Christmas in July

Life has continued to be incredibly busy in the Manxgirl household. With extra shifts and social events getting in the way of crafting time. Recent highlights being a Feelers concert, they played right here in town. That was a good night. And last weekend, Tony and I hosted a Christmas in July evening. Ironically the day turned out to be a very warm and sunny day, rather then the cold frosty day we were hoping for!

Never mind, we didn't let that slow us down.

 I made a start early and fished the last jar of fruit mince filling out of the pantry and made mince pies.

 Two dozen of them.

Then I set about creating a Beef Wellington. I couldn't find a leaf shaped cutter and settled for cherry blossom instead.

 It is only the second time I have made this. There is a whole kilo of beef fillet steak in that pastry case. Yes, I did it properly with the mushrooms and the Parma ham.

Tony helped me to decorate the tree.

He hunted through every single box of decorations, just to find Mums fairy.

 It's not Christmas without Mums fairy.

Next I turned my attention to the table. Out came my Christmas table cloth, which I made earlier this year.

You see just the beginnings here, by the time everyone had arrived the table was smothered with food, there was barely room for plates. And that was just the starting selection. We had three more courses to go!!.

One of our guests made this beautiful silver wreath for me. 

Love it.

 Following our starters there was a shrimp cocktail provided by another guest.

Then it was time for the main event.

The Beef Wellington kept us waiting for about 15 mins, I wanted to be sure it wasn't too rare in the middle. It turned out perfect and lucky you, Tony insisted on a photo.

Everybody contributed to the main course, I made Yorkshire puds and roasties.

I'm rather proud of the yorkies too!!

There was also a stuffed chicken roll that was amazing, pigs in blankets and loads of lovely veg dishes.

I'm amazed that we had room left for a Baileys trifle, a Kiwi fruit pavlova and my mince pies, all accompanied by cream and ice cream.

Sorry no pics of the desserts, but it all looked amazing.

That was my first ever Christmas in July. We all thoroughly enjoyed it and vowed to do it again.

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I do have some crafty news and images to share, I'll save those for another day.