So Excited , My Brothers Coming For Christmas

[willows]

Our household is so excited , you'd thing we have won the lottery............but no , something better than that My brothers coming for Christmas

When I say my brother , he isn't by birth, our family adopted him when he was 20 odd, he used to do business with me when I ran my own companys and one year I called him to thank him for his lovely flowers/wine and chocolates ( companys always send them at Christmas to each other ) well anyway I discovered him on is own ...........on Christmas day so I asked him what he was doing for lunch / dinner he said ' whatever's in the fridge'...............so from then on he's been with us for Christmas, Easter, birthdays etc and he became my sons guardian and best friend.

He isn't married , even though he's a lovely man who's desperate to find a wife and settle down , he just cant find anyone who wants him, there's nothing wrong with him ! he's kind, considerate, understanding , loves kids, animals and is a dam hardworking guy , but he's almost 40 now and people think there must be something wrong as he still isn't married . I would love to see him settled down with someone , single, divorced with or without kids , just a nice kind woman.

SO...............having been living down here for 6 years now we haven't been able to get together at Christmas because of other commitments, but this year he's coming ...................my son and hubby are over the moon and me well I'm just daft like normal !

I finished the cake the other day and did my table centre piece, got my crackers and am half way through the present list ..............my special mincemeat is in the fridge and I will stir this every day for about 2 weeks then make the mince pies .

I make my mincemeat with the normal ingredients , plus some extras which are;

450 gram of each : place in a big cooking bowl ............

currants, sultana's, seedless raisins, mixed peel, dark brown sugar and coarsely grated cooking apples.

add to this : 100grams almonds ( if liked)

then: 225 grams either vegetable or beef suet.

Then: 1 teaspoon: ground nutmeg, cinnamon, mixed spice, lemon juice and the grated rinds of 2 lemons.

As well as this to make it extra special I add :

I large jar halved maraschino cherries ( dont add liquid)

I 240 grams tin peach halves , coarsely chopped ( no liquid)

and about 1/2 small cup of your favourite liquor.........I use cherry brandy or amaretto.

Mix this lot together , cling film and place in the fridge for about 2 weeks stirring each day .

My pastry is unique and I've been told the best in the village .

225grams plain flour.

pinch salt.

50 grams butter or shortening.

1 large tablespoon icing sugar .

Mix all together well until it resembles breadcrumbs then with a mixture of 1 egg into 1/2 cup of cold water , use as much as you need to bind it together and make the pastry.

Back as you would normally ............but the icing sugar does something to the mix and the pastry is not only sweet , but light and crispy !!!!

I make on average about 100 mince pies each year and they all disappear...........this mix freezes well to , so you can make the mincemeat and loads of pastry , make the little pies in those individual tin foil dishes and freeze into packs of 12 .

Bake at 180 or gas 5 whn ready to eat ...................OMG , yummy or what .

I'll give you my recipe for a 'puff pastry sausage /onion / garlic and mushroom plait' next time I'm on , this makes a large dish which looks good on a Christmas buffet table .

If you have any recipes you love to cook for Christmas please put them on here as I love to try new things .

Willows ..........cooking like made for Christmas now , with a big grin on her face

[corina]

willows,

i've been reading your posts and i'm only able to answer one today, so i wanted to let you know that i thank you for doing your recipes in grams which makes it much easier for me. it sounds yummie!!! it seems that you and your family will have a great christmas!

i'm glad you're back after the accident you had in the shop! sorry to be this short today, just have very little energy,

take care!

corina

[willows]

Thanks Corina , I normally work in English ounces as I'm one of the old school who trained as a cook/chef a long , long time again now so I fond it hard to 'change over' .

I've just had hubby take the photo's of my cake and the Christmas table centrepiece, we are having a red table cloth & napkins , gold 'chargers' ( large plates you put under the dinner plate , like a place mat ) all the crystal out and my white and gold dinner service and red Christmas crackers .............I cant wait to sort the rest out now !

Well the cake and flowers dont look to bad ........... at least I tried this year, my hands are not as good as they used to be with the sugar paste on the cake so I made something simple , bright and very Christmas-ey.

