Poncetastic Christmas 2025

[welikebeingcosy]

Added by MNHQ upon request:
OK, first of all, I know it's still September but 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. A bit like the war in Afghanistan, only with nicer food and sparkly shoes.

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 jobsworth 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 canapes 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 Bessies' on the packet, this is not the thread for you.The days are getting shorter, the leaves are starting to brown, that can only mean one thing- it's time to ignore the waves of Halloween decor all over your local The Range and head to the woods to start picking your own holly for that perfect Kirsty inspired wreath.

We want homemade stuffing recipes perfected by November, the handmade crackers draped in the most delicate of embroidered ribbon, mantle pieces draped in the most Scandinavian of wooden carvings, specialised stamps for the personalised wrapping paper ordered by next week and the word craft to be your official middle name by new year.

Happy ponceing and may Nigel and Nigella's fairy lights guide you on your way to getting the last box of rosemary and sea salt crackers in your own personal Bethlehem.

Well there's still time. Mine looked like this on Thursday and last Sunday so they have grown a lot in a week

I've just come to say how impressed I am at the home made crackers. I couldn't possibly attempt somehting like that. I did think 'fill your own crackers' was the answer for me, though. DD has filled one for the cat, one for my Mum and two for me. All I had to do was fill two for DD. I've just spent a Murderous 30 minutes jabbing and stabbing and almost wrecking said crackers. Never again. Darn you stupid dyspraxic, arthritic hands.

I completely forgot about my bulbs, I don’t deserve the progress they’ve made! I think one might actually flower by Christmas.

DD and DGD ( Aunt and niece) are making cheese straws. The kitchen is blitzed. I have wine!

Oh gosh, they look yummy! Dh has made sausage rolls with sausage meat from the farm shop, they won’t last till morning. I’ve got sourdough honey butter rolls almost ready for the oven.

Oh and DH did flower arranging for the Christmas table. I got some M&S flowers with little red vases and he’s had fun with making the table look nice.

Any tips for making sausage rolls? We'll be getting some sausage meat with the turkey tomorrow.

Big tip is to fry off a small amount of sausage meat and taste it for seasoning. The one we’ve got from the butcher it very well seasoned.

We like ready made sheets of puff pastry that we lightly roll out. Make a sausage of sausage meat and then encircle it with pastry with minimal overlap. Glut the edge down with egg and a fork print and brush the top with beaten egg.

We do various versions, the easiest is probably adding some apple sauce to the sausage meat and some sesame seeds to the top. You can add any chutney / sauce / spice mix you like. I like adding lime, sweet chilli sauce and smooth peanut butter for a Thai slant, Victorian chutney or similar for a fruity flavour, final chopped Stilton and some chopped nut for a good cheeseboard accompaniment.

We pop them onto a preheated baking sheet with a piece or baking paper, cook at a medium temp until golden brown and puffed and the meat is cooked through. Move to a cooling rack after 5 minutes from the oven.

Thank you. I'm going to try.

Sausages rolls sound delicious. I have made my cranberry sauce and then embarked on a fools errand- I picked and froze a load of chestnuts in the autumn with the idea that I’d use them for stuffing. I roasted them this morning and ruined a few pans, then spent 2 hrs peeling enough for about a table spoon of stuffing. Complete waste of time! Should have gone for Merchant Gormet.

I went on a wreath making course a week last Saturday and here are the results. This one is in our bedroom- it wouldn't have survived outside as there's sonething of a wind vortex around us.

This second one is on the back door, again inside. The course was brilliant but it's pretty full on- I will always use the course instructor's method from now on (if anyone wants to know how it's made just shout up and I'll describe it.

Some great tips there! I've screenshotted for next year. I haven't made any for today as I usually do (DD went veggie last Christmas eve so we had a celebration with veggie chilli made by her last night).Going to make some for NYE for myself though.

One of my favourite combos is chipolatas squeezed out of their cases mixed with a bit of stuffing (sage and onion, or chestnut) and a bit of grated cheese. I also use ready rolled puff pastry.

Gosh, I'm hungry now!

A very Merry Christmas to my fellow poncers. It's been a pleasure as always!

Hope your day is full of joy and love and Pontastic Peace.
Ready, Steady….Go!

Merry Christmas! Trumpton that looks amazing!

&
@Threetoedsloth your wreaths are gorgeous! I’d like to do that next year I think. Perhaps a date with my husband!

Trumpton that diningscape is a thing of great beauty. Such a lot of work but worth it for the oooohs and aaaaaahs.
My lovely husband has timed our dinner to a T and I shall shortly go and make gravy. Mine's a simple roux based one with chiicken stock, meat juices, a touch of homemade quince jelly (DH is a jam/jelly maker)and some marsala.
The family bread sauce has had a twist this year- said dearest one placed a large pyrex bowl of grated parmesan by my bowl of white breadcrumbs. I had pondered saving some breadcrumbs from the large batch for the pork stuffing balls but decided not to- my somewhat tired brain went oh look you did save them,bung them in. Cue furious scooping before DH noticed (he's ND and things like that MATTER to him) Crisis averted - phew and the parmesan which escaped the scooping appears to have just added a hint iof extra savouriness to the bread sauce. I lost my sense of smell a decade or so ago so I can't tell if there's a cheesiness to it but DH says perfect.
I haven't been very active on this thread- lost two pets within 5 days, our 18yr old puss (expected but heart rending) and one of our alpaca boys, very much unexpected as he was only 3. I have popped in here to look at the loveliness and escape my sorrow for a bit.

@Threetoedsloth I’m sorry for your furry losses, they hit hard.

Thank you FFS. They do indeed.

Sorry about your pets @Threetoedsloth. Our dog had a fit last night and it always scares the shit out of me.
The wreaths are beautiful - I particularly like the orange one.
Lovely day yesterday - here is my table and my presents wrapped. I use old rhs magazines and ancient ribbons that get reused every year!

Oh Peachypips- Bunnykins- I have been buying this for babies in my family since I was 16 and I am knocking 70 (next month) Hope your pooch is OK- our late girl had 3 fits in four years so we felt we were living on borrowed time and loved her extra extra hard those 4 years. She was a tiny girl but she left a big hole behind. We still have two pussums and they are very cuddly - they are generally cuddly but even more so this last month.
Here are the ornaments I mentioned aaaages ago. 6 out of 12 isn't bad. I can do one in about three hours.

@Threetoedsloth they're beautiful, are they a kit?

They are indeed. By Kirikipress. You can find her on Instagram. She's based in Toronto. Pricy but so worth it. The shapes are cricut out which makes creating them so much easier. I am going to sew another one today. A present shape.

https://kirikipress.com/collections/felt-ornament-kits

I have a hankering for these

https://www.corinnelapierre.com/products/12-days-of-christmas-felt-craft-kit-the-whole-set?_pos=2&_sid=38293f865&_ss=r

next years sunroom theme might be 12 days of Christmas.

Oh Trumpton, those are gorgeous and such a good price. I could make one per Rudolph day and one extra and it would be lovely. Ooh you tempted me.