Candyfloss and Christmas

Hello lovely Blogland people who come and visit Jumble and Jelly to see what we've been up to.

My daily activity posts, or any posts for that matter, have ground to a halt.

Life has thrown us a bit of a difficult situation and my time and energy have needed to have been concentrated elsewhere.

The last day I managed was Candyfloss Day on 7th December.

Although I love eating candy floss I thought using this shower gel would be a fun and slightly different way to mark the day.

Going back to my absence, I know I have mentioned once or twice in fairly recent posts the fact that S has been having a few issues.
Things have come to a bit of a head this past week.
My birthday year activities were dropped without a second though.
Christmas planning has taken a back seat.
A fair amount of other stuff has also had to fall by the wayside.

Due to all of this I need to take a break from blogging.
I don't know how long I will be away for. I sincerely hope it won't be for long but who can tell.
S is ok, we just need to hunker down and weather out this spell together.

I would like to think I'd be able to visit all my bloggy friends and leave you all Happy Christmas messages but I need to be realistic and I am pretty sure that that is not really going to happen.
So please help yourself to a biscuit from this sweet little mitten shaped dish (both advent presents from my sister!) as little festive treat from me to you.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy 2018.

Shoes, Snow and Santa

Monday was one of the most straightforward days yet.

Wear Brown Shoes Day meant just that.

I had a really lovely day out Christmas shopping with my mum and sisters and these comfy brown flat lace ups were perfect for that excursion.

Tuesday 5th December was the birthday of Christina Rosetti. I don't know much about her other than she wrote the words of the carol In the Bleak Midwinter. I have to say I find the tune of that particular song a bit of a dirge. 
The first verse mentions snow and as it is now December and I am working my way through my stash of festive jewellery I went for the snowflakes earrings and this jolly snowman who looks just the opposite of bleak!

Today is St Nicholas Day and so it was time to change over from using my normal dotty keyring and thread the keys onto this jolly Santa one instead. Little festive touches like him make me happy.

December 3rd

My advent gift today is a set of chalk board gift tags.

A mix of patterns means I can use some for Christmas and others for birthdays.

Really useful and very cute.

It's been a couple of weeks since I watched a movie as part of my birthday year of activities and after watching Far From Heaven I can tell you it was worth the wait.
This movie was chosen as the lead actress Julianne Moore has her birthday today.
The movie is set in Connecticut in 1957 and concerns the seemingly perfect life of homemaker Cathy Whittaker. 
The film explores issues of sexual and racial discrimination during this era and the film was shot in movie style of this time.
The sets are immaculate and just look at the costumes too. The clothing echos the natural beauty found in the many outdoor scenes.
G and I both enjoyed this movie and it's one we would heartily recommend.

Advent

A couple of years back my sister's and I began a new tradition.

During the year we gather 18 little gifts and then add to these with 6 more which can either be drunk or eaten.

Making a total of 24, one to be opened each day leading up to Christmas Day.

We have a rule that no gift should cost more than £1.00.

Keeping an eye out all year round means you can pick up some real bargains along the way.

At the end of November we gather together to exchange them all ready for the first of December.

This year I bought gifts for my sister T, T bought for our sister C and C bought for me.

I am going to attempt to share them, if not daily, then as often as I can.

My first gift was this reindeer cake tin.

This morning I opened the first edible gift. 
A packet of Viennese biscuits, the kind that melt in the mouth and once opened don't last very long!!

Snow White

December 1st is another one of those days which was created by food companies to help promote the selling of their produce.
This time though the food they are promoting is on the healthy spectrum as it is Eat a Red Apple Day.
As soon as I read about this day my mind to flew Snow White and the eating of that poisoned apple.
What a rogues gallery of Snow Whites to behold.

December 2nd 1957 saw Sam Cooke's You Send Me reach the number one spot.

If you have never listened to Sam Cooke before then I urge you to. 
He has the most beautiful voic.
The depth of emotion he conveys in is his version of Send Me Some Lovin' is simply marvellous. Check him out on You Tube.

The End Of November

Monday was Lancashire day and I took the opportunity to bake something I have been wanting to attempt making again.

When I made parkin the first time my darling husband, to whom I wasn't as yet married, christened this rope cake because he said that's what the texture was like.

Cheeky boy.

I took the recipe from here and I must admit it was more of a success.

I'm sure I have a recipe where the parkin is made with a combination of golden syrup and treacle as with just treacle it did taste very rich.

Tuesday 28th was the birthday of Saints legend Mick Channon and so I wore my red and white striped cardigan as these are the colours of the Southampton strip.

Although a work colleague did comment on how festive I looked and I realised this would be the ideal thing to wear on Candy Cane day later this month.

I went for a clothing related item on Wednesday for the birthday of CS Lewis. I loved the Narnia books as a child and as an adult I have also enjoyed the movies. I love the costumes the girls wear and so I took a bit of inspiration from Lucy and wore this dark green cardi and floral dress.
You can see them hung on the front of my wardrobe.

Here is a closer look at the floral pattern. I bought this handmade dress at a vintage shop in Bristol last weekend for £1.00.
Yes we've been away and I have a whole post to do about our little trip.

Thursday was St Andrews Day and if there is one thing I love about Scotland then it's the shortbread!
This recipe from the Co-op was just begging to be attempted. We layered the toffee and the chocolate rather than just drizzling and the addition of the popcorn is genius.