This is the link were I keep all of my photo's ................

http://s75.photobucket.com/albums/i318/ban.../miscellaneous/

[Jacquie802]

I hope you have a great Christmas with all of your family present!!! :0)

Jacquie

[willows]

Thank you Jacquie, I hope you have a wonderful christmas to and get lots of great gifts from 'Santa'

I know its early but I'm going to get my boys to get all the christmas decorations down from the loft today and stick them in the back lounge , I need to have a good sort out of them all and check last years christmas lights .

I have just bought 3 new sets of 180 white snowing lights for the outside , so with the set we have from last year we will have enough to put go down both sides and across the bottom of the front garden , plus a set to put onto the house as well ..............which should look great .

I've just ordered a 6 foot outside christmas tree from the net and this will stand by our front door with white lights on to . And on the other side of our front door is a big brush which I cover with net lights.........in white again!

Down our windy path we have from our front door to the front gate will be those flashing heavy duty robe lights which changes colour ( on both sides of the path ) and smack bag in the middle of the front lounge window , that looks down the garden is our rather large christmas tree! all 8 feet of it , I've just bought 400 new white lights for this as well as the other lights kept cutting out last year, which was very annoying

I dont know about you but I like to stick to the christmas colours of red, green and gold and I do try to keep everything in this colour , which is hard as we have quite a lot of other things go up outside to ............it does look good without being 'tacky ' if you know what I mean .

I've told the neighbours and others around what night we are turning on the lights this year , which is the 10th pf December ...........if your wondering why I've given out a date ????

Well we are the only house in our road , the next road and within about 1/4 mile all around our house that actually makes an effort for christmas and puts outside decorations up the rest are just either to mean or to miserable , which is such a shame as loads of them have children and loads under 15 years old.

So on the 10th all these children come to my house and we count down the light and switch the them on and all have hot chocolate and marshmallows afterwards

If you remember our village is a long way away from any civilisation ! so things like this mean a lot to the children around here.

I cannot understand why people dont love christmas and all the lights, sounds and smell , all the wonderful foods and family getting together , its the most wonderful time of the year ever.

Willows.....singing christmas carols as she sorts her decorations .

[goldicedance]

You are such an amazing person. You have a heart of gold and are willing to share it with all. I only wish I had a neighbor like you. Where is your village? How far from London by train?

You are like the everready bunny even in spite of all your health issures. I do think having things to do and look forward to helps deal with our medical issues.

I would like to be at your home on December 10. Share some pictures.....

[becky]

hey willows,

great recipe, i made some practice mincepies a while ago for my boyfriend - i love baking! (and i have really old brass scales that use little ounce weights, i've always used ounces get confused with all this gram stufff!) i was really hoping to make my own mincmeat but i'm sick again so my mum says when i'm feeling a bit better i can have hers (it's been in the fridge for two years and it's still gorgeous! got that much alcohol though you could have your teeth taken out and not know!!)

any other recipes you have please post them - i'll pass them on to my otherhalf who's currently in charge of the kitchen!

a very dizzy (hungry!) bebs x x x

[willows]

Right guys here's my 'sausage plait ' recipe .

Its very good as part of a family meal or great at a buffet as it cuts into slices and can be eaten hot or cold , you can freeze it so its ready and waiting for Christmas .

You will need ;

1 Packet ready made puff pastry.

1 lb GOOD sausage meat ....by this I mean LEAN , if you cannot get it then buy a pound good pork sausages and skin them , its just the same.

2-6 cloves of garlic depending how much you like it !

1 medium size onion.

Good pinch fresh or dried parsley .

1 beaten egg ( for glazing and sticking )

optional;

6 oz of chopped mushrooms.

or

6 oz sliced mixed peppers.

Fry off in a frying pan the chopped onion and crushed garlic cloves until tender ( clear ) add these to a

mixing bowl then add the sausage meat and mix well , add the parsley.

Roll out your pastry on a floured unit or board to the size of ; 10 inches x 10 inches

Take your sausage mix and pat this into a long sausage shape about 9 inches x 4 inches , then lay this down the middle of the pastry . You will now have about 3 inches on each side spare.

