Today I Am Guest-blogging Over at.....

Hey! Happy Friday everyone!

 

Just a quick note to let you know that I am guest-blogging over at Gem's Country Life Dream today.

I've known Gem over the internet for a few years now and had the pleasure of meeting her this past March while I was in the UK.

I am pleased to be sharing a delicious cookie recipe with all of her readers. 

 

Please pop over and have a look.

I know she would love it if you left a comment and became one of her followers, too!

 

Gem's Country Life Dream

 

 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

 

One week to go!

 

 

XOXOXO

 

Bronwyn

A Few More Festive Flourishes

So...today I stopped.

Cold turkey.

 

 

Today the decorating ended.  Today I hung my last sprig of greenery and created my last festive vignette. 

I adore adorning our home for the festive season and I have a huge collection of items that I like to display each year.

  

 

However, I decided, with just under 2 weeks until the big day, that it was time to put the half-filled bins back in the basement and just enjoy the bits and bobs that I have already added to our home.

I circled the house with my camera in hand a captured a few shots of my favourite parts. 

I hope you'll enjoy a little gander at our little piece of Christmas Land. 

 



This little dude turned 7 today!  I cannot believe my baby is 7!!

I'm not usually a "glitter girl," but I seem to make allowances at Christmas!!

 



I made a set of these quilted ornaments (below) back when I was in high school.  I remember thinking, "I hope some day I get to watch my own children hang these on our family's Christmas tree." 

And, still, annually, I am blown away by the fact that I do have a family of my own and we enjoy trimming the tree each and every year. 

 



I have 2 more small hoops to add to this wall arrangement below, but they are not quite finished yet.  I hope to have them done this week, but if not, they'll wait to next year. 

I don't have the energy to stress about unnecessary things like that!!

 



Oh dear.  This was only half of the pictures of our home that I wanted to share.  There might be another post with Christmas decorating at the end of this coming week.

Are you okay with that

 

I hope so!

 

 

 

Have a wonderful week everyone! Get your shopping and baking done and remember to take some time to drink mulled wine and watch a few Christmas films, too!

 

XOXOXO

 

Bronwyn

Christmas at Westfield Heritage Village

Every year we look for something new and exciting to do with the kids on the weekends leading up to Christmas.  This year I found out that a nearby pioneer museum was hosting an evening called "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and the open air facility would be celebrating the season as Canadians would have in 1860.  

The buildings were lit with candles and lanterns and inside each structure knowledgable guides filled us in on the little details that made Christmas 150 years ago so different from how we celebrate it today.   

Upon arrival we paused for a "pit stop" and came across a cute little cafeteria that sold home-baked cookies for a few coins each. Of course I treated the family to one each but  I have to say mine was the prettiest of them all!

We arrived at 5pm and the sun was already going down.  Can you see my family in this pic?  It's my hubby, my three kids and my mom.  (Yep.  My mother is brandishing a red light saber.)

 

 

We headed into the church first.  It was built in the early 1800's and was moved to the outdoor museum during the 1960's.  The tree inside was about 14 feet tall and covered in very pretty homemade decorations.  

Inside one of the original 19th century homes, we were treated to a baking demonstration, just as it would have happened 150 years ago.   The lady of the house showed us how tricky it was to bake using a wood stove particularly because it is very difficult to maintain a consistent temperature.  

I loved the simple decor that the house had, too.  Natural and free -- greens cut from the local coniferous trees and apples from the family's storehouse. 

Next - into the schoolhouse.  (Our favourite building - probably because my mother, my husband and I are ALL teachers!)

We were welcomed with this greeting:

The kids liked it, too.

Here they could do some Christmas crafting by candlelight.

Here's the Candy Shop all decorated for the season:

I love the pattern this lantern made on the ceiling of the Inn.  

Candlelight is so beautiful.  Not a lot of illumination,  but tons of ambience.  

Inside the weavers shop we watched a gentleman work an old-fashioned loom while his wife spun wool fibres straight from a sheep.   My mother and I are both keen crocheters so we were intrigued by the crochet garland strung throughout the shop. It was created to mimic garlands of popcorn used traditionally to decorate homes during  the Victorian era. 

 



This was "naturally dyed" wool.  The yellow shade was created using onion skins and the red was made from brazil wood.

Inside the "Train Station" we found our first electric lights and this colourful tree.  

In a room off to the side a Telegraph Man could send your message off to Santa using a version of Morse Code.  Unfortunately none of our three kids was willing to wait in line to have their turn!

 



Here in the woodshop, the carpenter demonstrated a variety of wooden toys that would have been popular back at the turn of the century.  It was nice to see that some of these toys still excited our kids even without flashy sounds and high intensity graphics!

 

 

By 6:30 it was plenty dark enough for the fireworks show to start. Christmas music played pleasantly in the background and Father Christmas kept watch from the bandstand. 

It was the perfect end to a wonderful evening out with the family. 

 



 

Feeling a bit cold, we travelled to a nearby family restaurant and enjoyed a cosy, home-style meal prepared and cleaned- up afterwards by some one else!

 

Bliss!

 

 

Just over two weeks until the Big Day!

