{"id":245,"date":"2023-09-12T08:32:43","date_gmt":"2023-09-12T08:32:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wilde-diaries.org\/?p=245"},"modified":"2023-09-12T08:32:43","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T08:32:43","slug":"11-september-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildediaries.org\/index.php\/2023\/09\/12\/11-september-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"11 Sept 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Christmas is loading!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>105 Days to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wildediaries.wordpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/img_4883.jpg?w=850\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-172\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I love September.  It&#8217;s the anniversary of our wedding, our daughter&#8217;s birthday, the first touches of spring showing signs of taking over the garden and the start of Christmas planning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I have had the Christmas cake mixture brewing in an airtight container since July.  The smell of spices and brandy is starting to infiltrate the kitchen. Every month I open the container, stir the mixture so everything is well soaked and then I come up for air.  It is a little intoxicating and very motivational.  Soon, soon, the mixture will be used to start the epic Christmas baking frenzy that will take up all the available space in the kitchen and dining room until they are iced and presented to the lucky people that are my friends or those that ordered. Christmas is not complete without a decadent, white, iced structure that takes your breath away ( literally) with that first bite.  Whether it is the brandy or the richness of the ingredients I cannot tell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This year is particularly special as all the children are coming home. Briony will be home on the 9 th December and Keagen &amp; Hannah on the 14th.  I love Christmas and I usually decorate the street that we have lived in for the past 23 years, the house and the farm.  This year I promised the kids they will see us from the air as they fly in.  The residents of our street have been told to brace themselves for the festivities, it&#8217;s going to be epic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I have created a WhatsApp message to myself and in there I have a plethora of Christmas menu&#8217;s of sugary and savoury edibles as well as Christmas decor waiting for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This past weekend my Christmas planning went into phase two: the garden.  I have bought a small army of red and white seedlings that are being planted as we speak. I have also tried my hand at propagating the poinsettias that were saved from last Christmas. Every morning I stand over the dried twigs and I will them to life.  Let&#8217;s see. Miracles do happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>105 days people. II am just saying you should get your Christmas on. Don&#8217;t delay. Deck the halls and all of that. The end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wildediaries.wordpress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/img_4765.jpg?w=737\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-176\" style=\"width:372px;height:auto\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I love September. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-todays"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildediaries.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildediaries.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildediaries.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildediaries.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildediaries.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wildediaries.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildediaries.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildediaries.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildediaries.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildediaries.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}