On top of the sausage meat if you have chosen the optional items , lay these evenly .

Take a sharp knife and cut a line from the edge of the pastry to the sausage meat about 1/1/2 inches apart all the way from the top to the bottom on both sides .

Brush the cut sides with the egg and then starting from the top :

First fold the top end over the -34 inch section of sausage meat , then PLAIT the sides , right side then cross the left over .........so they cross in the middle of the sausage=meat , do this from top to bottom then tuck in the bottom lip of pastry left .

Brush this with the egg and bake in a hot oven ; 180 or 5 for about 35-40 mins ....check it for browning .

IF you did have any pastry over you could make pretty leaves and flowers to decorate the plait : cut diamond shape's for leaves and make the veins with the end of a knife and circles for the flowers .

These can be stuck on with the egg and then brushed with the egg to .

When I make mine ( next week ) I will put photo's on my site to show you exactly what I mean stage , by stage !

Right ............now its the son

Came home all depressed ???? didnt want to speak or eat supper , very down ?????

Well ..............he has liked this young lady at college for so long now , he asked her to go to the leavers ball with him , but she refused , not put down he carried on regardless and was so nice to her , but now she's just being rather unkind, so he's been down................that was until he went to ice skating at the week end and his best mate had his girlfriend with him ...........and her best friend ........Kelly

apparently she had to hold Mikes hand to help him skate and has now secretly told someone ( who told my son ) that she really likes him.....................thank heavens for that !!! now he can stop the look of 'the worlds come to an end' ...............if you can remember what it was like to have a crush on someone and be rejected then you will know what poor Mikes been going through .

Thank you Kelly where ever you are for making my son's day

Willows ...oh , the joys of parenting .

[becky]

aw willows your poor son, you know it doesn't get any easier as you get older!

thanks for the recipe, my lovely boyfriend who has been looking after me tirelessly and as i type has jut brought me a cup of hot chocolate!, will absolutely love it - he loves sausages!

bebs x x x

[willows]

Thanks becky,

Its now 12.45 and me here is still up ..............no I lied , I was in bed watching TV but hubby came to bed and started singing talking and the throwing his legs in the air bicycling about the place in his sleep so this started the dreaded 'sweats , and chest pain' so I'm down here on my own with another recipe for you all.

Fresh uncooked cheesecake . serves about 16

You will need ;

4oz or 50 gr butter or marg

4 oz or 50grams caster sugar.

8oz or 200grams finely crushed digestive biscuits.

First make the base ; melt butter in a saucepan , take off heat add the sugar and the biscuits and mix well.

Press this into a suitable loose bottomed tin and place in fridge to chill.

Then you will need;

14oz or 450 grams full or half fat cream cheese.

4 eggs , separated into two bowls.

8 oz caster sugar.

grated rind of 1 lemon.

A few drops of vanilla essence.

1/2 pint of double or whipping cream.

1 oz or 30 grams powdered gelatine

10 tablespoons or 10 x 15ml spoons water.

In a large bowl, first mix the cream cheese with the egg yolks and half of the caster sugar, the lemon rind and vanilla essence .

Put the gelatine in the water and dissolve as stated on the packet ( differs between vegetable and no-vegetable sorts) when dissolved put on one side to cool.

In another large bow, whisk the egg whites until stiff , then add the rest of the caster sugar .

Then fold the gelatine into the egg and cheese mixture really well ..........add to this straight away the stiffened egg whites /sugar and fold well until all mixed.

Take base from fridge and carefully spoon mix onto top , smooth flat.

Leave in fridge to set /chill for 3-4 hours .

Turn the cheesecake out of the fridge carefully and decorate...............ideas;

In summer I use 1/2 strawberries in rows with raspberries in between and top this off with a quick jel ( you English guys will know what I mean )

OR

Canned peaches in lines ...............take a can of raspberries and liquidise the fruit ............thicken just a bit with some cornflour and then run this over the top ' Peach melba'

OR

Just pipe the top with double cream in rosettes and sprinkle grated dark/ milk and white chocolate over it ............ you can let your imagination run riot with fruits , berries , canned fruit pie toppings , marshmallows and cherries with cream , even glace fruits .

