Christmas doesn’t officially start in our house til after my birthday on December 11th. No cards. No decorations. No tree. This year we’ve been so busy with after work events, weekends away, school concerts and the general madness of working families that we only just put our tree up yesterday evening.
With this come a few family traditions
First and foremost there must be new baubles. Every year we have bought our girls a new bauble to put on the tree. It started with this little chap and now the theme relates to phases or fads they are going through on a particular year.
Amber’s bear
This year they’ve both been rather baking obsessed themselves we opted for some beautifully simple meringue rings called Baiserringe from Germany. I wrote the recipe out on some Christmassy paper and placed it in their box for them to bake in years to come.
Baiserringe – a tradition from Germany for our tree. Click picture for recipe
We leave them to decorate the tree as we write our Christmas and New Year cards over a glass of mulled wine. I still love doing this because it’s one of the few times I sit and write using a pen. It’s a chance to reflect and remember Christmases past. The cards will of course arrive late this year because we missed the last posting date!
And some mince pies
And last but not least it’s about mince pies. We always have mince pies on Christmas tree day. The flavours just sum up the start of Christmas. But because we’re a little late getting started this year I’m rather sick of eating pies already! So I made a Christmas Tart using my new rectangular tart tin from Paris and some pimped up shop bought mincemeat filling ….
A Christmas Tart with Mince Pie Filling. Click picture for recipe.
…and some Mini Filo Mince Pies that are crunchy and equally perfect with a cup of Assam as the mulled wine.
Mini Filo Mince Pies. Click picture for recipe