This is one of my favourite poems and was written at New Year as the 19th Century was giving way to the 20th. I hope you like it
The Darkling Thrush, by Thomas Hardy
I leant upon a coppice gate
When frost was spectre-gray,
and Winter's dregs made desolate
The weakening eye of day.
The tangled vine-stems scored the sky
Like strings of broken lyres,
And all mankind that haunted nigh
Had sought their household fires.

The land's sharp features seemed to me
The Century's corpse outleant,
Its crypt the cloud canopy,
The wind its death-lament.
The ancient pulse of germ and birth
Was shrunken hard and dry,
And every spirit upon earth
Seemed fervorless as I.

At once a voice arose among
The bleak twigs overhead,
In a full-throated evensong
Of joy illimited.
An ancient thrush, frail, gaunt and small
With blast-beruffled plume,
Had chosen thus to fling his soul
Upon the growing gloom.

So little cause for carolings
Of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
Afar or nigh around,
That I could think there trembled through
His happy good-night air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew,
And I was unaware

Much of our Christmas break is hectic with visitors and visiting but we always leave a day free for a walk...nothing too strenuous mind you...we always make sure there's time for a drink and cheese and onion sandwiches in the pub half way round.
This year followed a similar pattern to many previous ones. The weather was a bit miserable but the landscape is always interesting. These black cattle watched us from their vantage point on the hillside...they put me in mind of Victorian paintings of rural winter scenes.

We had these last night when Margaret & Les came round for something to eat. They are one of the easiest things to do for dessert and usually seem popular.
Heat 125ml water with 50g butter. When this comes to the boil, take off the heat & shoot in 65g plain flour. Mix well, and slowly add 2 beaten eggs, mixing well, with a wooden spoon. The mixture should be smooth & silky. Put into a piping bag, and pipe smallish rounds onto a greased baking tray. Bake in a moderate - hot oven for about 20 minutes, until golden brown. Make a small slit in the side of each and allow to cool on a wire tray. Whip some double cream, add a little icing sugar & a few drops of vanilla extract. Put some cream into each of the buns. To do the chocolate sauce, I gently melt some good 70% cocoa solids chocolate, with a very little water. Stir, and add a little cream. Pour this over the buns.

Every Christmas I bring out the books of carols, and this is my favourite one 'The Golden Book of Carols', given to me by an Auntie when I was about ten. It's very well worn, the pages held together by strips of sellotape, but has lovely colour illustrations...easy music to play as well. I keep thinking about trying to get another copy in a bit better condition. Sentimental reasons mean I'll always keep the original one though. Anyone recommend a good book finder website please? And your favourite carol? Mine's In the Bleak Midwinter.

You know what it's like - you've done all that running round; writing cards; posting; wrapping presents; catching up with old friends; cooking. So, now, all you want to do is veg out on the sofa...Trouble is the dog's got there first.

Like every year, we had a special family get-together on Boxing Day (only 64 of us!) and as usual Santa paid a visit on his way back to the North Pole. We never see him coming or going, but then, he is magic. The most popular toy this year was the remote controlled tarantula...too scarily realistic for my liking!

Home-made mincemeat was so easy to make (did you know that there really used to be meat in this mixture once?) But the pastry and the cutting out and all that is a bit of a fiddly job. So why did I find myself making about 7 dozen? I must be a soft touch. Anyway, I took some out of the tin today and took them with me when I went to visit my favourite old lady...86... and has as much interest & curiosity in the world around her as a person half her age.

Yes, this was very nice. however I think Brian derived as much pleasure from messing about with brandy & flame as in eating it. Is this a sign of incipient pyromaniacal tendecies? Or is he just being your average male?

Hope you are all enjoying yourselves & having a happy & peaceful Christmas...now that all the running around has finished!

Spotted in a car park in our local country town on Christmas Eve afternoon. Do you think some farmer was getting a last minute present for his wife? Aw well, as long as it wasn't a new pair of wellies!

And this is the Christmas tree at our Village Church. And those of course are the locals carol-singing. Only joking!

I suppose for most people decorating the Christmas trees has got to be one of the highlights of this season- one of the low points is the incessant ads telling us about forthcoming sales...on Christmas Eve! Where have we gone wrong?