Now this freezes like a dream ( undecorated ) for about 3 months and keeps in the fridge for 3-4 days ...if you can .

Its a very light , yet creamy cheesecake which looks great and tastes wonderful ...........the biggest I ever did was for an ordination of a local priest , we had 120 coming to his dinner afterwards !!! I made 4 cheesecakes for 30 in plastic crates that you carry bread in, lined with foil and cling film ............and each one was a different fruit .....strawberries & cream. Black cherry & cream. Peach Melba and last last raspberries/redcurrants and strawberries ( lightly stewed and thickened to make a fruit compote )

Willows .................next time a mincemeat , almond and peach lattice tart with amaretto cream

[becky]

oh that cheesecake sounds yummy - my boyfriend loves cheesecake but hates cream cheese, do you think you could make it with creme fraiche?

My mum makes these great little mincemeat cakes, just normal sponge mix and add mincemeat, they freeze pretty good too, great for lunch boxes!

bebs x x x

[willows]

OOOOOh Becky your mum's pies sound a great idea , what I may do is make a little pastry case in a foil dish first then add the sponge mix with the mincemeat in on top ...................I could possibly add some icing on top of the cooked sponge , you know the icing sugar with water mix stuff , quite a stiff mix I think , my hubby and son loves this sort of thing

I dont know about the creme fraiche, but as the gelatine sets it all you should be able to use it , I dont see why you shouldn't .

Also if you dont want to use ordinary gelatine you could use one of those 'milk jelly's' you can buy , I think they are made by Symingtons and come in some wonderful flavours like ;Maple & Walnut ( ooooh Yes) Chocolate, Raspberry, Strawberry and last Vanilla.

Use them instead of the gelatin with the same amount of water in the recipe , but leave out the lemon rind and the vanilla , leave to cool before mixing into the rest of the ingredients in the bowl and set as per the recipe.

OOOOH ! the maple & walnut would be lovely with swirls of cream around the edges of the cheesecake and chocolate leaves or flowers in these and may be a light cover of maple syrup on the top of the plain bit thats left , or you could pour some over each slice when you serve it .....................OMG now I'm starving and my stomach is making the most loud noises ever you can also use these jelly's in a cake mix to add some lovely flavours .

I make a maple & walnut cake as follows.

You will need;

4oz marg or bitter . 4 oz caster sugar. 1 size 2 egg. 8 oz self raising flour. 1-1/2 teaspoons of milk.

1 Maple & walnut table cream pack. 3 oz chopped walnuts.

I make mine in a 2lb loaf tin . set oven to gas mark 4 or about 180.

Mix butter, sugar, egg , flour and dry table cream together well until quite light, beat in the milk , then fold in the walnuts .

Bake ; for about 1 to 1/2 hours until firm to the touch . Leave in tin for 5 mins to cool off before turning out ...................yummy , yummy.

I think I'll make one of those today , NO not today right now as its 3:45 am in the morning

Right I'm off again for coffee and a look at the telly .

I'll post the other recipe later this week .

Bye guys. Willows.

[willows]

Sorry guys ,

you will have to wait for your next recipe a bit longer ,

I'm having a bit of a bed spell at the minute and must go back to bed now as I've been up all of 30 mins and am feeling rather ill again .

Willows.

[willows]

Sorry guys still feeling very unwell , cannot eat anything at the minute , in pain, feeling sick and just want to crawl away somewhere and go to sleep , will be back when better .

Willows.

[willows]

hello again..........yes as you may have guessed I've been getting a bit to excited and doing to much again , been rather ( ha, ha, ha ) ill for nearly two weeks now, just getting back on my feet again , I'll post some bits later on tomorrow IF I'm still ; upright, not vomitting, not giddy and sensible..........the first three I may be able to over come , but the last one .....no way

Willows.

[willows]

OMG .................speaking to soon again been back in bed for three days , now up again and going to try and catch up on things in the house .

