Christmas pot-pourri

As part of our Christmas decorations I bought some pot-pourri to scent the house over the festive period. Although it smells lovely, when I put it out I thought it looked a little plain. I rummaged around in my craft box and amongst our rejected decorations and came up with these mini-toadstools, red beads and gold-tinted ivy leaves.

The resulting pot-pourri was just that bit more interesting with a touch of extra shape, colour and sparkle.

And, if you're looking for a last minute gift idea, how about this one? In a local garden centre they had pot-pourri for sale in jars with holes in the lid to let out the scent. I just added a standard lid, covered it with some pretty Christmassy fabric and decorated it with ribbons. A 'pick' gives a hint of some of the elements inside.

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Chickpea's boyfriend stayed with us last week as it was their 2nd anniversary. It must be love as not only did she clean both her bedroom and the bathroom unprompted but she made him these absolutely yummy chocolate chip cookies. The recipe by Felicity Cloake was billed as the 'perfect' cookies and I think she might be right. We'll definitely be using this recipe again. The following day, we had them for dessert sandwiched with ice cream - mmmmmm!

This week there were two Secret Santas: one at work and one at my yoga class. There was also a Christmas lunch and another Jacob's Join (thanks for your suggestions of dishes - plenty of ideas for next year). Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take part in any of these as I've been laid low with a bad back. It's been soooo frustrating not to be able to take part in the festivities. Still, I'm on the mend and should be fine in time for Christmas. I'm determined to be better for Carols by Candlelight on Sunday as, for me, that's the start of Christmas proper.

Hope your Christmas preparations are going well and according to plan!