It's poncetastic 2019!

[NerosFiddle]

Since no one has started it yet, I thought I would.

Happy Rudolph Day

So come on, show us yours!

Yesss I've found you all! I'm due DC2 early November so have had an excuse to start at the first turned leaf this year. So far I have done:

A ribbon and twine affair to hang cards off (bow maker for ribbons, little wooden pegs, brown twine and glue!)

A wreath out of brown cardboard "twigs" wrapped together with twine, added bows and golden bells

Started a cross stitch way back in March I think it was ahem about halfway done

Road tested red wine shallot sauce for roast beef (we're not turkey fans)

Road tested garlands made from old book pages sewn together on sewing machine

Road tested paper flowers from old book pages to make another wreath

And made a felt polar bear for the tree.

There's so much more I want to do before DC2 arrives!! Gift wrap stamping with DC1 sounds really fun!

Bit off topic but I picked up a couple of seasonal cookbooks for 3 quid, I wanted to cook more in tune with the seasons and try to use more local veg etc. Got Abel and Cole and Jamie at Home.

I completely ponced out last year, making theee woolen wreaths, I made outdoor decorations from wooden pallets and made bead and felt decorations for the trees. I fear that if I keep making stuff I'll actually run out of room and have to throw away previous ponce effort. (Photos of some of last years ponce)

So this year I'm going to try to just food ponce. Starting with blackberry vodka.

I love a good Christmas book- my favourite is an old good housekeeping one, followed by Nigella, and I really recommend the hairy bikers one- it's got the best mulled wine and some lovely recipes.

@bwydda where in Wales are you from? I'm near Caerphilly 😊

White- Pontypridd! It's a small world isn't it?

@Whitecandle
I have just started mine . They will be fine by Christmas.

fluffy and trumpton those are both great ideas! I usually do Nigella’s coke recipe if I cook ham, but an orange glazed ham might be great for Xmas dinner as it’s probably just us 🧡

@EgremontRusset I boil mine in coke with cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, and oranges then once it's cooked i coat in orange marmalade and cook in the oven!

So you could do your usual recipe + your marmalade!

@starryeyedsnowgirl snap! world of books are on ebay now and lots for £3 as well!

Me again with stupid questions.. Where to get paper for gift wrap stamping? What type of paper?!

Squeee! I’ve moved into a new house this year and I have a fireplace

Thank you @jackstini they are perfect! @Trumpton I love your photo great little stockings!

@bwydda love the pinecones and lights in the jar. DH made me throw away my pinecone stash.. to be fair, it was about 100 pinecones in a box and I was only using about 6 a year!

@Preggosaurus9 you could use brown parcel paper sold in rolls at places like the range or the works or even the post office. The Range and The Works will have stamps and inks but you can use potatoes and poster or acrylic paint. If you buy from Amazon then you could flatten out (or even iron) their brown wrapping paper to reuse it.

I bought lovely paper last year in Asda. It's just a printed holly design on white paper - no foiling or glitter so is definitely recyclable locally. I'm going to use green and red ribbon with it and I saved gift bags and bottle bags from last year to reuse.

EgremontRusset I think your crystallised marmalade would be nice in ice cream or biscuits or in crumble but I can’t decide if it would be best in an oaty topping or in with the fruit

Yay, so pleased about this thread! Not sure what poncy things I'll do this year as I'm busy this year, more than usual anyway. Definitely cake and pudding. Going to do hampers for parents, in laws and grandparents. That's a lot poncy, right?!

Hi there
Can I ask where you got the vintage bottles please? I have 3 lots of gin on the go but can’t find nice little bottles anywhere

Sorry, that was for @historysock

@nowordforfluffy is that a mary berry brownie recipe? I shall try it thanks.

Mary berry might be the Christmas cookbook I buy this year for cheap. Glad to see I'm not the only one!

The berry infused alcohol is super easy. I dont think the alcohol you use matters as much as the fruit. We were given a litre of bacardi on year and used it and it tasted fine. Like a sweet liqueur you could add to fizzy water/ lemonade/ tonic or prosecco. It was great. Though learn from my mistake and either use a wide bottle or a killer jar as if you just use a normal bottle its impossible to get the lovely alcohol soaked fruit out. It is nice to eat and would be great with ice cream.

I do hope my paragraphs work this time.

Grr!!! Sorry no paragraphs makes my.posts very hard to read. Apologies. I have switched to android this year and the app is so glitchy.

@starryeyedsnowgirl there are paragraphs 😊

@starryeyedsnowgirl, it's from the GH Get Ahead for Christmas magazine from last year. They're amazing brownies!

I've bought Delia, Gordon and Mary this year. To add to Nigella, Jamie and last year's GH one. Might have to save Hairy Bikers until next year!

@starryeyedsnowgirl what berries did you use? Did you go to a farm shop and get nice ones or pick them yourself? I have a huuuuuge blackberry bush near my house....

cankles in ice cream would be amazing! And I make my own these days using Nigella’s no churn bourbon recipe so that would be good.

I could also melt it down for marmalade whiskey bread-and-butter pudding, but I think maybe that needs a more bitter Seville taste rather than the blood oranges.

You've just made me buy MB Christ from eBay (to add to Delia- both the original Christmas and the newer one) Nigella, Nigel, Jamie and Sarah Raven (which is more decorational poncing than food poncing)
I also have Hygge Christmas on Kindle but it's not quite the same as being able to touch the pages.
Have started going through the Pinterest boards noted from these threads in Christmasses past and buying up ribbons and bits from eBay to make my house look like a Cox and Cox catalogue.

Dementedma-got them off Etsy (for extra ounce factor).
I would LOVE a fresh wreath class! I'm going to see if there is one near me!