Well the news on the Christmas front is :

Mike my son is now officially going steady with a young lady Its so sweet , he went through agony to ask her out , in the end he asked mum here to help him write a 'love letter' to her , which for me was no big deal...............so off I went and wrote down what he said he felt etc when he saw her and what he wanted .

Apparently Kelly read the letter and was nearly in tears , the letter has now been passed around half of the upper college as it is such a wonderful piece of writing all the girls want to know why their boyfriends have never sent them such words ................10 points to mum and 100 points to son!

On Wednesday he's going to tea to meet her mum and sister ( they live alone without dad) Then later next week Kelly's coming here for the day /night and on the 23rd ( please ,please let me be well) my husband, son, sons best friend Jake , Kelly, and myself are all going to get dressed up for a christmas Chinese by the water, well not very festive , but so enjoyable to all.

Ive had so much food delivered that my cupboards are stuffed to the roof , both freezers are full and I cant fit another home made frozen mince pie into any orifice available in the whole house

The spare room looks like Santa grotto the day beofre Christmas and the outside of the house is now fully lite..............when hubby has sorted out the photo's I will stick some onto my site with a lead in from here ( few days )

Well bye for now ..................Willows.

[willows]

Sorry I haven't been able to get the photo's on site yet by both hubby and I are having a bit of a silly spell at this minute.

I seem to have had all my joints tightened by some giant screw driver , stiff OMG getting up stairs , into or out of bed is a great laugh ( not )

We did manage to sort out all the presents and at this time I'm still waiting for one to come in the post from Jersey , a game for one of Mike's mates , but that's it ........all wrapped , packed and signed and sealed awaiting the big day .

My brother has just emailed me to say he's now sorting out his route to us , although by USA standards the distance is not great , about 400-450 miles , us in the UK think this amount of distance is quite a way , so my brothers getting his house sorted and cleared up ready for a two week stay with us all.

OMG you should see our spare room ..............talk about ' girls heaven ' its all done out with cream walls and bedding with pink roses and lilac flowers on , my huge dolls house and an assortment of teddies.........plus I've just put up one of those bed canopies all in lilac net , you know the sort that hang from the ceiling to the floor and turn the bed into a 'princess castle' ................ that should cheer my brother up ........or make him fall around with laughter !

Just one more food delivery on the 20th and that's it I'm done , cannot possible get a morsel in anywhere .................except me of course

Here.....................you know I've been planning this surprise for my husband , well that's all been delivered via the local post office which my best friend owns.

I picked up the special delivery and wrapped all the items enclosed , I've put them into two carrier bags , which I then brought home and said was from my best friend ....for the family ( cough , cough) when in fact its hubby's new camera body, lens, macro lens, 2 x flashcards, batteries, carrying case and loads more ............I'm still winding him up and keeping a straight face , poor love, he keeps saying just how much he is looking forward to getting this SLR camera , but because it is so expensive it is way out of his reach, and it will be at least another year until he can even think about getting some of it..............

Me ...........well I just keep saying ' never mind dear , it wont be that long , a year goes really quickly as you know '

How I keep a straight face and not just tell him I'll never who , no wonder my hearts playing sillies at the minute it all the stress of keeping the secrets

Well soon be christmas ,and the shouts of hubby unwrapping his presents will echo around the village making the locals think we are all off our rockers again , but extremely happy ..................willows.

[willows]

I just dont believe it .............................ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

This morning hubby , son and I decided that as we are a bit behind card delivery wise , we would drop off some of our village cards then go into town for a carvery lunch , for a change .

Well we did the first two cards without a problem................then it happened

Poor old son went to deliver a card to one of our friends who has a dog , as far as we were aware the dog is friendly and has never shown any sign of aggression to anyone before today .............yep , you guessed it ..............it bite Mike on the leg and the knee , so badly that we had to go to the local hospital for attention and now he's on a course of antibiotics , his brand new trousers have a whole in them and Mikes not happy ..........nor are we ! The dog was somewhere near the back door , which was open , mike just walked up to the door , said hello to our friend and the dog went mad and bite him, he didn't make the dog jump, nor frightened it , as it watched him walk to the door , he didn't shout , or do anything that would make a dog attack ...........I'm livid to say the least. But it doesn't end there............oh , no !

