The 2023 Poncetastic Christmas Thread

[VivaJen]

Welcome to the 2023 Poncetastic thread. With a nod to Fellatio (wherever she may be) at the stroke of midnight, let the poncing commence.

"OK, first of all, I know it's still September by we need to start this thread now because as you all know, having a truly Poncetastic Christmas involves precision planning, strategy, bravery, heroics, and frequently martyrdom.

So, if you, like me, actually want to make the next twelve weeks of your life a misery by hand-crafting your cards, finding a huge bucket for Nigella's turkey in brine, pickling pears, shrivelling oranges in a low oven for those rustic au naturel decorations, dragging half a holly bush back from the woods, and just generally being a smug annoying jobs worth ponce, join me on this thread.

Feel free to post photos of previous tree-trimming, cake icing or table centrepiece triumphs, discuss this year's bauble colour themes, debate the merits of Delia versus Gordon, road-test a selection of canapés and cocktails, (all in the line of duty) and link to lovely inspirational photos/craft ideas for a truly Poncetastic Christmas.

Warning: If your idea of a good Christmas involves Pizza, ITV, gravy granules or anything with 'Aunt Bessie’s' on the packet, this is not the thread for you".

Hello All!
Back for another Poncey year! I am quite behind as usual!
I love the sharpie coloured lights so that is now on my to do list!
We are travelling home for Christmas this year so limited decor in the house as I won't want to take it all down when we get back late January and we always have a real tree which would die. Lights, candles and perhaps a nice garland is the plan.
I love the sound of Passion fruit gin also so might give that a go, we are lucky enough to get fresh passion fruits by the Kg for pennies so would make a nice slightly tropical gift to bring for family in the UK.

I have just discovered a way of using up all my scented candle remains by melting them in a bain marie, pouring them all into one container and adding a tealight (without its case). Works really well when you haven't got any extra wick to hand. House now smells of lovely seasonal things.

Well I have tested positive for Covid, so today will be a day of getting ahead on Christmas card writing in front of Hallmark Christmas movies with the fire roaring away. I didn't need an excuse to be honest, but my DP will think I'm slightly less mad now....

Oh no! Hope you don't feel too rotten with Covid

Noticed that hallmark Christmas movies are on channel 5 now 😀

@CrushingOnRubies Thank you! Very snuffly and bunged up, but not too bad, at the moment anyway.

I always get the Hallmark subscription on Amazon Prime at this time of year, much to my DP's disgust. He doesn't know what he's missing in my opinion😆

I was the same when I had covid immediately downloaded the hall mark free trial and binged it for the week

this year I’d really like To do a wreath making class.

@thenewaveragebear1983 and @Peridot1

I had always promised myself that when I retired I would do one of these classes. The first Christmas after I retired (2021) I left it too late to book. So last Christmas I started looking around in October to book ahead. The only ones I could find were either not very local or had started doing it in kit form rather than a class and both cost £££s

In the end I went online and found loads of links and videos for how to do it. I bought a wreath ring from a local craft shop and got moss and florists wire from a local florist. Most of the foliage I foraged on a walk with DH and managed to pick up a few other bits and pieces here and there. Found some nice orange berries on a bush in Sainsburys car parj!

Anyway I was really pleased with the result, no course required and will definitely be doing it again this year.

Bit late to the thread but so pleased to find it. I love a bit of Christmas poncing and this thread has put me in the mood.

I usually don't do the cake until late November but maybe I will bring it forward.

I will certainly be getting in to Christmas mode soon as I am going to Chatsworth Christmas Market and House in a couple of weeks and also to Thursford Christmas Spectacular the week after.

Question. I seem to remember from previous years that done of you have a Nigel Slater Christmas book you like to read in the run up. What is it and when do you start reading, please ?

@5foot5 - that’s lovely. Looks very professional! I’ve booked a lovely wreath making afternoon in our village with prosecco, mulled wine and mince pies. I’ve done it before and it’s a lovely social afternoon. Also raises money for our church. And I’m so hopeless I need the help and inspiration!

The Nigel Slater book is his Christmas Chronicles. I’ve never managed the read along yet!

@Peridot1 Christmas Chronicles, that's it. Thank you!

