron?
Skinny and egg nog latte together in the same sentence?

I am not very talented when it comes to "decorating" cookies...
I am in awe of Martha Stewart and others who can make cookies look like works of art.

Do you celebrate Christmas?
What are your traditions?

Our neighbourhood has a food drive and carolers go door to door.
The children pull wagons and we fill them up with food for the food bank.

Another neighbour bakes dozens and dozens of cookies and opens up their house for all to attend...
one year they had a gingerbread village set up on the dining room table and a toy train ran through the village!


I went for a refreshing 5K walk along the seafront this afternoon.
I stopped by on my way home to have tea with Mom,
 she was making shortbread so we sat down with out tea and sampled a few pieces...
they were delicious and she even sent me home with a few pieces to share with Mr. HB.