Having come out of the hospital we were all in need of food and drink , but it was to far to go into town so we went to a local Pizza place for lunch , Mikes a real fan of Pizza's like most teenagers are ...........so sitting there calming down now ( yep , stressed to the roots of my hair) I got a 'twinge' ...............then another .........and another ....then a full blown angina attack in the middle of the restaurant ..........well at least we were only 5 mins from the hospital

So home now and feeling terribly tired and cold , Mikes got his right thigh strapped and I'm looking like death warmed up ................please, please dont say this is the start of our christmas week

As promised my husband has posted a few pictures of our christmas tree , its about 6 feet tall and has 500 lights on it , its very pretty if you stand in the garden in the dark with all the lights on , but as yet hubby's not able to catch it properly ( new camera now 8 days away )

Bye for now ..................a somewhat stressed me and sore son .............Willows.

click here for photo's:

http://s75.photobucket.com/albums/i318/ban.../miscellaneous/

[willows]

Well you tell christmas is almost upon us now .............by the amount of antibiotic's our family is taking !

Yep......................... another one of the family is down and out for the count ............poor old hubby has for many years suffered great pains with large abscesses in the region of the bottom ( ouch) last year having had so many 'sorted' by the hospital they decided to do an operation in which they cut away all the scar tissue and put in a 'Seton stitch ' ( a stitch which is left inside the body to cut through the internal skin , for about 6 months...not nice I can tell you ) . He suffered agony's with this , but hope was on the horizon as he was told this would put an end to them all.

Yesterday he started to feel unwell and getting himself to the doctors has now been diagnosed with another of his so called 'little friends' .

So at this time I have my son taking drugs for his dog bite , which doesn't seem to want to heal at all , and hubby swallowing them as well , looking rather pale and running a temperature.

My last christmas shop was delivered yesterday and the company had played games with me , sending me stuff I didnt order and stuff at 5 times the price I asked for so in all not a good week.

The only bright light on the horizon which is shining over this house at this time is my son's girlfriend, who is such a sweet young lady is bringing a lot of laughter and happiness to the family , on boxing day we are all going to her house to join a family party , which was a great surprise for us all .

My brother is now trying to get sorted and has emailed me to say he's just about ready to leave after he has seen his mother , a very long trip down to us , but a good 2 weeks rest for him I hope.

Well I'm off now as I need to sort out some supper for Mike and I , hubby's not feeling like food at this minute and has taken to laying sideways on the settee for reasons as I said above !!!

Happy christmas all and to everyone who's reading this I do hope you have a great day , dont eat, drink or do to much .........you know me I always follow my own advice !!!!

Willows.

[willows]

Dear Santa....................our nice new mobility car has just died on us , yes .........2 hours before we are due to go out on a meal ( which has been arranged /cancelled /arranged /cancelled and arranged again for tonight) with my son , his girlfriend , hubby and sons best friends , a special meal to celebrate the start of christmas for us all.

So for christmas could you please arrange some of your elves to fix our car or a hire car delivered to our house , we would even pay you for use of your sleigh and feed the reindeer if this was acceptable, if this isn't possible then please can you come down the chimney and stick a large piece of carpet tape to my husbands mouth while he sleeps ,because knowing him he will talk on and on for the next few nights about flying cars, flying pigs and christmas meals ........... and as its christmas , please give a girl a break and let me have some few hours sleep .

Willows.............pulling her hair out , whilst stuffing her face with mince pies............XXXXX to all and especially you Santa clause.................I just dont believe it !!!

[willows]

Well .....good things come to those who wait and at 9.45 am this morning ( UK time) bro walked in the front door he's been driving since 3 am this morning and was still full of the joys of christmas , he's lost some weight and looks good ...................well this is it , the begining of two weeks of real family time , the last christmas I had with my brother was 8 years ago when my ex went 'ga-ga' on us and we all had to leave the house on boxing day and seek refuse in a hotel until he'd been 'put into a secure unit' .........thank heavens thats all over and done with now and our family can look to a brighter future.