Your wreath making class sounds like a lovely social event. Enjoy

Turkey - This is the turkey recipe I follow. It hasn’t let me down yet, however rolling the turkey in clingfilm is best done with two people!

I have started the annual Nigel Slater Christmas Chronicles read along. The book itself doesn't begin proper until 1st Nov, but it's good to have a weeks notice to prepare

Link below

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/christmas/4926861-nigel-slater-christmas-chronicles-annual-read-along-2023

Thanks @RainbowZebraWarrior I have posted over there (under a seasonal namechange). I always enjoy the CC readalongs on here.

Poncing-wise, I planted some paperwhite narcissi at the weekend. Not much else yet, although I have made a mental note to check my baking supplies this week so I can do cake and pudding soon.

Thank you

Hey all. Old-timer (namechanged) checking in.

I'm going to pare my Christmas right down this year (even more than usual) but will definitely ponce it up foodwise and with a smattering of tasteful decorations.

We're not making a Christmas cake this year, nor a pudding! Have decided to go another way with an Italian chocolate and nut cake.

Love seeing everyone else's efforts on this thread every year. I might have one little craft project lined up but I'm not sure yet!

Hello fellow poncers. Just sharing some autumn poncing and a request for help with Christmas poncing ideas!

I have this little nook on the way up the stairs and I want to put Christmassy things up there when the time comes. Currently nearly 3 year old DD keeps stealing the pumpkins and saying "hey mummy, those are my punkins" so whatever I put up there needs to be non breakable.

Size wise it's about 70 cm wide X 18 cm deep x 30 cm high at the tallest point.

All ideas welcome! Happy to have make it yourself projects too, and may end up collecting several options over the years so I can rotate/for when DD coopts whatever it is for her own room!

love all the ideas, and have had a conversation in the office about whether it would be unreasonable to put the christmas music on 😆

This year might be the one where I finally have a go at these snowflakes. Look like good fun if you have older children

https://www.anthonyherreradesigns.com/starwarssnowflakes2013

(there are link on there to templates for Frozen and Harry potter as well)

@Brieandbeetroot that little nook is crying out for a lit-up Christmas village! Or a Winter Wonderland/woodland.

Maybe your little one will be happy for the ‘punkins’ to be hers and that the next lot of things are just for show/to look at.

Otherwise a little group of fabric/soft elves/gonks/pixies etc would look cute too.

Or, if you wanted to create lots of poncey work for yourself, you could make 5 or 6 folded book trees! Add some little wooden trees and a lantern or two and it would look rather good I think!

Or how about a gingerbread village or train.

@Brieandbeetroot Hobbycraft had some little wooden Christmas trees in, when we went in earlier, maybe four or five for about £8. The tallest was maybe 6" high. You could get something like those and paint/glitter then them add some glittery ones and battery tea lights.

Or, Flying Tiger has a dinky paint your own Chrismas Village for £2 ish, but it's just the fronts & they fold up small for storage. They'd be nice painted as snowy houses & some trees maybe.

Not much poncing going on here unless you count buying Ikea's make your own mini gingerbread houses, and cupcake cases. Plan for later this week is the cakes, and gingerbread dough to freeze.

Morning all, somehow I missed that this thread had started again. I'm not a terrific ponceuse, but I adore everyone else's efforts. I have a free Saturday this weekend, so I will be spending the day surrounded by the last 3 years' of the Good Housekeeping Christmas Edition, and doubtless Fanny Cradock on TV.

While I think about it, does anyone have a recipe for gingerbread that snaps, rather than being soft? I want to make it & freeze so I don't need to faff closer to Christmas.

I made this recipe for ginger snaps last year and they were definitely 'snappy' (it was for someone else who is a ginger nut fan and they ate the lot!) I like the softness of gingerbread personally. Even more so ginger parkin.

https://cloudykitchen.com/blog/gingersnap-cookies/

Thanks @RainbowZebraWarrior would it work for a house, do you think?

I would say that if you have moulds, it would work very well. It has that lovely caramelised finish that would lend itself to a 'rustic' gingerbread House / cottage. I've got some large cookie cutter type moulds (2 ends, 2 sides and 2 roof parts which I think i got in B&M) you could alternatively make larger 'cookies' and cut them to size while they are still warm as they set quite snappy after about 10 mins out of the oven.

Hope that makes sense.