These are yummy – I have to admit I make double batch now as we ‘test’ so many of them we don’t have a lot left to package as gifts let alone leave out for Santa…

45g butter (or marg if you must)

750g soft caramels

3 tablespoons low fat milk

2 cups of unsalted cashews

1 cup unsalted walnuts or almonds

Put the caramels, butter & milk in the microwave (well in a bowl then in the microwave!) and heat on high for 1 minute then stir.

Heat for another minute & stir.

Heat for another minute & stir (see the pattern yet?!)

Mixture should now be smooth – if not, heat for another 30 – 6 seconds and stir.

Stir in the nuts until they’re covered in caramel.

Line a baking tray (foil, baking paper, whatever) then drop teaspoonful of the mix onto the tray.

Once it’s set, drizzle some melted chocolate over the top. If I have time, I use white & brown chocolate for an even nicer effect, but one chocolate or none works well too.

Store in an airtight container if you can resist eating them! Oh, and you can use other sorts of nuts or even mixed nuts if you prefer (mixed nuts makes it a bit cheaper if you’re on a budget but it’s a pretty cheap gift anyway.)

It is now officially Christmas Day on the east coast, and if Santa hasn’t been to your house yet – he’s on his way!

I would like to wish you a very Merry and safe Christmas. Have a lovely day of laughter, love and merriment, enjoying the spririt of giving and joy that is Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

Happy birthday to the song “Do they know it’s Christmas time?”!

It was 25 years ago that a group of musicians, led by Bob Geldof & Midge Ure, got together as Band Aid and sang this song to raise money for people in famine affected Ethiopia.

Unfortunately, there are still many starving people around the world and not everyone enjoys Christmas as we do in Australia (and there are those in Australia struggling, too). But we can choose to let songs like this remind us of the giving spirit of Christmas and do what we can to help others.

Recently, I was asked why we hang wreaths at Christmas time so here is some of the history and tradition behind wreaths…

• wreaths symbolise the celebration and happiness of Christmas
• Advent wreaths for Christians (particularly Catholics) are traditionally made of evergreen branches around four candles and represent everlasting life
• ancient Persians had wreaths as a symbol of importance and success – they usually wore the wreaths on their heads
• wreaths were a symbol of hope for spring when hung in pre-Christian Eastern Europe (especially Germany) – the green showed new life and candles gave light in dark months
• Greeks used laurel wreaths for thir Olympic champions in 776BC or so. Some say one athlete hung his wreath on the wall as a memento and that is where hanging wreaths began
• Romans gave wreaths to their military heroes and leaders
• the circular shape would be linked with wreaths for heads but also represents the cycle of life (no beginning or end)
• Americans in the 19th century used wreaths to honour deceased loved ones at Christmas – initially at the cemetery, the wreaths were brought home and hung

Now many people just hang wreaths because it is a Christmas tradition, or because they have a beautiful wreath they want to display (including wreaths made by chidlren or friends.)

 Everyone knows Santa’s sleigh is predominantly pulled by his reindeer, but not everyone can remember their names!

As well as the 8 named in the ‘A Visit from St Nicholas’, there are other reindeer in stories about Santa:

• Rudolph – the unusual red-nosed reindeer helps guide the sleigh on particularly dark and foggy nights
• Olive – “olive the other reindeer shouted out with glee”
• Chet – the reindeer in training in “The Santa Clause II”
• Cupid – the reindeer who falls in love with Private (the penguin) in “Merry Madagascar”

Can you add any more?

And you may not know that the original story included Dunder (which became Donder then Donner) and Blixem (later Bliksem then the German Blitzen).

Santa just smiles when asked the names of his reindeer and lets us remember the poem…

What are your favourite Christmas songs (not carols)? How often do you listen to them (by choice rather than when walking through a shopping centre!)?

Some of the songs I can think of are:

6 White Boomers by Rolf Harris

I’m dreaming of a White Christmas

Do they know it’s Christmas time at all?

I saw Mummy kissing Santa Claus

12 days of Christmas

Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer (so well known I think it is almost counted in amongst the carols, but I don’t think it really fits there)

How much do you dress up for Christmas Day? Is it a special occasion you get a new outfit for or choose your best clothes in advance? Maybe you have a casual day with the family and wear whatever you grab from the drawer that morning?

I can’t say I buy something new for Christmas Day, but I certainly do my best to look nice and consider dressing up to be part of the celebration (that is, making it a day out of the ordinary).

All my family dresses nicely, if not in their ‘good clothes’, but a couple of my in laws are much more casual (everyday t-shirts and shorts) which surprised me the first year or so. Having said that, they are neat and clean, and I don’t think they have dressy clothes for other occasions either so it works for them and no one seems to mind.

As a kid, we spent half the day on the beach so we mostly wore our good clothes there and then wore bathers!

Do you find that your entire family dresses to the same ‘code’? Does it matter to anyone on the day?

Having a wreath hanging on your door or veranda is a common tradition in many Australian homes. Have you thought of hanging a homemade wreath?

Here is how my daughter made one a few years ago (she was about 6 at the time and had help) …

1.  bend a metal coathanger into a circle
2. cut the hook part of the coathanger off (unless you prefer to use it for hanging) and make sure sharp edges are hidden/filed
3. cut plastic shopping bags into long strips – the more strips you use, the better the final result but 3 bags would be the minimum
4. tie the strips onto the circle (double the strip and pull the lengths through the loop is the easiest way)
5. spray paint the wreath
6. once dry, tie on some Christmas baubles (or plastic holly , etc)
7. use some pretty ribbon to create a large bow at the top, with enough left over to use as a tie for the wreath
8. hang it on your door – or give to someone else for their door

And Squiggle Mum has instructions for three lovely wreaths you and/or your young children can make.

Do you have another way to make a wreath you could share with us?

Do you hang a Christmas wreath on your front door? Or somewhere else?

 A wreath is both pretty and cheerful, and I find them quite welcoming as well. There is such a variety of wreaths that see as you view homes – from the elaborate ones in shopping centres, to stylish ones, green traditional ones and colourful ones.

What type do you prefer?

If you are interested in hanging a wreath but don’t have one, why not make one yourself? Or get the kids to make one…

Following on from Santa’s Elf ‘s question this morning, when do you wrap presents, I want to know what people use to wrap gifts…

For many years, we’ve collected wrappings each year and recycled them the following year where possible (kids tend to rip them apart so not everything is reusable!) It’s interesting that a number of people used to give us funny looks about collecting and keeping the paper, but with more ‘green’ sentiment around now, people seem to accept it.

Reusing the paper does save us money, but our real incentive is to save some trees and reduce pollution in the printing and transporting of wrapping paper.

A few times we’ve also used alternatives to paper for wrapping – like when giving some picinic items, we wrapepd them in a light tablecloth and when we use a tea-towell to wrap kitchen tea of house warming gifts.

And young children bring home a wealth of wrapping paper when they do paintings at kinder and childcare! We enver used their favourite artworks, but they were very proud to see presents wrapped in their paper so it was win win all round!

Does being green come into your Christmas wrapping or do you like the pretty, sparkly pile of presents?

I’ve heard many people say they’re up late on Christmas Eve wrapping loads of presents, so I’m curious – when do you wrap your presents?

Do you make an event of it – getting the family together, having some nibbles and drinks and music as you work – or is it just something that gets done?

hi i am emily.
i love Christmas because i get to see my family and friends. also i get to do lots of cooking and partying and eating and talking and laughing.

go Christmas!!!!

talk soon…