38 days to go..

Hi again, had some great feedback.  Everybody likes Santa Teddy.  So what's not to like already!   Scroll to the end to see what S-T has been up to.


I'm a great fan of the Peanuts cartoons, takes me back to simpler days, so I wanted to share this classic video where Linus explains the meaning of Christmas to Charlie Brown.  Enjoy

http://youtu.be/DKk9rv2hUfA

Chocolate rum truffles  (old family recipe, not shared publicly to date) 

I have it on good authority (my 3 children) that if these truffles don't appear on our Christmas menu every year, then there will be a riot and it will not be pretty!


I don't know anyone who doesn't like a truffle or two.  Being a truffle-buff, I must admit I have been incredibly disappointed over the years when choosing what I hoped was a chocolate truffle but was instead presented with some concoction made with condensed milk, biscuit crumbs, rum flavouring (not the good stuff) and the chocolate ingredient had walked through on stilts!  Sorry if I sound a truffle snobbish (get it, a trifle snobbish!).
This recipe is not like that. The truffles are easy to make and I guarantee you will not be disappointed.  Go to Recipes tab at the top of this blog.


Christmas fact/trivia:

Why do we put a fairy on top of the Christmas tree?The fairy started out life several hundred years ago as a sacred effigy of the infant Jesus. It then went through a series of gradual transformations until it developed its modern image. Its story begins in 17th century Germany where baroque architectural moulds of cherubs were used to make little wax figures of the infant Jesus. these were hung over Christmas trees as a reminder of the nativity. Eventually, one larger effigy called the Tin-gold Angel based on the early cherubs was placed on top of the tree. It still represented the Christ-child, but he had now become an angel and had sprouted wings. His body was covered with gilded tin, so that he glistened in the Christmas lights.  In the 19th century, doll-makers made him from wax or porcelain, now he was a guardian angel. He was brought to Britain in early Victorian times and because he looked like a doll, children begged to have him as a toy. His clothing was then changed and he was dressed up as a fashionable doll once Christmas had passed. In the process he also changed sex. The next step involved pantomime. Victorians loved their pantos and one of the favourite characters was the Good Fairy who waved her wand and saved the hero and heroine from evil villains. By the 20th century, the Infant christ had morphed into the fairy on the Christmas tree.

 (adapted from "Christmas Watching" by Desmond Morris, 1992, Mackays of Chatham PLC, Kent, London)

Author:  I wonder what the fairy will morph into after our century has passed! 

What's Santa Teddy been up to today?

 

He's been a bit naughty and is doing a bit of planking, although he assures me that it he has taken all safety precautions and is only a few feet off the ground.  ST's joke today:  Q.  Why do reindeer wear fur coats?   A. Because they'd look silly in polyester.

Author:  I think the blood has rushed to your head, Teddy !

Au revoir Christmasophiles