As with previous years, I'm doing a double post about what I baked for Christmas/New Year and my last seasonal update (autumn-winter) of the year (2024). Scroll down if you just want to read the update. :)
New Year Gingerbread Cookies
I'd planned to bake something for Christmas but I was going through a bit of a stressful time and also had problems with my cooker. So, I ended up buying a Christmas fruitcake. However, I was able to bake for New Year. I made gingerbread cookies (or biscuits as we call them in the UK). The recipe is from Kitchen Fun with my 3 Sons: https://kitchenfunwithmy3sons.com/gingerbread-cookies/
They have a cream cheese frosting and sprinkles on top. I used rainbow sprinkles from Tesco. They were quite nice. Here's a pic:
I cooked them in two batches and the second one didn't work out so well. It ended up not baking properly and getting stuck together like a giant cookie/biscuit or traybake! lol. But the first lot were fine.
Autumn-Winter Update (2024)
And now here is my final update of 2024! For the past few years I've written quarterly (season to season) updates, rather than monthly or "two monthly" ones that I did previously. You can see my previous updates for 2024 at the links below:
Winter-Spring Update (2024) https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2024/04/winter-spring-update-2024.html
Spring-Summer Update (2024) + Happy Lammas! https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2024/07/spring-summer-update-2024-happy-lammas.html
Summer-Autumn Update 2024) + Happy Samhain/Hallowe'en!: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2024/10/summer-autumn-update-2024-happy.html
In mid-October I went to my belly dance group's hafla (dance party). We hadn't had one in ages so it was good to meet up and dance again. We're not that active as a group these days and no longer have classes, but we meet up when we can. We sadly lost our teacher last summer though, so things aren't the same now.
Then at the end of October I celebrated Hallowe'en/Samhain. You can read my post about it here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2024/11/halloweensamhain-2024.html
I didn't do anything much in November, apart from go to the park as part of my celebrations for Samhain. Here's another photo I took then:
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| Autumn trees in Hove Park. |
In December I went to a Meetup event with a social anxiety friendship group (my first with that group). We met up at a games place in Brighon and played some board games.
I also went to Slim Chickens in December and got some food. I'd had milkshakes from there before but not a meal. It was quite nice.
Here's a picture I took of the Christmas lights in Brighton:
Towards the end of Dec I went to Mayberry Garden Centre in Portslade (actually on Yule; see below) to look for some Christmas presents and candles for Yule/the Winter Solstice. Then I celebrated Yule later that day. You can read my post about it here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2024/12/yule-2024.html
I also went regularly to Happy Café (Action for Happiness' Meetup events).
I didn't do much baking, apart from for sabbats/seasonal festivals. I've been making my own hot chocolate, which I like to do during the colder months. (It's based on this recipe for French hot chocolate which I first made in 2019.)
Christmas was quite nice. I made "crockpot" hot chocolate which I've done for the last few years on Christmas Eve. (Mine is dne in a saucepan though, so it's not exactly like the recipe.) I got some nice presents and had turkey etc. on Christmas Day. It was actually a turkey paupiette and it wasn't that nice, lol. Turkeys are expensive these days, but for New Year I found a cheaper turkey joint that was better.
I had planned to bake for Christmas but didn't in the end, because of having a bit of a stressful time beforehand and also getting used to the new cooker. I bought a fruitcake and some vanilla icing to go on top of it. But for New Year I baked the gingerbread cookies (see above).
After colder weather during November, it was milder over Christmas. Then it got colder earlier this month. Some parts of the UK got snow but althouh there was some in Sussex, there wasn't any in my area. I find it a bit disappointing because we just seem to get the cold weather! lol. Last year we had a bit of snow.
At the moment it's about 8C (46F) during the day and 1C (33F) at night. Not as cold as last year currently. More snow is forecast at the end of the week but not in Sussex, I don't think.
So that's it the last update of 2024! I think I'll carry on the quarterly updates in 2025. Although I no longer write more in-depth seasonal celebration idea posts (after deciding to scale them down at the end of 2022/beginning of 2023, I still sometimes include celebration idea sections in my update posts or other seasonal posts, when I feel inspired to. I did enjoy writing a couple posts for last Beltane and Litha with some salad recipes and extra ideas for celebrating, so may do something similar this year. :)
The next sabbat will be Imbolg/Imbolc on 2nd February (some may celebrate on the 1st), so I'll do a post about my celebrations. You can see my most recent Imbolg inspiration post here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2023/01/happy-imbolg.html
During that time, we mark the start of the shift from winter to spring. Like last year, I've seen some early daffodils but sometimes a cold snap kills them off again.
I hope everyone had a good end to 2024 and that your 2025 is starting off well. And if not, I hope that things improve. :)
Read: The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins (The Woman in White is one of my favourite books but I don't think I'd ever read this), Welcome to the Hyunam Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum, Thought Access by Idil Admin (non-fiction spiritual/LOA book; Kindle edition) and The Woman in Black and Other Ghost Stories by Susan Hill (re-read).
Watched: Child's Play (2019) (the original is one of my fave films!), Wonka.
Links I found useful during autumn and winter:
Lauren Grace wrote a post on her Substack about finding magic in the dark/winter which I liked. It's now been made for paid subscribers only, but she wries seasonal lifestyle content, which I recommend in general: https://laurengracelife.substack.com/
Aileen of Lavendaire's Transform Your Life series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP_CkGN0_w4&list=PL37ErCJmMWd32WPLnihGEexfBXgXgrCIk
Adriana Turdorache fro YR Studio's blog posts abot seasomal loving: https://yrstudio.co.uk/blogs/adriana-tudorache-blog
She also has a YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AdrianaYRstudio
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