Cocoa and Chocolate

Although I have been away from Thrifty Lodge blogging, I have very much been in my Lodge over the last week. I had a couple of days off and we had big plans to go on a road trip to Scotland, but decided this might be too overambitious, expensive and cold! So instead, I spent some blissful crafternoons working on Christmas cards and gifts (more on this later). I also had a bit of a clear out and came across these charming old JS Sainsbury Cocoa tins from 1995, which had been wrapped in tie-dye and used as pen pots by my childhood self:

As December looms tomorrow, I am determined not to spend much on Christmas this year, both as a matter of principle and because of our saving-for-a-mortgage-super-thrift-drive. Thrifty Christmas kicks off this coming weekend with my Step Dad's family, so we have started preparing some tasty Christmas goodies. I have to confess that I had nothing to do with the Christmas chocolates for my cousins below, as it was Dave was slaving away in the kitchen:

The moulds for these were found in a homeware store back home and have been well worth the investment (£1.50 a piece!) particularly when you get a bit creative with different types of chocolate as above. Now we just need to get them all wrapped up. There are lots of good chocolate moulds around, my favourites are these cute gingerbread men and candy canes, this one which has all kinds of different shapes and these tree ornaments, which could be used really creatively.

Above all, I am excited to make a cookie Christmas tree tower with our new set of cutters. I have been lusting after these ever since I spotted them last year, so I look forward to sharing the results soon!

Enjoy your first day of advent calendars tomorrow, here's ours all filled with little things and ready to be delved into: