Wednesday, 6 December 2023

Virtual Christmas Cookie Exchange 2023

 


It's that time of year again when we share a Christmas recipe and maybe some quilty goodies. I love Christmas and enjoy the special family time. This year my grandson is very excited by all the Christmas trees. He will be 19 months and I know he will be joining in with all the fun. Thank you Carol for organising this blog hop, it really does get the Christmas season started with a wow.

I have made my Christmas cake but it will need decorating nearer the time. I'm thinking penguins and polar bears on the top this year. The tree will go up after this weekend once I've celebrated my birthday. I have reached the age of 70 and had to get my driving licence renewed. Thank goodness it arrived in time since we are going away for the weekend. As well as the tree the rest of the decorations will be put out next week. Earlier this year I finished a new Christmas stitchery and I can't wait to use it.

I'm also looking forward to getting my Christmas quilt out. I won the jelly roll when I took part in a quilt along several years ago and I love the fabrics.


My other Christmas quilt is already gracing my daughter's bed.


As well as making the rich fruit cake for Christmas we also like stollen and last weekend I made one. 


Stollen is a German bread, where it is known as Christsollen. It's made with dried fruit, candied peel, cherries apricots and is delicious. This stollen did not last long. I'll bake another nearer Christmas but I don't want to put on any extra weight over the holiday period so I want to be a little careful. My recipe was from Delia Smith's Christmas recipe book and you can find her recipe HERE The stollen is usually glazed or has icing sugar sprinkled over it but I like it without.

I also made a batch of mince pies or are they tarts? Half of them disappeared very quickly!


When my parents were alive we'd spend Christmas with them. Late on Christmas eve mom and I would bake a batch of mince pies to have with our coffee. While cooking we would often have a drink such as gin and tonic or wine and we would end the evening giggling a lot.

Now you need to visit the other blogs so here is the full list.

The Pinterest page for this hop can be found HERE.

  Thank you for visiting today and I'm looking forward to seeing you again soon.

Take care

Lyndsey

12 comments:

  1. Your projects are are lovely--what a joy to have them out each year! The stollen and mince pies/tarts look delicious! I can see how they would disappear quickly. Thanks for sharing (especially that memory of Christmas Eve with your mother)!

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  2. Beautiful quilts! Thanks for sharing!

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  3. Oh the memories. My grandma used to make Stollen all the time. I had completely forgot about that. No one passed down those family recipes unfortunately. Your stitchery is gorgeous, as well as your quilts. Wishing you a very happy birthday this weekend and have a wonderful Christmas with your little guy. It's so much fun to watch the little ones enjoy things!

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  4. Your stitchery and your quilts are so lovely! Your Stollen looks delicious, I haven't had it in years! My neighbor used to make it during the holidays and share it with us when I was little. It sounds like you have lovely memories of baking with your mom - there's nothing quite like it, is there? It brought tears to my eyes just picturing it! You and I are the same age, and I hold the memories of my mom and dad close to my heart. I wish you a very Merry Christmas, and thanks for sharing your lovely post.

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  5. Your stitchery and quilts are beautiful, as well as your Christmas baking! Happy Birthday, and hope you have a great holiday season!

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  6. Mince pies are the one Christmas treat that I really miss. Thanks for posting.

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  7. One year I received a Stollen cake for Christmas and I was hooked. Thank you for sharing the recipe link! Your Christmas stitchery piece turned out so pretty and those quilts look so festive. I love that you shared such a sweet memory of your mom and you on Christmas Eve. It sounds like it was so fun, Lyndsey! Thank you for sharing all this sweetness. Merry Christmas! xo

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  8. Love your Christmas projects! And all the pictures of the wonderful baking is making me hungry!! Thanks for sharing! :-)

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  9. What lovely Christmas projects! Your stitch work is beautiful and your quilts are just stunning. You have certainly been busy in the kitchen! Such delicious-looking goodies! I love the memory of your mother you shared. Happy birthday!

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  10. Giggles along with mince meat pie and coffee sounds like a great way to spend an evening. I still have some mince meat in the freezer that I keep saving; now is the time to make that pie. Your Your stollen bread looks so darn good; that means I should give it a try; thank you. I love your Christmas quilts - I don't have one yet though the colors of one of mine does seem a bit Christmasy.

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  11. Lovely quilts and great memories, Lyndsey. Merry Christmas!!

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  12. What lovely memories of giggling with your mom. It is so tough at holiday time to have the bittersweet along with the joy. This year of Chanukah we are without my sister-in-law. She just died about 6 weeks ago, at age 55. It's going to be a rough holiday with her not here but life goes on. It will never be the same but I'm trying to make tomorrow's dinner extra special. I made a boat load of Moroccan meatballs tonight and we have latkes. I got a bunch of jelly doughnuts (a chanukah specialty) but already my hubby and oldest son have dipped into those. I am glad they're getting festive already, but I may need to resupply the donuts if this keeps up!! I wish you a wonderful holiday and that Christmas quilt is super awesome. I love the non-traditional colors. The fact that you won the jelly roll for it is even better. I hope you have a label on that describes the whole narrative. That's a gem worth passing down. XOXO

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