Many of my friends (and maybe some of my regular readers) will know how much I love The Highlands of Scotland. I’m sure I must have mentioned it a few times and I have hundreds of photos. Pre-children The Highlands was a great place to visit for a relaxing holiday but there’s no such thing as a relaxing holiday now, is there?… Though I’m sure we will visit again at some point when the children are a little older. Nowadays with an active inquisitive toddler in tow, then we need to head for destinations with plenty to do & see. …
Portable North Pole 2014 – #IBelievePNP
Last year was the first year in which we used the Portable North Pole and though J wasn’t really too aware of Santa last year, he was absolutely mesmerised by it so I couldn’t wait to do it again this year now he is much more aware. And of course, it is N’s first year; though he’s not at all aware of Santa but it’s lovely for them to both have one and start the tradition with him. The video is really easy to create and literally takes just a few minutes to input all the information to truly personalise it for …
Elf on the Shelf adventures (days 9-16)
This week hasn’t really been planned as much as last week was as we’ve both just been way too tired so it’s been a kind of “Ooh, let’s put him somewhere quick before we go to bed!” kind of week. Nonetheless, J has still enjoyed finding him and he’s just embarked on his final week here before heading back to the North Pole until next year. Here’s what Buddy got up to this week… Day 9 Buddy got caught in the card holder and it took a while for J to spot him! Day 10 Buddy decided to catch a lift in …
Silica Lodge Winter Wonderland & Santa Visit
Last Friday, we had our annual Santa visit, which also turned out to be N’s first of many – I hope! There are two great Santa nearby, but we decided to visit the one at Silica Lodge Garden Centre as we enjoyed it last year, and it looked much more magical this year. I’m not sure who was more excited, to be honest! J wasn’t too fussed last year as he wasn’t aware of who Santa was, but he is a lot more so this year and kept saying, “Going Santa’s house” before we went.
Recipe – Lemon & raisin loaf cake
One of my favourite flavours for a dessert (or anything sweet really) is lemon, and I really love it in this cake as it makes it so moist. I think lemon & raisin go really well together and of course having raisins in a cake makes it healthy, right?… Ingredients (serves 6-8) 150g butter 150g caster sugar 150g self raising flour (plus a little extra) 3 eggs juice of 2 lemons zest of 1 lemon 200g raisins Method Preheat oven to gas 5 / 375F / 190C, and grease & line the bottom of loaf tin. Mix together the butter …