Hello, I am Zoe, The Duke of Tradgardland's eldest daughter. I will guide you through the preparations that have been happening in our house today.
There is still a large amout of snow lying and it it is very cold outside and weather predictions of snow showers throughout the night.

This year we bought a pot grown Christmas tree that we are going to bonsai and keep for many Christmas's to come. There is a selections of decorations that have been collected over the years. Including 1920/30's decorations from my Dad's side of the family and several that we have made ourselves.
Freya made the Snow man, above in technology as well as holly and a tree.

Today the house has been busy cleaning and preparing food. I made cranberry sauce this afternoon, a Delia Smith recipe that I have slightly changed.

Makes 4 portions

250g fresh Cranberries
1 and a half tablespoons of red wine/ port
Juice and zest of 1 orange
2 cloves
a small piece of cinnamon stick/ quarter of a teaspoon of ground cinnamon
35g caster sugar
Optional: 1 teaspoon of fresh root ginger/ half a teaspoon of ground ginger

Pulse the cranberries in a food processor or roughly chop.
Add to a sauce pan with the other ingredients and gently bring to the boil and simmer for 5-8 minutes with a lid on, until you get a thick consistency. Serve warm straight away or leave to cool, cover with cling film and store in the fridge until needed. It can be kept refrigerated for 2 weeks.

Merry Christmas to you and your families
From Zoe