Angel Jem's City Cottage

Wednesday is usually a good day in the office. I get in early, after dropping David off at the station at 8 for University at 9.30. I can clean, run backup, get the first cup of tea in and be writing at my desk, all before 9am. I leave by 4, to tutor a child, so the day is even a shorter day than usual. I think my early morning quiet session will be a good time to do my weekly round up. So here I am, only a week later than I thought! What am I reading this week? I had to mostly read Reservoir 13 for bookclub on Monday. It did not go well. I know it's won all sorts of awards and been raved about by people,had prequels on Radio 4 and all the things that meant I should have liked it.... but I just didn't. I don't know whether part of that was I was reading in very short bursts and often late at night in an incredibly busy few weeks, or because the style is deliberately disjointed, with no identifiable main character. I didn'y have sympathy for any of teh character...

I love Christmas, a lot, and I promise to post my #christmasisntchristmaswithout posts even if I have to post them throughout the new year and back date them! But today will not be the day that I do that; today I am prepping for Christmas At Home. We spent Christmas Day at my brothers house (27 for dinner) and, although I loved it, I get over-faced by that many, and I ate my dinner sitting back from the table due to NO arm space at all, so my Christmas Dinner was not at all restful (or even really enjoyable; turkey is not made to eat off one's knees) but the craic was really lovely, and the time spent with everybody was worth the pain. Today my Mum and Dad are coming. We were going to have a turkey cooked by me.... but it smelled off. I mean really bleachy and not fresh, even though I only bought it on Christmas Eve and it was good until the 26th, so I won't risk anyone's health. Life is too short to eat bad turkey. That bird is binned and two small chickens bask in t...

Today is St Nicholas' Day, and over Europe children will have left out their shoes and hoped to find them filled with sweets and goodies. That's what St Nicholas does. Whether you take exception to the fact that Sinter Klass as we know him has been hijacked by the wheels of commercialism as a toy-pushing, over-eating exploiter of elf-kind, or think he's a jolly old St Nicholas, he is a big part of the season, especially when you're below a certain age. The magic of anticipation is brilliant, putting out a carrot and mince pie for the man, and waiting for the sound of bells and hoof prints because, hey, he really can fly and he really does get into the house and leave the gifts..... I love The Polar Express for many reasons, but I think I really like how it deals with the whole Big Man problem; for years I could not watch it because I didn't want my children to ask, or to think too deeply. It's back on our watch list now, and we talk more in ter...

It is still beautiful that at this time of the year snail mail runs amok and delivers little envelopes full of sweet wishes. And I have such a load of conflicting feelings about them; they cost a lot of money and are only sent out of obligation (perhaps) but then again they are a valuable link with relatives and friends far away, and add to the feel of the house. I hate tacky cards. I don't do anything rude, nor comedy cartoonish. I dislike the cheap and nasty slightly heavier than paper photo cards that were so common when I was a teenager, and I don't like ostentatious cards that are designed to scream out about the worth of the sender (and I mean monetary worth, not self-value) and most of all I hate cards that are ready printed and sometimes never even get a name signed. If I'm sending a card, I will send a good one. I've cut back a lot on obligation cards; you know, things like the second cousin seven times removed whom you never see from one year to the next des...

From the first of November (yes, you read that right!) my car becomes a centre of everything kitsch if only musically; that's the day I get out my Christmas CD collection and begin to hum along to the old and new favourites I have found. I wrote about my favourite Christmas music as part of Blogmas last year, and the records I listed there are still very much on my playlist. But this year was a classic year for albums. Kylie had a new album out!! Kylie Christmas [CD+DVD] Now usually Pop Princesses don't get much listening to in my car, but I LOVE this album; it is kitsch, old fashioned, modern pop, pure Kylie, duets with the weirdest people and all wrapped up with a picture of a lady old enough to be me (she's 5 days younger, I think) but a LOT smaller! I love the opening song, 'It's the most wonderful time of the Year', and the song written by Chris Martin, 'Every Day's Like Christmas', but I really love her duet of 'Only You' with James ...

