Last Minute Christmas Preparations

Hello and Happy December 23rd!

I have had really relaxing couple days. I was really lucky to be able to hang out with my youngest nephew Emil Friday to Saturday because he came over to our place. We pretty much just hung out in our pj's, ate in bed and watched movies (*Ice age 4, Kung fu panda, Pokemon*) and played video games. There was no point going out since it has been so cold. We all loved it!

After little Emil left, I decided to make my last Christmas presents to my family. I had promised to bake ginger bread cookies to my sister and then also make red onion jelly to my dad. They all turned out great and I even had time to have some fun with the cookies. Let me show you what I did...

Just in case you get lost in Finland. 

 

 Cookies with everyone's initial for their first name.

Mr. and Mrs. Ginger bread.

 I love to decorate ginger bread cookies!

 After all cookies were done, I wrapped them in a gift wrap to give them to my sister. I hope she'll like them.

 

Next I made the jelly. I had never heard of onion jelly until my dad told me about it. I guess he had seen someone make it on tv. I decided that I wanted to try it. I made a double batch, so I can keep one to myself, one for dad and one for my sister. Here's the recipe for you too...

Red Onion Jelly

- 3 red onions

- 3 tablespoon oil

- 1-2 dl brown sugar (about half a cup to a cup)

- 1-3 dl balsamic vinegar (about half a cup to one and a half cups)

-salt to taste

peel and chop onions, slightly sautee on a pan in oil, add rest of the ingredients and let it simmer on slow heat for an hour or two until most of the liquid has boiled together with onions. the amount of sugar vs. vinegar depends on your taste. some people prefer sweeter jelly, others like it more sour. taste the jelly and add sugar/vinegar as you like. when taste and consistency is as you desire, pour jelly in clean jars. let them cool and then refrigerate them.

The taste of onion jelly is sweet&sour with a hint of onion. This will taste really good with our Christmas ham but I'm sure it will go well with hamburgers too!

To make my presents more festive, I cut little hats from wrapping paper and tied them with red ribbon. Cute and tasty!

That's my Christmas preparations for this year. Now I just need to pack my stuff and get ready to head to my sister's for the Holidays. It'll be great!