Coffeeeee

It's no secret how much I love coffee, and how, over the past five years, I have come to depend on coffee - (who would have thought those two lovely wee lads would be such terrible sleepers?). I drink flat whites. From my espresso machine with the built-in grinder. I *love* my coffee machine. No, really I do. We take it away on holiday with us!
But all that was just to set the scene, to let you know how much I value coffee. My sister-in-law drinks plunger coffee and I drew her name in the Christmas Present draw (well, that's not strictly true, my husband did, but somehow I ended up organising her present too...). So anyway, I like to give personal presents, different presents, homemade presents, ones that are difficult to put a price on.
Two days before the posting cut-off date I was still trying to come up with something for her, when it came to me in the middle of the night - she uses a tea cosy, so why not one for her French Press? And I even had some insulated batting to hand (a well-intentioned purchase which was never actually made into an oven mitt).

So here we have it, a coffee cosy!

The Magic of Christmas

Remember how magical Christmas was when you were little? The lights, the beautiful tree with its star or fairy or angel perched atop, the treats, the presents and Father Christmas (or Santa or Santa Claus or whatever you called that jolly fat man who travelled around the world faster than the speed of light pulled by nine flying reindeer).

Magic.

Creating that magic for my wee lads is important to me. I make Christmas Calendars (as my mum did for me) and bake Christmas biscuits (Vanillekipferl). We have a tree and add plenty of sparkles around the house. We visit The Enchanted Forest with its beautiful mechanical Christmas displays. We leave biscuits and beer out for Santa (my boys have a different name for him than we did - different era, more influence from American media) and carrots and water outside for the reindeer.

I wonder how much longer this will last. Max is already 5. Won't he find out from friends at school soon? And what about the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy? Other magic I encourage whole-heartedly.