Finally it's Christmas

Day 21 of anuk's Advent Calendar - Christmas Decoration

The tree is up and the cake is decorated. The fudge is made (I only pinched sampled one piece to check it), and the shopping is done.

It's a family tradition that I make fudge - something I have been doing since early teens. At one time I had a sugar thermometer, but that disappeared years ago, so now I use the old fashioned method of dropping a bit into cold water to check for the 'soft ball' state - it works most years!

Decorating the cake is also a tradition, and something I inherited from my Nan, along with piping nozzles and the like. She worked as a cook general in London in the 1920s, and enjoyed cooking throughout her life, though her methods would probably be scorned today (think of cabbage boiled for 30mins with a pinch of bicarbonate "...to keep it green"). These days the cake is shop bought, and the decoration rough and ready, but the tradition continues.

I also had some fun with a time lapse app on the iPad showing me icing the cake - you can see the result here