I must admit I copied the idea of putting white lights on the standard box balls outside off a neighbour...isn't imitation supposed to be the sincerest form of flattery, or something like that?
This year I had the bright (ha, ha!) idea of using the standard holly for the same purpose, but only had inside lights left, so we've brought it into the conservatory. Don't think it will take any harm for a few days as it's not very warm in there. It did have a few berries on last month but the birds must have had them.

One of these is for my sister-in-law, before you think we are complete pigs! I ice them fairly simply, as I really do not like that ready-made stuff. I am just off to a carol service now. I hope you are all having a bit of rest...in the midst of the mayhem. Doesn't it just seem 5 minutes since we lit the first of the advent candles?

You'll have to forgive the terrible pun...it has been a long day. Margaret was just saying yesterday that the bare trees and the winter landscape had a beauty of its own - and I agree. There is also something about the light that can sometimes give the world a rosy glow, in the wonter months. Not today though, today has had a grey feel to it.

By the way, I should have said that yesterday's wine was hawthorn berry wine.

We got around to bottling this today. It looked a bit of an odd colour when first it went in the demi-johns; but it seems to have turned out alright. Surprisingly sweet, perhaps, but quite pleasant.

Must show you the tree before any more needles drop off it...it's already starting to shed, especially when some little boys get a bit too close.
I'm not entirely blameless here though as I needed to change one of the sets of lights that stopped working (there's 3 sets altogether - never let it be said that we do things by halves!) and caused a shower of needles in the process. Oh well...all part of the festivities.
As you can see we're not into tasteful, minimalist trees. Just throw it all on...baubles, beads, even lametta (remember that? think that's what those strands of gold are called...amazed we can still get them). It's quite a spectacle eh?

Not really...that's a joke. I have never been so behind in preparations - or so it seems. but I did take a notion to do this cranberry sauce, last night. I heated 8oz cranberries with 3 oz caster sugar & the juice & rind of an orange & a good tablespoon of port. I stirred & brought them to the boil. I put the lid on the saucepan and simmered until the sauce thickened (about 10 minutes). After cooling, I put in a foil container & put in the freezer. Very easy - quicker than going to the shop for some, I promise.

Getting everything ready is never achieved overnight in our house, it's more a gradual process (culminating in a mad rush normally). But one way or another everything seems to get done. Boxes of decorations still sit on the floor by the piano while I decide if there's anything else I can use and where.

Today I managed to place a few things on the mantlepiece and sideboard. There's a tiny tree that I've found the smallest decorations for, my favourite red lacquer apples, a snowman that Tina and Steve brought me from Macy's during a winter break in New York (jammy!), some clementines and loads of candles. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

I'm always impatient to hang the welcome ring on our door...it's one of my favourite Christmas things (not as good as presents, but still very good!) It's a bit of a fiddle to make I suppose and it doesn't half make a mess of my hands and nails, but definitely worth doing. I bought the wire ring from a garden centre.

To make it I pulled moss out of the lawn to use (there's plenty in our lawn!) and wrapped wire around to fasten the moss to the wire ring. Then I wired on all kinds of greenery - holly with berries, ivy with berries, different sorts of conifer, skimmia and so on - and added some gold fir cones and cinnamon sticks. Finally I tied on a big bow made from some Christmassy ribbon. Hope it looks welcoming!

If you are feeling harried and harrassed, here is a tasty, simple & quick supper dish.

Cook some pasta. Heat a little good olive oil in another pan. Add either some chopped garlic, or garlic puree. Add a couple of chopped tomatoes and cook until soft; also add a tin of chopped tomatoes, some oregano (or basil/dried is OK), some pepper & some torn up bits of parma ham (use tuna if you do not eat meat; or ordinary ham, if you cannot get parma). Simmer for a while. Pour on top of the pasta in a casserole dish. Put some grated cheese on top. Cook in the oven until cheese beginning to brown. Serve with grated parmesan.

This goes very well with the cheese bread I mentioned the other day.

