Bowlers, Birds and Well-Dressed Boys

A couple of weeks before Christmas, the d-i-l, d-i-l to be and I set off on our (now) annual Christmas Market trip. This year with two of us based in the North East and one in London the logistics proved to be the biggest challenge. We gave up on trying to find flights to Germany that suited and instead took the Eurostar to Brussels.

As you can see the trip started off in a very civilised fashion with champagne all round in St Pancras champagne bar! It's a tough life :)

Now, I don't know about you but when I think of Belgium I think of chocolate, and boy was Brussels chocolate heaven and not a little quirky too. (My apologies for the following photos if you have resolved to give up chocolate!)

Chocolate bowler hat anyone?

No, well how about these penguins then?

You can read about the inspiration for these penguins below

Of course a trip to Belgium wouldn't be complete without some Belgian Waffles too.

Do you get the impression that these trips are more about the food than the Market?? In this case you would be right, the Christmas Market itself wasn't a patch on the Dusseldorf Market that we visited last year, but the chocolate was not a bad compensation. At one stage whilst walking around the city we counted 6 chocolate shops within sight, bad for our waistlines and our wallets :)

Finally, a first visit to Brussels has to include the obligatory visit to see the Mannekin Pis statue.

We were a bit surprised to find the statue dressed up for the day, but then discovered that he apparently has over 900 suits to choose from, many of which were donated by visiting dignitaries! The City Museum has an exhibition of 100 of the suits, but we were too busy savouring the delights of chocolate shops to visit the exhibition. There is even a calendar of the dates when he will be dressed here and although the original role of the statue was as a water fountain, there are times when the fountain spouts beer instead of water :) You can understand then how popular a figure he is !

Linking up to the first of 2014

Chocolate Indulgence - Making Christmas Week 10

 Another week gone and time to check on progress or the lack of for

This week Making Christmas is hosted by Susan at The Bored Zombie so don't forget to check out her post and link up your lists whilst you are there. 

By the time you read this I am hoping that this post's title will be particularly accurate as I will be working my way round the stalls at the Christmas Market in Brussels, and I will be very disappointed if chocolate isn't featuring heavily in my day :)
 
Before heading off to pile on the pounds I had some chocolate therapy of the guilt-free, diet variety to even things up.

My sister-in-law is a serious chocoholic but is also a serial dieter (do you think the two might be connected!!), so when I was trying to think of an appropriate Christmas present for her chocolate was always going to be in the mix somewhere.

When I saw the instructions for mint chocolate bath melts in the latest issue of Making magazine it occurred to me that I could combine her two interests in one by giving her a calorie-free chocolate hamper, so I set to work :)

This is what I came up with - a DVD of Chocolat, Johnny Depp and Chocolate, what a brilliant combination :), a White Chocolate Truffle candle and some handmade goodies. 

Earlier in the year I found these china pillboxes in a small vintage shop and knew that they would make great containers for handmade lip balms, so that is finally what they have become. The lip balm is flavoured with a square of dark chocolate and some sweet orange essential oil. I had enough to make extra pots for my daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law to be and still have some left over for myself. The lip balm contains beeswax, cocoa butter, shea butter and almond oil so we will have the softest lips around :)

Then I added the mint chocolate bath melts, which were simplicity itself, just melted dark cocoa butter, peppermint essential oil and almond oil poured into mini cupcake cases and left to set. The brown sugar body scrub has rose essential oil and chocolate scent added, naturally, to keep to the theme!

All I need do now is find some smart labels and ribbon and they are good to go and another gift can be ticked off the list!

My son and daughter-in-law are going to visit their relatives in Scotland next week so are taking all of the presents for them with them. As there is no way I will get the fairytale cushion for my grandniece made before they go I am going to scrap that as a Christmas present and make it instead for her birthday in the New Year.


So speaking of lists, here is how it is looking now

• A Christmas Table Runner for our new dining table MADE
• Two Pleated Pouches to fill with make-up/nail polishes for my daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law to be
• One Liberty and linen jewellery roll for my sister-daughter-in-law
• Dieter's Chocolate Hamper MADE
• One Triple Zip pouch for my sister-in-law MADE
• A Knotwork Christmas cushion - for me!
• A Fairytale Cushion for my grandniece using one of Quiet Play's Happily Ever After paper-pieced patterns This is going to have to be a birthday present in the New Year!
  
• Homemade chutney for my brother and son MADE
• Homemade relish for my brother MADE
• More dishwasher vodka!
• Biscuits for cheese for my brother SCRAPPED!
• Something to go with cheese! - A Cheeseboard :)This might get done in time!
• Meat rub, BBQ apron MADE and oven glove for my b-in-law ?
• Pyjama trousers for my youngest son - MADE
• Appliqued pyjama top for youngest son MADE

Hope you are making progress on your lists too. I shall be checking them out if I manage to waddle back on to the train for the journey home :)

Linking up to