Advent

Today is the 1st of December and the beginning of that lovely time of year they call advent. The next 3 and a half weeks are definitely among my favourite of the year, filled with excitement and frenzy as everyone prepares for the festivities that lie ahead.

To enter into the spirit of things I hung our family advent garland for the very first time, a tradition that I hope will prevail for many years to come. I loathe commercial chocolate advent calendars which have no connection to Christmas and hope my charming alternative will please the children just as much.

The last few days have seen a lull in my culinary journey and I have had to accept that it is going to be impossible for me to cook or bake something new everyday. There are just not enough hours in the day to do everything I would like and unfortunately making cakes is not a top priority. Having said that, I did purchase Delia's new Christmas bible yesterday and have already dogeared a few gems.

As we lit our advent candle for the first time this evening, I was filled with excitement over what the next 25 days will bring, the decorations, the lights, the smells, the music and most of all the tastes of Christmas!