Tuesday 5 January 2016

Fairy lights and flower sprouts


With the assistance of a willing helper all the Christmas decorations are down. 


Well all except the lights that is. It is so dark and grey and gloomy I may never take those down. The vase of lights may become a permanent addition, the kitchen window lights certainly will be up for a few more months, and I'm very tempted to keep the festive twig for a few more weeks at least.


There was some leftover bubbly so I had to drink some as a reward for tidying the studying and finding a clear desk surface for the first time in months.... I realised after drinking it that I'd been going to do "dry January" but there are celebrations at the end of the month that will need marking, so I shall do "dry February" instead. Also February has less days........... 





To counteract the alcohol the prettiest green leafy vegetables you ever did see.


Flower sprouts. Who knew such a thing existed? 



42 comments:

  1. We took down our decorations at the weekend...I'm missing the twinkly lights. I love the feeling of space you get afterward though. Cheers with the bubbles!! xx

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  2. Am very impressed by your arty dinner menu, especially after finishing off the bubbly... (oh, but I've just noticed 'parsni' - tee hee) x

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    1. fridge scrabble comes with woefully few letters, not enough "p"'s x

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    2. I thought that must be why but couldn't resist putting two and two together. X

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    3. hic. definitely because there weren't enough p's x

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  3. Gorgeous twinkly lights, and I love the photo of your sweet cat helping out. I'm laughing about February having less days. Sadly it's a leap year though. How lovely your fireplace is looking, a really good focal point, I could happily sit there looking at the lights and plants. CJ xx

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  4. Love the festive twig. It's a keeper. And this Dry [Month] concept completely escapes me. Yet another novelty for the confused expat to grapple with... xoxo

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    1. Dry January is a concept developed by Cancer Research UK, to educate people about the drinking less, and sometimes people raise money by sponsorship. I suppose the cultural difference might seem to infer that Brits have a drinking problem.........

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  5. I do like the way you've set out your menu ... you can't beat pork.

    All the best Jan

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    1. anything roasted is my fave kind of dinner, espcially parsnips x

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  6. Happy New Year Tess! I couldn't bear to take our fairy lights down either, and have left all the Christmas candles in place too! Christmas may be gone, but winter hasn't! xCathy

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  7. Love your festive twig - I'd definitely keep it up. I was also trying to work out what the book is that is framed on your fireplace - sorry, just being nosy!Your room looks lovely and the flower sprouts are intriguing - I'm wondering if I could pass them off as a different type of veg to L who thinks normal sprouts are the work of the devil! xx

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    1. the sparkly lights are definitely staying till spring!
      The flower sprouts were nice, not as bitter as sprouts (the bitter compound in sprouts can only be tasted by some people, it's genetic, L is obviously a taster!)
      the book is "The Professor" by Charlotte Bronte. I bought it for J when he was promoted. It's never made it onto the wall, I quite like it propped up there x

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  8. Loving the twig tree. I think we have to hold on to the twinklies for as long as possible x

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    1. yes, holding on to the sparkles till spring x

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  9. Loving the twig tree. I think we have to hold on to the twinklies for as long as possible x

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  10. The lights are good all year round. Ours are still up. The twig and lights will look great decorated for easter.... Happy New Year! x

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  11. All of your plans are great ones! We have sticks with lights all year round. I love 'em! Never tried the flower sprouts though, I will look out for them! xx

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  12. Flower sprouts not heard of them either! Enjoy your drinking month ;). Darn I have taken down my lights but you are right they do bring brightness in to the gloom.

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    1. get your lights back out! we'll start a new trend for mid winter lighting xxx

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  13. I think a brussels sprout is a flower? I don't remember. I love your festive twig, it's very simple and striking. I'd leave it up all year, go on. :)

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  14. I still have lights up - could not let them go! Need those little sparks of light while the weather is still so very very driech...

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    1. lets keep the sparkly lights till the spring!

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  15. I thought about leaving my lights up but as they were all coloured definitely Christmassy they came down. If they'd have been white I think they'd still be up. Love your twig tree, I would definitely leave that in place for a while.

    I've opened the Baileys Mum bought me so no dry January for me I'm afraid. But then I'm not sure going cold turkey is a good thing anyway - well that's my excuse. xx

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    1. cold turkey is only a good thing in sandwiches! Baileys sounds too good to ignore x

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  16. Hello Tess and a very Happy New Year to you. The lighted twig looks great and I think I would leave it in place.
    Tonight we light twelve candles and tomorrow the tree will be removed.
    Helen x

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  17. We stuck lights round the window with the only tape we could find which was double sided tape. When I took them down the paper bit peeled off and left sticky, tacky irremovable rectangles behind. It took ages to remove, some bubbly would have helped with the sheer frustration of it!
    Our cats were helping with taking down the decorations, they also loved the beads.
    I love the lights in the jar xx

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  18. It is sad to say goodbye to the lights, they are so wonderful in the gloom of winter. But we must move on. Happy 2016!
    Amalia
    xo

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  19. all of ours are away now, but I'm planning a few lit candles instead! the fizz was definitely deserved, The Husband did all of ours in super quick time. Love the dinner menu and hope the sprout flowers were as lovely as they sound! xx

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  20. I'm not sure I'd like the taste of them but they do look and sound lovely. Very impressed with your fridge magnet menu! And yes to the fairy lights for longer. We've just been to a 'Wasail' tonight (I think I spelt that right, but possibly not), a kind of woodland celebration to help the apple harvest for later in the year, and there were lots of fairy lights and lanterns hanging from the trees, it was really beautiful (even though we were wading through mud and the rain was lashing down!) and made me wish I'd kept our lights out, I may have to go fish them out again.

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    1. the flower sprouts were nicer than normal sprouts x wasailing sounds lovely, apart from the mud.
      go fish out those lights, we're embracing a new trend (just invented!) for mid winter lighting x

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  21. Took me 4 hours to take the decorations down. I love to have all the lights with the Christmas decorations, the days are short and dark here in our corner of the world. Looking forward to next Christmas now and enjoy this whole new year.

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  22. I like the look of your room too. I have a bureau just like yours. It was my grandparents and it's been mine since 1983. My mum once told me she remembered the day my grandparents bought it when she was a little girl in the early 1930s. I wonder if yours has a similar history?

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    1. the bureau came from my inlaws, I don't know it's history, I shall see if I can find out x how lovely that you know the history of yours x

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  23. You're so funny -- I'm thinking you should go for just a dry week here and there -- or maybe even a dry day LOL. I love the fairy tree -- so pretty -- and a great idea to keep it up well past the Christmas season!

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  24. I love the twinkly twig, think I'm going to have to pinch that idea for our new home (when we find it)

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    1. I hope you find it soon, and then you can start a twig hunt xxx

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  25. We had a festive twig with lights, when all the decs came down we kept it but moved it, not long afterwards our very elderly male dachshund (who thinks he's the sixth whippet in the house) mistook the twig for a tree. I will say no more except ... we don't have a festive twig now.

    Belatedly, Happy New Year Tess x

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  26. You should definitely keep the lights up, they look lovely against the twig. I still have fairy lights up here and there. I was doing dry January but I stopped. I'm doing drink-sensibly-and-not-on-school-nights January instead and it's going very well. Much more realistic. :-) x

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  27. I have a few strings of lights that I leave out all year - they aren't specially for Christmas. I was so tempted this year, when I putting away the Christmas decorations, to leave a lot more of the lights out as it seems to be the darkest autumn/winter I've ever experienced.

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    1. I think it is the darkest. so many grey skies........ x

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  28. oh dry February is much much more sensible. Clever girl. Although I won't do that either ... sigh...

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