A Trick of the Light

We are heading for the shortest day of the year and as the Winter Solstice and Christmas approach it's time to enjoy a little light to get us through the darkest days.

The Place du Solonçon in our quarter of Cognac by lamplight

The other evening we took the dogs out for a stroll around the centre of Cognac to look at the Christmas lights.  They were rather low-key compared with somewhere like the Champs-Elysées in Paris, but after living in the countryside for several years, where there was little sign when the festive season was upon us, they were simply magical to me.

On the way to the centre of town via the old medieval quarter of Cognac

Place François 1er in the heart of Cognac

The elegant bridge over the River Charente that leads us home 

Usually on returning home from a Winter evenings walk we would all snuggle up in front of a fire but this year we sadly don't have that luxury.  Having recently moved I discovered to my dismay that my dream of a roaring open fire this Christmas was not to be because the flue of our fireplace was already being used by our monster of a 1970's boiler.

So until we update the heating system I've had to improvise by putting some red tinsel in the fire basket along with some pine cones and twinkly lights.  I also placed a mirror behind it to reflect back the light and was genuinely surprised at how effective this was. So with my makeshift fire and a few lit candles placed around the room we couldn't be cosier.

You could argue that the fireguard is unnecessary but our electrics are
so ancient it's possibly not as mad as it looks

The pinnacle of bringing light into the home though is, of course, the good old Christmas tree.  This year for the first time we bought a cut tree.  Normally we buy a small tree with roots and attempt to plant it out in the garden in the New Year but because we are now in town and only have a courtyard I broke with traditional and bought what I like to think of as a massive cut flower to ease my guilty conscience.  

Our Christmas tree - The masking tape on the walls is a little odd I'll
grant you but it is marking out where we plan to open up the walls

The upside to the terrible guilt I felt at buying a dead tree is that I could have a much larger one than ever before (woo hoo!).  Spike stopped me from buying a floor to ceiling tree because we don't have much space in the corner of the room at the moment but next year, once the walls have been opened up and the room has been decorated, I have promised myself a tree that touches the ceiling (I seem to have somehow overcome that crippling feeling of guilt)

We buy each other a new bauble every year
which helps gives the tree individuality

OK I bought this one for myself

Oh and this one from a brocante in the Summer

One idea that I saw on TV and would like to try next year is to use vintage pocket watch cases as Christmas tree decorations.  They took the cases of broken pocket watches, with no intrinsic value, and removed the inner workings (which are too heavy for a tree although beautiful in their own right).  They then replaced the innards with photos of loved ones or Christmas scenes.  You could of course put whatever you want in them which is what makes the idea so charming and personal.

In order to be able to do this I will need to get to an auction in England and buy a job lot but I think the idea is wonderful and hope to sell them in the shop I am planning to have open by next Christmas. I am also toying with the idea of using vintage brooches as tree decorations because these little works of art are very undervalued at the moment and can be quite beautiful.

A super way to add a vintage feel to your Christmas tree

It only remains for me to wish you a joyful, light-filled Christmas

A Merry Little Christmas in Rural France

It's that lovely time of year when I clamber up into the loft and fetch down my Christmas decorations.  They are stored in a shabby old Fortnum & Mason's wicker hamper which keeps all my precious Christmas trucs safe.

Every year Spike and myself exchange lots of little silly gifts in the hand-made Christmas sacks I made a few years back (you can safely assume that I'm a bit of a Christmas freak... the stockings we had before were far too small to fit anything in!!!)  

We also have a lovely tradition of picking out for each other a special bauble each year for the Christmas tree which gives it a wonderfully eclectic look and although our tree is smaller than usual I think it's beautiful all the same and because it has roots it can be planted out in the garden in the new year.

Our tree - small but perfectly formed

The drinks cabinet stocked & ready for friends who drop by 

This year we are having a quiet Christmas day to ourselves that will hopefully consist of sitting around in pyjamas for the first part of the day while we open our presents, moving on to necking the booze out of little bottle shaped liqueur chocolates (not the healthiest breakfast but you may say but you might as well start as you mean to go on!!) before eventually being persuaded by the dogs to get dressed and take them out for a long winters walk. 

By this time a bit splodgy but still yummy

Once all these things have been done the preparations for Christmas lunch can start. This year, as it's just the two of us, we are not being traditional at all so we are going to roast some monkfish stuffed with a mushroom duxelle (hopefully with some truffle shavings too if I can get my mitts on one... another story for another day!).  

I know this Christmas lunch sounds a bit unorthodox but I don't eat meat (that makes me a pescetarian apparently). Luckily for Spike we have meat-eating friends over for supper on Boxing Day so he will not miss out. 

Something I always make this time of year are Christmas cupcakes which are a variation on the traditional Christmas cake but much lighter, oozing with cognac with a yummy cream cheese frosting on the top.  

They keep really well and can be offered all through the holiday season to anyone who drops by (our French neighbours absolutely gobbled them up last year when they popped in for an apero or two).

Here is the recipe for my Christmas Cupcakes if you would like to try them (sorry it's all metric but there are, as I'm sure you know, conversion tables available online):-

Ingredients

90g butter – softened

100g brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tbsp of orange marmalade

500g finely chopped mixed dried fruit

100g plain flour

½ teaspoon of baking powder 

1 tsp of mixed spice

2 tbsp of cognac

Ingredients for frosting

45g soft butter

100g icing sugar

100g cream cheese

Method

• Preheat your oven to 160°C
• Line a 12 cupcake pan with cupcake cases
• Using an electric whisk, beat the butter, sugar and eggs until just combined
• Stir in the mixed fruit and marmalade.  Mix until well combined
• Sift the flour,baking powder and spice.  Add to the mixture
• Add the cognac and mix well
• Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases – dividing evenly
• Bake for about 30 minutes
• Remove from the oven and pour a little cognac over the top of each cake
• Immediately after this cover all the cakes with foil
• Allow to cook before removing the foil and removing them from the pan

 Method for the frosting

Beat together the soft butter with the icing sugar, then beat in the cream cheese. Pipe on the top with a swirl!

I think that if you try them you will enjoy them as much as we do and I really hope that you 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' too.