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Our decorations usually go up around the first weekend in December and definiteley come down before 12th night. We do the usual tree in red and gold with twinkly lights, a garland over the mantlepiece, candlebridge in the window and lots of figures with lights on as DH is obsessed with lighting everything up. Plus this year I have made some Rice Dumplings in red cord and some in gold to dangle from prominent places.


Which Christmas song really annoys you ?? and which do you love ??

I love George Michael's 'Last Christmas' and can't think of one I really hate just now, but ask me again in three weeks.

Annoying ones - generally all the secular songs particularly when they are on loops in shops. I like a few but given the choice will always listen to carols.

Favourite - this is really hard. I love some of the choral pieces like Adam lay y bounden and Tomorrow shall be my dancing day. But I also like ones that everyone gets to sing.

What do you do on Boxing Day (26 December)?

turkey and chips!!!! mmmmmmmm with a pint of gravy!! then just general lazying around, with the threat at looking round a few shops (the few that are open)

which milk?? we buy blue for the kids, but i like sainsbury's orange milk but thats not available i'll get green (and for the americans, blue= full fat, green = semi skimmed, orange = 1% fat, red = skimmed)

blue for youngest, green for us (but I sometimes nick the blue for hot chocolate or extra nice porridge...)

what other grains do you use when cooking besides rice? I use barley for risottos, and couscous though that's a milled grain, and i have used wheat for stews but I don't think you can get it here in the UK

I use bulgur wheat, couscous and lentils.

Have you ever had a cooking disaster and if so what?

[I've had a few... Once tried pineapple jelly aged about 15, forgetting of course that that doesn't set Also at about the same age tried making a custard desert which wasn't thickening so instead of doing things properly, I simply chucked more custard powder in - the lumps were unbelievable! And more recently forgot my oven isn't as good as the recipe books and despite leaving dish in for 10 mins longer than cooking time, managed to serve up undercooked chicken ]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh yes when I was about 12 I wanted to bake some banana bread all by myself. So I got all of the ingredients together and went to work. I had never baked on my own before that, always had a sister along so when I read that it was going to take 1 cup of salt. I didn't think anything was the matter with that I mean hey most recipes called for salt. So I just went on about my work mixed it up and baked it. My dad loved banana bread so when he saw it setting on the counter he hacked off a large chunk and took a bit. Well you can imagine. What had happened was the item above the salt was a cup and the salt was a teaspoon but when looking at it I had mixed up the lines. Needless to say no more baking with out double checking every ingredient and the amounts and dad never ate any banana bread I had made ever again.

Do you make sugar cookies and cut them out in neat shapes or just circles? I personally don't do sugar cookies I hate rolling dough.

I make both, but I prefer sugar cookies rolled in sugar. Simple and easy. Rolling, cutting and decorating is so time consuming- it takes away from stitching time! This year I have a recipe which is basically a sugar cookie rolled in a sugar, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg mixture. They say it tastes like a cup of chai tea. Sounds good to me!


When was the last time you saw a movie in a movie theater?

I'll join in!!

Last time I actually saw a movie in a theatre was when CARS came out in theatres. It was a "potty present" for my son since he had gone two weeks without going in his pants. lol My daughter was born not too long before so my son was 3 which makes it about 4 years ago.

What's the best thing you have ever recieved for a gift?

SNOWMEN !!!!!!!!!!


What kind of candies do you make from scratch? I like to make Davinity(sp)

Candies are not so popular with us - we're biiig fans of cakes...
My step-daughter made a double choccy cake yesterday, and a vanilla sponge cake with strawberry jam ("jelly" in the US) and sprinkled with dessicated coconut. I hadn't eaten jam and coconut cake for more years than I care to remember, but it brought back warm homely memories of my childhood.
I think those cakes really made it feel like the festive period has started


What is the most dangerous / exciting activity you've ever done??

Falling in love.



If you suddenly have 2-3 hours extra free time, what do you do?

(I have just come home from the doc, and have 2 hours before my afternoon lessons. I have so much work to do... but I am going to stitch

stitching is a very likely one -- I'm a great believer in the fact that ironing and dusting will still be there tomorrow, and won't kill anyone if they're still there the day after ! Playing with stash comes a close second.

What is the favourite bit of stash you own at the moment, and what is the bit that you would most like to add to your stash if money were no object?

I've just got some varigated Anchor threads which I'm going to use for oversewing the edges of my next HAEDs - got ones to tone in with the colours in the pictures this time rather than using actual floss from the design which I did before

If money were really no object I'd like to acquire ALL the threads needed for ALL the HAED charts I have at the moment, plus some project cards to put them all on

What's your weather like today?

blue sky, sunny, but very very cold !

Using variegated threads to oversew your edges, now THAT's dedication !

what size needle do you prefer to use?

28



Who does most of the decorating at your house? You alone or do you get help from OH or the kids?

NOBODY!!
I am a single gal without children. I have Christmas decorations but unless I will be having a party, I leave them packed away. I might bring out the hand towels and such-- I guess it is time to pack away the Halloween ones. Over the weekend I was at my parents house and helped them set up and decorate the tree. Most of our family Christmas events are at moms house- and she still wants help decorating.

When you say "My Family" to whom are you referring?
Because I am not married, when I say my family it usually means myself, my two sisters, my brother in law and my parents.

WHen I say "My Family" I am usually referring to my husband and two kids.

If you won a large sum of money what is the one BIG thing you would do with it?

DH and me love Formula 1 motor racing.......so we always said if we won loads of money we would follow all the races from start to finish for one full year. Its a good way to see the world and at least once we'd be back home in Britain during the summer.



What other obsession do you have other than buying stash.

Mine is magazines and I always have to have brand new Puzzle books when I go on holiday, even if I have lots of unfinished ones already

Hiking, bicycling and reading.

When was the last time you cooked over a fire?

Not for over 15 years and that includes a barbacue.

If cross stitch hadn't bean invented, what would your hobby be.