Christmas and New Year Celebrations 2014

Happy New Year! I'm now back in 2015 and hopefully I'll be able to post more stuff than last year (I will try; 'will make this my New Year's resolution). The holiday season has been hectic and Christmas week was not as we hoped it would be in terms of spending family time. We all got sick with the flu and both hubby and Isla were greatly affected than me. I guess this year was their "highlight" as it was mine last year when I had Bell's Palsy. Anyway, we tried to make the most out of it. As they say, the show must go on (even if we had a doctor's visit on Christmas Day).

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING 101

December started off with braving the London Christmas rush. As we do not have much time during weekends to do Christmas shopping, I would use lunchtime and after work hours to do this and man,  London was so damn crowded at this time of the year. Long queues at the payment counter tested my patience and even the tube stations and streets were lined up with people so even if you're in a hurry there is no way out unless you could fly. What amazed me though are the extravagant decorations of the shops competing with each other for the window displays and Christmas light set-ups. I also did some shopping on the web (last minute) but I always had this thing about online shopping where sometimes I was expecting much but would get disappointed when I receive the actual item, or probably lacking research on my part on reading the fine print.

SETTING UP THE CHRISTMAS TREE

I planned to put-up our Christmas tree early so that we can have it longer. I made it by November as we had to get a new tree because Isla 'knocked down' our tree last year. I hope our new tree can survive this year. I would have wanted a real one but since we only live in a flat, a fake one is ideal. Maybe when we have our own house someday I can convince hubby for a real one. Isla was so excited when I set up the tree. It took days before I finished it as I did a bit of decorating every day of the week. I was happy with our new tree as it seems to be much thicker than the one we had before. I did not get that many new decorations this year as I think it would be much expensive considering we got a new tree. I recycled some of our decors last year and added a few more to my white, red and blue theme. We also got additional lights as the tree is thicker and I could not find the other box of Christmas lights we had. Maybe we gave it away to my in-laws along with my old decors when they visited us here last year. Most of the decors made it but maybe 25 percent them did not survive Isla who was amazed with the baubles and picked them up from the tree. As a result, we moved most of them towards the top of the tree until the part where Isla cannot reach them (man, she is getting taller over time) which made our tree bare at the bottom. But when we turn on the lights, its not that obvious. Anyway, I have put it away on the week of 6 January (Feast of the Three Kings) as a Filipino tradition. 

NOCHE BUENA FEAST

This Christmas we decided to invite friends to spend Christmas Eve with us then we will celebrate New Year as we always do every year because it's also their son's (who is also our godson) birthday. I could not imagine how I managed to cook all of the food with the exception of husband's pork roast. I also had to beg off some Christmas orders because as learned from previous experience, I have our own Christmas celebration to prepare for. Some of the photos were taken by my friend. She also made the Paella with her own paellera as well as the leche flan. They also brought the wine and Christmas crackers. 

For the mains we had:

Paella

Bihon Guisado

Spaghetti Carbonara

Garlic Prawns 

Pork Roast (Hamon)

Poussin Chicken Roast

Plain Rice

Then we had Filipino-themed desserts:

Leche Flan

Cassava Cake Squares

Ube Macapuno Cake (supposed to be an order)

Biko/ Sticky Rice Cake (courtesy of hubby)

CHRISTMAS DAY & THE REST OF THE WEEK

Aside from the doctor's visit, we managed to continue with the festivities with the opening of gifts. Isla loved her gifts although we were expecting that she would love the cuddly toys of her favourite cartoon characters, she actually enjoyed more with the kitchen set. 

We spent the week eating then Noche Buena left overs and also moved the bed matress on the lounge, which Isla loved as she was jumping around, so that we can also enjoy watching all the movies throughout the week (amidst the worries of both of them still sick and Isla losing her appetite).

NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS

With my fully recovered daddy and daughter team, we headed off to Eastbourne to celebrate our godson's birthday and for New Year's Eve. It was great to see some friends from there. I also made the Lechon Kawali/Porchetta which I was not really that pleased with myself because I never had the time to buy the right pork belly due to hubby being sick and not able to drive us to the other grocery store where it is available. I also made Brazos de Mercedes Cupcakes in plain and ube flavours which to my disappointment shrunk a little bit. The last time I made these treats was a year ago. Overall we had great fun and enjoyed the celebrations.

Below is the set-up made by my talented friend for her son's Super Mario themed birthday.