At this time of year there's a lot of food preparation...puddings and cake made, mincemeat at the ready...but nothing to eat right at this moment. We definitely needed something. I decided a few cereal bars will keep us going. And they'd got to be made from what I'd got in, or could buy from the local shop - that is, some oats, a packet of mixed nuts and fruit, some dates and ground almonds.

Fruit and nut oat bars
Put 4oz butter, 3oz soft brown sugar and 3tbsp golden syrup in a large saucepan and melt over a low heat. Remove from heat and stir in about 4oz in total of mixed chopped nuts, dates and dried fruit. Stir in 2oz ground almonds and 10oz rolled oats. Line a Swiss roll tin with baking paper and spread the mixture evenly. Smooth the top. Bake in a moderate oven about 160C, gas mark 3 until golden. Leave to cool a little and mark into bars with a sharp knife.

Never let it be said that we are ultra-stylish (!) or precious here at the Homely Year Blog...especially when it comes to Christmas. Well, you just have to have a bit of tinsel & glitter. But, it is nice to have a bit of natural decoration too. As long as Brian doesn't bring half of the garden in, of course.

Old books are fascinating anyway, of course. This copy of Mrs Beeton's book was originally owned by Brian's late mother. It is a fascinating social document of course. But, besides that, you would be amazed at how many times I have found it really useful. Has stood the test of time well, then!

Now we are not claiming the cure for a cold here, but it just might make you feel a bit better. If you remember we made some damson wine in the late summer. Well you just heat some gently (do not boil). Add a little grated nutmeg and a few cloves. You could also add a few orange slices. Pour out & stick a cinnamon stick in. You could make this with any red wine; just add squeezed orange juice. You could also make a non-alcohol variation. Come to think of it, you don't have to have a cold to enjoy it...

Yes, Christmas is coming (just in case you hadn't noticed!) and the mantlepiece is decorated. This is my favourite Christmas decoration to make...so easy to put together.
All I use are 2 long green plastic trays from the florists and 2 blocks of wet oasis. Soak the oasis in a bowl of cold water first. I cut the blocks in half lengthways to fit the trays (they're all a standard size so they just fit).
I push short lengths of conifer into the oasis to give a good even coverage and then add other greenery...mainly holly (especially variegated and with berries), sprays of ivy with berries, and skimmia with ruby buds. Then I add poppy seed heads sprayed gold and fir cones. I wrap short lengths of wire around these so that I can push them into the oasis and do the same with dried orange slices. Finally I add red candles and some ting-ting sprayed gold (curly dried stems, from florists).
This is just one basic idea...it changes a bit from year to year depending on what greenery I can find. Now the room smells of Christmas.

It's when I go out to gather everyting I need to make decorations that I begin to realise just how close it is to Christmas...ooh, so exciting...I'm just like a big kid! As you can see, the table is overflowing with holly, ivy and other festive greenery...and Noreen's dried some more orange slices above the Aga. The first thing to be made is a mantlepiece decoration...will show you when it's done (if it turns out ok, that is).

I made this last night to go with some pasta and was struck by just how easy it is - maybe a good introduction to bread-making.
You need 1lb, 450g good plain white flour;
half oz fresh yeast (health food shops are often a good place to get this); 300ml warm milk,
3oz, 75g mature cheddar; a teaspoon dried basil; 2oz, 50g snipped sun-dried tomatoes. Warm the milk and blend a little of the milk with the yeast. Add this to the flour, and gradually add the rest of the milk. Knead for 10 minutes until the dough is soft & silky. Put the bowl, covered with a tea-towel in a warm place to rise, for about an hour. Knock back & knead, adding the cheese, basil & tomato. Knead for a couple of minutes. Shape into 2 cobs. Cover, leave in a warm place (on a baking tray), for about 30 minutes. Bake in a moderately hot oven for about 35 minutes. Delicious with pasta or tomato soup.

There was a very heavy frost this morning...one where the branches of trees turn pale and the lawn is crisp and white underfoot...it made the berries of the guelder rose stand out really clearly. No doubt the birds are grateful for any berries they can find in this weather. A robin came close for a drink of water while I was taking photographs, so I needed to check that the ice was broken. No wonder that, with their bold and cheeky demeanour, they feature so frequently on Christmas cards.