The Best Things in Life in December

December is a busy month for everyone but it's been even more so for us as we get ready to move Not Dogs to Oxford for the Oxford Christmas Market from the 11th to the 21st December... there's been times we've definitely needed to remind ourselves to...

Katie

The Best Things in Life...

I love gift buying for others in December! One of my favourite places to go for the perfect present is Not on the High Street, the hard part is trying not to go too overboard with all the unique gems and personalised options to choose from. We wrote a blog post all about why we like the company so much & what inspires us most about its founders & you can have a little read here: http://www.bykatieandjane.com/2013/11/not-on-high-street-perfect-place-for.html

When it’s bitterly cold outside there is nothing I love more than lighting the room with candles. We recently attended a Red Magazine Network Event with founder of The White Company; Chrissie Rucker and we came away with a lovely gift bag which included the limited edition Symons Candle, a gorgeous mix of smooth white amber with crisp, cotton cedarwood and delicate peony (so it says on the website!) It not only smells beautiful, it also looks very stylish in its glass holder too.

We’ve spent lots of the month so far in planning meetings, and one of our favourite spots to visit to work and socialise is Middleton’s The Fig & Olive, set next door to the amazing Coppice Garden Centre which has just unveiled all its Christmas delights in time for the festive season. It’s well worth a visit to find some truly beautiful items for the home, finished off with a lovely spot of lunch too.

Christmas is the perfect time to...

Remember how lucky we all are. Christmas can be the best time for some and a sad time for others, and sometimes we get so wrapped up in it all that we forget how lucky we might be! This year we will be serving up Not Dogs at our local Homeless Shelter on Boxing Day and between 11-12pm each day at the Oxford Christmas Market we will be donating profits from every Not Dog sold to Oxfam.

My favourite thing to cook at Christmas is...

Christmas Spiced Caramelised Onions and haven’t we been cooking up a storm! These will be served on top of our 8” juicy Not Dogs in a bun this week and finished off with a sprinkle of good old English Stilton and the name; Santa’s Stilton Surprise of course!

The pin that sums me up at the moment is...

Jane

The Best Things in Life...

The Cotswolds is my third favourite place in the World and we try to visit as many times during the year as we can but I do love it best in the Winter. We went for the day starting with breakfast in Broadway at the Market Pantry before heading for a 5 mile walk to Broadway Tower where we had the most amazing views over 13 counties. We then drove to Kingham for a late lunch at The Wild Rabbit, somewhere where I'd wanted to visit for a while - we were not disappointed! Created by Daylesford Organic's Lady Bamford The Wild Rabbit is a beautiful take on a traditional English inn with a cosy pub, bright open dining area and a place to stay too. The food was delicious and it was lovely to watch it being cooked from our table by the very smart chefs; the staff were second-to-none and the styling of The Wild Rabbit is absolutely gorgeous. Of course no trip to The Cotswolds for me would be complete without a visit to the Daylesford farm shop where I stocked up on their amazing range for Christmas.

Having so many things to look forward to on my Countdown Keeper app... Oxford, a Christmas Eve meal with friends, Christmas Day (of course!), New Year in Southwold, the start of 2015 and Bali in February! Before we launched Countdown Keeper I didn't use countdown apps but now I love to put everything I'm excited about in there!

The return of Starbucks' Egg Nogg Latte! I usually wait until December to purchase my first Eggnog Latte (no nutmeg!) but this year I couldn't contain myself once I saw those famous red cups! What makes me love Starbucks even more is their Selfridges Birmingham store is one of only two in the country to be adorning their festive drinks with gold sparkle - all the other stores are silver - plus I had a field-day buying lots of gold glittery cups!

Christmas is the perfect time to...

Relax with friends and family... I like to plan the food, presents and outings in November so that December is less stressful and I can actually enjoy the whole festive month. I always look forward to having a casual Christmas and Boxing Day and then prepare for our annual seaside visit to Southwold for New Year.

My favourite thing to cook at Christmas is...

Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Pistachio Fudge. I adore this green-studded fudge and make it every year to give as gifts and to snack on straight from the freezer at home. It's such a simple recipe from Nigella Express, although I never seem to be able to find already-shelled pistachios so you can usually find me standing in the kitchen for quite a while taking the shells off! The mix of deep sweet chocolate and salty nuts is just perfect!

The pin that sums me up at the moment is...