HO HO HO MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

There are many gifts under the Christmas Tree
But the best one is the gift of your Friendship.
Merry Christmas, And A Happy New Year To All My Friends!!

I am sharing with you this Christmas Cake, which I made yesterday. I have been looking for a good  recipe for a Vegan Christmas cake, and finally after searching a lot and seeing various vegan cakes, I chose this  recipe. Though I followed the basic recipe, I added my own choice of dry as well as fresh fruits to it, and also added cocoa powder which is not in the recipe. I used more of Multi grain flour than white flour, and instead of soya milk I added coconut milk. I  had soaked the fruits in rum for about a week. This delicious cake contains absolutely no eggs  and no dairy products.
Veganism is from India basically, but the westerners have made it more popular, and are reaping the innumerable benefits from following it. 
I dedicate this Christmas Cake to my son, who has turned into a vegan, and is enjoying every bit of it. Maybe, from being  just a vegetarian, I might also turn  into a vegan some time in future.
It takes about one hour forty five minutes for the cake to bake. I was worried, as the power cuts are pretty normal and unpredictable here, and just as I feared the power went off after about half an hour, luckily I was there, and I could shift my oven to the point where we have the UPS connection.
With bated breath, I waited to see, the final product, which to my great relief had turned out quite well.

I waited patiently for the cake to cool, and was pleased, when I could easily remove the cake from the pan.I was ready with my camera to shoot some pictures of the cake fresh out of the oven. I just can't tell you how happy I was that my cake was safe and good.
I kept pouring the left over rum from the fruits by spoon, so that the cake remains moist.

The next day, I was shocked to see a slice from the cake had been cut: the culprit, was my husband, he couldn't wait till Christmas to inaugurate it.....
Anyway, it did not matter.
I made some Cranberry sauce too, to go with the Christmas Cake.
I also decorated the cake as best as I could to give it a festive look.
Here are the pictures:

I liked the idea of decorating the cake with gold lace, which I had seen somewhere in the net. I was lucky, I found a gold lace, and I was so happy I could use it. (BTW, I am a lace freak, I have all kinds of lace, to be used at some point or other on my dresses).

How do you like my Christmas Cake story?

All I want for this Christmas :
every friend of mine who is reading this
to be healthy, happy and loved!
Wishing You
Snowflakes
Friendship 
And 
Winter Cheer!
Happy Holidays!!!!!

Hello December: Today Is My Birthday!

Today, I have completed 55 years, and stepping into my 56th year,

can't believe, more than half a century has gone by. Like everybody else, I too have gone through many ups and downs in my life, many frustrations, many disappointments, seen many dreams come crashing down.........

Many good things too have happened, and looking back at my life,  I feel the downs were nothing compared to the good things that happened in my life.
I am grateful for everything, that seemed to be bad in my life, for I would not have become the person that I am now without the so called 'downs' in my life. Looking back, I can see how things had happened the way they had, and I have no regrets, for there were some reasons for things to happen the way they did. In fact, I could have handled them better if  only I had the maturity required at that time.
However,  the only way to achieve some maturity, is learn from our mistakes, yet make more mistakes, and then come around to understand how to deal with such situations. We are always learning something new every moment of our lives.
I remember getting very  irritated with my kids, during their growing years, for it was also my own growing years. With absolutely no training in parenting, life was difficult for all of us.
Again, I am really thankful, that my bad parenting skills did not turn them into bad children.

There are many things to be thankful in my life. 
Like, I am happy I was born to my parents, and despite the dis-functional family I belonged to, I have learnt from them and survived.
I have a very tolerant husband, and I am grateful, that despite my occasional nagging he has the patience to put up with me.

I find myself being more understanding of people who have a totally different view about certain things- my views and their views don't match at all.
I am grateful my children have chalked out their life in the way they wanted to, despite having a perpetually nagging, and worrying mother.

I am grateful for having Loki, our daughter's dog, with us, despite my initial hesitation.I am grateful we have two lovable dogs who are so loving- their unconditional love is so over powering, making me feel so bad that initially I did not like the idea of having two dogs in our house.

From 2005 I have been blogging, and blogging has given me so many friends, and some of them have become so close, that they always make it a point to come and stay with me, even if it is only for a day.

                      This is with Sandhya who is also a blogger and lives in Chennai

Just now I had a call from one of my blogger friend from Atlanta, her name is Anpu.
Anpu, Padmaja, Sandhya, Shanthi,  Rohini, Mytri, Sharon, Patricia, Joseph..... oh, so many of them- such good friends. I am really blessed to have them as my friends. Plus I have made so many friends through the Cloud Formation Society site, from the Light Stalking site. We have shared so much through our photographs in these virtual sites. I think I have managed to have so many friends because I have become more open to friendship.

 I have lived in very small houses/ flats, and also some good decent houses and flats, but I never thought I would be living in such a beautiful house as ours, which we had built with so much love and dedication. Every time I look around me, the beautiful garden, the lovely dogs, I can only say, "Thank you God"

This year,  I had the opportunity to visit 5 European countries too, and it was so good.

By hook or crook, I seem to have done well for myself, survived all the trials and tribulations, enjoyed all the good things, learnt a lot, made a whole lot of good friends, and intend to be more patient, more loving, and more caring as time goes by.

A Very Happy Birthday To Me!!!