Do you have any special "Christmas Outings" planned in the meantime?

 

 

Have a wonderful weekend every one!

 

XOXOXO

 

Bronwyn

Pink and Sweet - A Recipe for Nanaimo Bars

Have you ever heard of these sweet treats?  

I've enjoyed eating them all my life and other than knowing that Nanaimo is a city on the west coast of my home country, Canada, I knew nothing else about them.  

So over to Google I went and this is what I found out:

The Nanaimo bar is named after the west coast city of Nanaimo, British Columbia. It consists of a wafer crumb-based layer topped by a layer of custard flavoured butter icing which is covered with melted chocolate made from chocolate squares. Many varieties exist, consisting of different types of crumb, different flavours of icing (e.g., mint, peanut butter,coconut, mocha), and different types of chocolate.

And.....

The Nanaimo bar was first created in the Modern Cafe, located in Nanaimo, BC, Canada. The earliest confirmed printed copy of the recipe using the name "Nanaimo Bars" appears in a cookbook from 1953. A copy of the book is on view at the Nanaimo museum. However, following research into the origins of Nanaimo bars, Lenore Newman writes that the same recipe was published in the Vancouver Sun earlier that same year under the name "London Fog Bar". (Wikipedia)

No matter its origins, all I can say is that they are delicious!

Interested in the recipe for your festive baking? 

Well, here you go:

(modified from an original recipe found at Canadian Living)

 

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
• 1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts 
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder 
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar 
• 1/3 cup butter , melted
• 1 egg , lightly beaten
• Filling:
• 1/4 cup butter , softened
• 2 tbsp custard powder 
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups icing sugar 
• 2 tbsp milk , (approx)
• Topping:
• 4 oz semisweet chocolate , chopped
• 1 tbsp butter

In bowl, stir together graham crumbs, coconut, walnuts, cocoa powder and sugar. Drizzle with butter and egg, stirring until combined.

Press into parchment paper–lined 9-inch (2.5 L) square cake pan. Bake in 350ºF (180ºC) oven until firm, about 10 minutes. Let cool in pan on rack.

Filling: In bowl, beat together butter, custard powder and vanilla. Beat in icing sugar alternately with milk, making 3 additions of sugar and 2 of milk and adding up to 1 tsp more milk if too thick to spread. (Here is when you can add some flavouring and colouring, too. Try 1tsp of mint, rum, coffee or orange extract and a few drops of food colouring to match.) Spread over cooled base. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

Topping: In heatproof bowl over saucepan of hot (not boiling) water, melt chocolate with butter; spread over filling. Refrigerate until chocolate is almost set, about 30 minutes. 

With tip of knife, score into bars; refrigerate until chocolate is completely set, about 30 minutes. (Make-ahead: Wrap and refrigerate for up to 4 days or overwrap in foil and freeze for up to 2 weeks.) Cut into bars. 

Enjoy!!

I would love to hear of you try this recipe.  

I am sure it will be a hit in your house - or at the next Christmas party you attend!!

XOXO

 

Bronwyn

Five On Friday: 5 Photos From My Phone

 Hurray! December is here - a month I look forward to all year long!

I'll admit that Christmas has been showing its face around here for a few weeks, but now I can get away with celebrating it whole hog without getting any sour looks from anyone else!

This week's Five on Friday are once again pictures from my phone that encapsulate the week that has been.

Number One: Cute Little Cakes

I saw these darling little cuppy-cakes while grabbing some milk at the local grocery store.  I had actually bought three, one for each of my children, but I managed to drop and smash one on the way to the table.  It was no longer cute enough for the picture, but my youngest son still enjoyed eating it!!

Number Two:  Family Selfie

While Daddy pumped the car full of gas, we took silly selfies just for fun!

Number Three: First Snow

While I was home all by myself last Sunday afternoon (the kids and my hubby were at the movie theatre), the snow began cascading from the sky. It fell heavily for nearly an hour and  settled prettily on the ground.  However, within another couple of hours, it had melted in the later afternoon sun.  

Number Four: Decorating the Tree

My whole life the Christmas tree has gone up immediately following the 28th of November.  This was my father's birthday and we wanted to ensure that his big day never got eclipsed by the the Tree.  When our oldest son Bryn was born on November 29th, the day shifted slightly by one day.  It worked out perfectly that this past weekend held the 28th and 29th of November and we remembered my father on one day and  celebrated Bryn's 11th the next.  And then HE was the one that asked to put up the tree.  "Make it part of the fun, Mommy!"

And we did.  

Number Five:  Cricket the Elf

As always, Cricket, our "Elf on a Shelf" showed up once again on December 1st.  Usually he plans a big breakfast for the kids but this year it just wasn't meant to be. The kids still seemed equally gleeful to see him though, and he is already stirring up antics in our home!!

I'm looking forward to checking out a few blog posts from all of the other bloggers that join into Amy's "Five on Friday" link-up party.

If you would like to see, too, you'll find your way HERE.

So many plans for this coming weekend- more birthday celebrations, a evening Christmas fair and brunch with some dear old friends.  Lots of picutres to share with you all soon, I am sure!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

XOXO

Bronwyn