Circles stand for eternity; candles stand for light in the depths of the darkest winter; evergreen decorations stand for life in the middle of the sere and grey dead of winter and the four candles each stand in a corner of the world as a symbol of the unity of the world under God's care. The wreath stretches back to pagan times; it's another one of those great traditions from the past that Christianity appropriated and made its own. I bought our wreath when I was first employed at a school that held a traditional Prizegiving in Liverpool Cathedral, and we have had it on our dining table every December since. Sometimes I am traditional enough to have purple candles for three Sundays and a pink one for the third Sunday (Gaudete Sunday; the week of joy) with a plain white one for Christmas Day itself. Other years I have red candles for the Sundays and white for Christmas. This year my daughter has worked her magic again, and brought a beautiful blue candle from Co...

I'm going to try to post everyday in December (again) and to record my Christmas through the things that make Christmas special to me. I'll do my best! I'll tag them #christmasisn'tchristmaswithout and put the photos on Instagram as well (you can find me on there as angeljem5 ) Today; well, for the 1st of December it must be advent calendars. I love them, I have loads, but every year I like to try out a different one. This year I treated myself to the Yankee Candle advent from Dobbies, every day a new tealight! And today was the first of the 24; a lovely cinnamon heavy scent that is even now burning brightly in my present off my daughter, who spent last weekend in Germany on a school trip, haunting the markets and feasting on gingerbread. She bought me a porcelain dome, with a small saucer beneath to hold the candle. When you light the flame it shines through the thinnest parts of the dome, giving a beautiful effect of light and shade. Advent calenda...

And breathe. I say that to myself a lot at the moment. A lot over this weekend, especially, when a bug wiped me out for Friday and Saturday meaning any plans I had for a quiet Christmas putter in my house were wiped out. No slow amble around a supermarket looking for red candles for my Advent wreath, no pootling through the advent chest to find and choose which calendars made the cut this year and filling them with gold-wrapped chocolate gingers, no slow sipping of a Costa mulled wine. Oh, no! My Saturday was passed on the sofa, plain builders in hand, snuggling 'neath a quilt and checking that everybody else was cold as well, or was it just me? (it was; everybody else was toasty warm) And of course that means I am a weekend behind in any house preparations I wanted to make. My settee will not now be pulled out and carefully cleaned behind before the tree takes centre stage and makes housework redundant. My kitchen cupboards will be dirty and unlined as I cram the December goodi...

Merry Christmas and a Happy, Peaceful and Prosperous New Year to us all! It's true, Christmas can feel like a lot of work, particularly for mothers. But when you look back on all the Christmases in your life, you'll find you've created family traditions and lasting memories. Those memories, good and bad, are really what help to keep a family together over the long haul. Caroline Kennedy Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_christmas.html#zheJHKOE4RmUXZj6.99 Edited; I need to record my children more before they grow up completely. Here's the collage of Christmas Day 2014. Look at the wrapping paper centre (there was more all over the floor!) and my parents who came to me for Christmas for the First Time Ever. Did I enjoy myself? You betcha!

I'm guessing my Christmas Eve this year is pretty much like anybody else's if you've got Christmas dinner to cook the next day. I want as little as possible to do on Christmas Day so I plan.. plan and plan a bit more. My list this year ran; 11am make stollen dough ( Paul Hollywood's recipe ) and leave to rise. 11.30 make biscotti. Chocolate orange and cherry in the sort of style of the Hairy Bikers' Chocolate Orange and cranberry. Noon Stollen stage 2; incorporate marzipan and swirl into shape. Leave to prove. 1pm bake the stollen. Watch the daughter decorate her Christmas cake with buttercream icing and wonder how she can get quite so green in 5 minutes. 2pm make the chocolate mousse cake. Put the pork on to roast. 3pm prep the veg; brussels sprouts, carrot sticks, carrot and swede mash chunks, broccoli cauliflower cheese cooked ready to baking stage, parsnips, sausage and stuffing balls wrapped in bacon. 4 or 5pm prep the turkey...