Well I'm off now , no more post's until about Wednesday at the earliest .........have a great christmas .............AMi .......AKA willows. XXXX

[willows]

OMG..............did I get my husband or what

Having told him I was giving him money for christmas and not many gifts , he say down on christmas morning to his rather large bag , full of 3 items ( 2 jumpers + ginger) ...........my 'friend' who owns the post office had given us 2 large carrier bags , which I said probably had biscuits in one and bottled fruit in the other ( I lied) .

So there was hubby on christmas eve as I was setting out some of the presents 'sniffing' the carrier I said had biscuits in ( we , that's brother, son and I trying not to laugh out loud) Christmas eve I also placed a card on the mantelpiece telling hubby that this was his 'christmas money' ............in fact it was loo roll in a card!

Christmas morning arrived bright and breezy and I suggested to hubby that as he had only two presents he should open my friends ( for the family) so off he went slowly peeling of the tape , with us three watching with bated breath ................he looked into the first bag and said ' here , thats funny , she's put twp boxes in here wrapped?......are you sure there for us ?' he then started to open the first smaller box and inside was one of the batteries............looking rather perplexed he asked ' she's sent us a battery ? what ever for ? '...............he still hadn't caught on

Next large box was started , but as this was the camera body as soon as he saw the writing he went 'strange' !!!!!!!

OMG..............OMG................OMG......... he kept repeating over and over again. I quite honestly didn't know if he was going to laugh , cry , shout or have a heart attack , after this it was a case of hubby tearing at the other carrier bag like a man possessed ................he kept asking me if he was dreaming , tears in his eye's he didn't know what to say or do when he had unpacked it all and looked very pale in the face .

A big smile went over his face and he gave me the biggest hug ever , it was then I told him I had broken into his emailing account and photo site account had been emailing his best mate and the camera shop , had the local post office in on the surprise and had been 'spotted' by the local chemist .....who had then said he hadn't seen me at all.

So all in all 'I GOT HIM AGAIN' ..............ah ! its nice to see I can still bring a man to his knee's and gobsmacked him

But then I was gobsmacked as well !

Hubby had bought me a full length white lynx coat ( no , not real but almost as good ) a royal blue sapphire and diamond ring and channel no 5 along with so much other stuff it took me 2 1/2 hours to unpack it all ! my son bought me ruby and diamond earrings and bro brought me a selection of DVDs and loads of smellies ...........so who's a lucky girl then .

Come on guys ...what did Santa bring you this year ??????

Oh ! the car's been fixed , Mikes leg has finally healed and husbands bottom ! well I'm not to sure at this time .............its a case of wait and see now .

So Happy new year top you all and be back on soon with more strange antics..............

Willows ...........looking like a polar bear and smelling like a perfumery

[corina]

okay here i go willows!

santa brought me a lovely evening with my family at christmas eve because my hubby had to work both christmas days (yep:we have two!!!!! ). we had dinner together and after that we unpacked (unwrapped?) the presents.

they bought me a book (dutch writer don't think you've heard of), 6 (!) beautiful beads for the bracelet hubby gave me for my birthday last august, an edition of my favourite computergame mahjong and there was something else that i forgot right now.

after that we played a new board game that hubby bought for all of us. we really had a GREAT christmas eve!!!

corina

oh, btw amy, chanel nr 5 has been my favourite parfume for years and years now. as my husband travels abroad regularly he often buys me a big bottle! lucky me ey!!!

[goldicedance]

Corina,

I see that computer mahjong is one of your favorite games. Was it hard to learn? Is it similar to the real game? I have a vintage mahjong game that belonged to my beloved mother who passed away some years ago. The tiles are ivory (before ivory became a no-no). I sure would like to learn how to play.

Is there an internet version available in which we could play against each other?

Lois

[corina]

hi lois,

that would be fun! i will have to find out about an internet game to play together! i think it's great that you own a real game (especially because it belonged to your mom!) and i do think that it is played the same way. the tiles need to be placed in certain patterns, partly piled and then you have to find two tiles that are the same and that both have ONE free side.

i could send you a website with this game by email if you would like so you could try and practise.

pm me when you want to! in the mean time i will try and find a side where we could play the game together. this is really fun!

corina