There is something so joyful about being with friends and family at this time of year. Last night L and I went to my big sister's house to make our Christmas wreaths, along with many of my nieces (great and otherwise) and nephews.
Earlier in the day, I went to the greenhouse ( I am always a bit dubious about opening those doors during the Winter months, convinced that a large family of rats will have sought refuge there), and found some secateurs and my old gardening gloves. Taking Polly (the cockapoo) with me for protection (do rats live in bushes too?), I pulled on my wellies and set off for the field at the back of the house in search of tree ivy and holly. Mr C and I had done a recce last weekend to check that there was plenty of both, so I knew where to look. In the space of week however, all but 2 of the scarlet holly berries had disappeared, and the purple berries of the tree ivy were looking seedy and past their best. And my trusty companion was obviously sensing something sinister in the bushes as she refused to go near them. Buoyed up by Christmas spirit, I chopped away, and gathered a boxful of greenery, and walked home feeling very Barbaraesque (from the Good Life).
I made some of my favourite mince pies, rolling out puff pastry into a large rectangle, covering it with not too much mince meat before rolling it up like a sausage and slicing it into little rounds. Then squashing the rounds with a spoon onto baking parchment on a baking tray (think Danish pastries), covering each with flaked almonds and baking until golden. Once cool, I covered them with icing made from lots of sieved icing sugar and lemon juice to form a thickish paste. The house was filled with the most beautiful Christmassy smell, and we were almost ready to set off, when I heard the dreaded words. "Can I do your makeup now Mum?" Normally I wouldn't contemplate agreeing to such a suggestion, but it's nearly Christmas, and she has some very pretty coloured eyeshadow, so I said yes please. She is quite good at doing her own, but maybe I just chose the wrong colours - sparkly emerald green and turquoise, with glitter liner and lots of highlights. It looked OK in the tiny little shaving mirror in the dark bathroom (remind Mr C that he needs to use a brighter bulb next time), so we packed up the car and set off. I was a bit shocked when I saw my reflection in the huge mirror as we walked into the well lit hallway of my sister's house, but nobody said anything so I thought it must have been ok. And then the drag queen jokes began. Earlier, L had made me promise not to tell anyone that she had done my makeup, but I felt it necessary to betray her in case it wasn't obvious enough that I hadn't done it myself. However, there is one thing that she does that I really love. She puts a star sticker just below the brow, and then applies the eyeshadow, removing the star after, to leave a star shaped gap. It looked fabulous when she did it on her own eyes. But on mine, with the droopy lids, it just got smudged and lost in the crows' feet. She has decided she might like to be a makeup artist when she grows up. I have suggested that perhaps she should just do it as a hobby.
The wreath making was great - we had all forgotten how to do it (and had a couple of novices who were being badly led by the blind), and we all lamented the absence of T the florist. My sister had fortunately found lots of tree ivy with big purple berries, and some orange rose hips, which were perfect. Between us we had made several visits to our favourite Christmas tree sellers, We Tree Kings, for cut offs, so there was plenty to go round. Eventually, we got there, with only a couple of injuries. And the wreaths were beautiful, and all different. They had fairy lights, dried orange slices, cinnamon sticks, ribbons, dried lotus flowers, pine cones, raffia and one even had an owl! L was sad not to win first prize, but she did get to eat her own body weight in Pringles, which made her very happy. And she held back on the spray paint this year, and was very proud of her wreath, which she hung up as soon as she got home. And I loved being in the same room with so many of my family members, all busy, all making, and I came away thinking that we should get together more often. It won't happen, but I wish it would!
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