Easily distracted....

I went Christmas shopping on the weekend, and managed to knock over quite a few things on my list. However, I kept getting sidetracked by all the wonderful Christmas decorations.


I bought some deep red, matt baubles with silver tops and velvet ribbon. I put some on a small antique pewter plate....

.....and some on a black wooden pedestal bowl.

I bought some baby red shiny ones to match and put them on the tree.....
....as well as some pearl garlands for a little bit of romance.

Then I took off some of my old baubles and put them in a glass jar in my hallway, because I like to keep my tree looking a little spare.
So there you have it, I couldn't resist!

The rest of the weekend was pretty busy, as we also had an early family Christmas celebration with my brother's family, who were in Adelaide for the weekend. I made a chocolate berry pavlova for desert.
This was a Nigella Lawson recipe. I love her recipe books, as much for the writing as for the recipes themselves. She describes the chocolate pavlova like this:

"The crisp and chewy chocolate meringue base, rich and cocoa and beaded nuggets of chopped plain chocolate, provides a smooth sombre, almost purple-brown layer beneath the fat whiteness of the cream and matt, glowering crimson rasperies on top: it is a killer combination".

I just love the way she writes. I don't think my clumsy attempt quite met up to Nigella's elegant and evocative description, but it was appreciated by the family nonetheless.

Not many sleeps to go now!