The Story of Holly and Ivy; it's our tradition. Sarah and I disappear for an hour upstairs, we sit together on her bed and we read the book together. And it is a lovely story, about a doll and a girl who both need love who find each other and a home. It's a story about wishing and what happens when you wish hard enough. I wish somebody else would remember how good Rumer Godden is and make an animation of this. It would go so beautifully on Christmas Eve with the Snowman and the Gruffalo.

Oh My! Last minute gifts... no, I don't do last minute. Everything I have is bought, packed and ready to go. The husband, however, would rather wait and do his shopping on Christmas Eve. It is only the fact that I would be VERY disappointed if he couldn't present to me exactly what I had asked for. They do say opposites attract.

Finally... finally the chance to take photos has arisen; the weather is fine enough, I'm home (two weeks off school; I love Christmas break!) and the living room is tidy enough to risk taking some photos.  At last... only five days late.... here is my Christmas Tree reveal!!!  A lot of my decorations come from the St Nicolas Tree decoration company. Their website is here, but they only sell to trade so to buy as an individual person you need to look at The Christmas Company website , where they have a full range of decorations that cover history, important places and special occasions. We bought a couple (don't ask me which ones came first!) and just found them so easy to buy one or two at places we visited on holiday. For a few years I could just about remember which we bought and where but now I just find it easier to write on the back. You can see below we get decorations from everywhere we go... the Paris bauble actually came from Chartres! And the cones...

The Journey Of The Magi by T S Elliot 'A cold coming we had of it, Just the worst time of the year For a journey, and such a long journey: The ways deep and the weather sharp, The very dead of winter.' And the camels galled, sorefooted, refractory, Lying down in the melting snow. There were times we regretted The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces, And the silken girls bringing sherbet. Then the camel men cursing and grumbling and running away, and wanting their liquor and women, And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters, And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly And the villages dirty and charging high prices: A hard time we had of it. At the end we preferred to travel all night, Sleeping in snatches, With the voices singing in our ears, saying That this was all folly. Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley, Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation; With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,...

Bah! Humbug! Do you think with the cooking, the cleaning and the tree dressing I have ANY time for stockings! Well, yes, of course I do. We have small stockings on our beds early in the morning of Christmas Day. It's a tradition we never had when I was growing up (Mum was a teacher and some years just getting the presents she needed to bought and wrapped was enough without trying to organise stocking fillers as well!) I started it with Mr AJ when we got married, and now I pass it on to my children. The small things inside the stocking are cheap, cheerful and mostly designed to make them smile. I read once that the best advice for stocking fillers was something to eat,  something to read,  something to play with  and something they need.  It strikes me that that is very good advice and I have in recent years tried to follow it. So what sort of stuff will Santa pack the stockings with this year? Well, some chocolate lollies. Either Christmas or some o...

Oh, I have had such good fun with this! You see, I am British, through and through. Born in Rainhill, lived there til I was 25 and currently a resident of a leafy middle class suburb in Liverpool. But this year I have adopted another country. I wanted to learn Danish (don't ask) and in a small way I am, but I have found myself studying the customs and characteristics of the country as well. It is no use knowing the language of a place and being ignorant of its culture, yes? So this post I am going to talk about my adopted country. No, I don't live there, yes, I have never  visited YET but it is top of my list for places I want to go to. One day, when my Viking longboat comes in. How do we Danes and quasi-Danes celebrate Christmas? I had fun looking this up. And even more fun trying to use some of the ideas in my life. The Tree; The Danes decorate their Christmas Tree with a  silver or gold star on the top, never an angel. They use strings of small Danish flags (Dane...

Christmas decorations; made with love by the daughter. Made with a deal of determination by me.I am not a natural knitter. My nisse are looking after my house this season. It's full of love, smiles, laughter and just enough bitter sweet memories to add an extra dimension to my sweet life. They look after my house and my family, according to tradition. And I love my little houses (last year's created decoration!) The trees just look magnificent at the end of the mantelpiece. I loved making these ! And my cross stitch banner is up again. This must be about 4 years old now. This is about the first year that I can look at my fireplace and smile at the amount of handmade decorations on it. I think over half of the stuff that is symbolising Christmas here this year has been made by me. That's a proud feeling.