December 2nd

 For our advent activity we made tissue paper lanterns by decorating jam jars with tissue paper, sequins and a tealight. We used PVA glue to stick the things on and then I also coated the outside with glue to make it shiny. The girls loved them and we ate tea to candlelight.

 We read this story. It is from a traditional Swedish story retold by Astrid Lindgren (of Pippi Longstocking fame). It is about a Tomten (like a gnome) who creeps round when humans are asleep talking to animals. It has lovely simple pictures and a repeating rhyme.

For snack I and E make pepparkakor (a yummy ginger Christmas biscuit in Scandinavia).

For the biscuits
60g (2oz) butter
75g (2¾oz) soft light-brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp finely grated orange zest
1 tbsp black treacle
2-4 tbsp milk
225g (8oz) plain flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Cream the butter and sugar in a mixer. Add the spices, orange zest and treacle and beat again, then add 2 tbsp of the milk. With the beater on a low speed add the flour and bicarb. Now scrape the dough off your beaters and, using your hands, bring the dough together into a ball, using more milk if you need to; don't let the dough become sticky. Wrap in clingfilm and put in the fridge for an hour.

Lightly flour your surface and roll out the dough 3mm thick. Cut out your shapes and put them on to two lightly buttered baking-sheets. Gather the remaining dough into a ball, roll out again and keep cutting until it has all been used. Put the sheets in the fridge for about 45 minutes and heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Cook the biscuits for 12 minutes. They should start to feel hard round the edges as they cool and eventually become really hard – they need to have a nice 'snap'.  (recipe from the telegraph)

We decorated with simple icing.