Festive is our Word of the Week

It certainly is beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here. Even without the snow (we didn’t have any this week), it still feels quite cold outside but warm and festive inside. We don’t have a radio but I find that our trusty Alexa brings up a nice variety of festive tunes when we ask her. So, you just have to ask.

As we said in last week’s blog, Vlogmas has been a big highlight. We are now on Day 10 and we haven’t missed a video upload yet! This week I discovered this week that Youtube studio has a good range of free festive music that we can insert in our videos. In some cases, although the music is free to use, you do have to state the source etc.

I love adding this festive feel to the videos as it seems more relative. Our favorites so far have been Jingle Bells, Carol of the Bells, and Noel. I notice that a lot of Youtubers use them too. Those who are making big bucks from their channel tend to go with the ones that you have to pay for. They do sound good too, but we can’t afford it yet.

We did manage this week to book a slot for our grocery delivery on the 15th of December. I know it sounds like it’s too early but a lot of the items are pantry items that won’t need refrigeration. We can always pop to Aldi (walking distance) if we need some fridge or freezer items and one of us is up for a walk.

Keeping with the festive theme, today we made the second Charcuterie board of the festive season! This one was bigger and nicer with much more variety. I feel a bit stuffed now as I had my chicken soup for lunch and still indulged with some of the stuff from the cheeseboard. I was missing the olives though.

My favourite bits were the spicy cheese, the red and green grapes and also the crusty tiger baguette that we bought at the Co-op. Have you tried making a charcuterie board? If you do have children at home, this is something that they could do to get in the festive mood (plus to help to prepare a snack or part of a meal.

I didn’t feel quite festive when we woke up one morning to see that the breeze had blown over two of our neighbours’ bins and the whole area just looked like a tip! Some time ago Leisa and I got a little system set up where the bins are sort of chained to the wall so it is impossible for them to be blown over. I wish the neighbours would do the same! Anyway, I didn’t see who did the cleaning up but by afternoon, most of the mess was gone.

This week we got our Christmas cake made too. It’s a Jamaican black fruit cake, otherwise called a rum cake.

We made three of them because we always have neighbours and friends to share with. At the moment, we are still drizzling them with some flavourful Red Label wine so that they remain moist but also so that they are preserved and can last for weeks. The smells that hit you now in the kitchen are definitely putting me in a festive mood.

So, one more week to go and we will have the house full again (all our Uni kids…um, young adults) will be home for Christmas. We are looking forward to some cosy comfy and festive days to enjoy at home.

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