Good-bye Old Year, Hello New Year

These candles were lit and graced my table on New Year's Eve. It's one of the many traditions some people follow, lighting candles of different colours which represent different things. The blue candle there, for example, represents work. Needless to say, I think lit candles are pretty and add to the atmosphere. The only dish that everyone has in common is twelve grapes eaten at midnight and a toast to the new year with cava (champagne) or, as in my case, cider (sidra). Oh, and don't forget to drop a gold ring in your glass before you drink from it for extra luck and start the new year off on your right foot. If you should have any left over champagne or cider, please don't throw it out. Place a teaspoon (the handle part logically) in the bottle and put it in the fridge. The drink won't go flat and you can enjoy some the next day. I don't know if this works with soft drinks or beer, because I've never tried it with them. I only enjoy beer in the summer and I never have soft drinks - water is a better drink.

I finally ran out of the laundry detergent that my sister Jackie and I made in September. My friend Loretta from Scotland commented that she used to buy borax, one of the ingredients in the detergent we made, until the government decided she was too dangerous with it is how she put it I think. Borax isn't easily found in Spain, so I used another similar recipe which uses citric acid. You may well remember me mentioning that I'd made my own washing soda by baking baking soda. This recipe contains baking soda too - a bit fizzy wouldn't you imagine? I'm not sure where you can find citric acid in other parts of the world, but I ordered mine from my local chemist's (drugstore). The instructions for this homemade borax-free laundry detergent can be found on practicallyfunctional.com. She also has an interesting bath detox recipe too. The best thing about using homemade laundry detergent is the price - much cheaper than commercial laundry soap. Both my sister and I are happy with the results too. She got some dried-on stains off her granddaughter's underpants. Like most 3-year olds, my great-niece can't always get to the bathroom in time. She said they came out looking new.

Monday is one of my newer friends' birthday. She likes necklaces like me. My other Welsh friend, Chris, who happened to be selling off her stock of jewellery cheaply, picked out one she thought she might like, and during these holidays I found a  bracelet I thought would go with the necklace. Since I had quite a few apples, I decided to make her some delicious apple butter (I think this is the one recipe I have posted to my recipe tab). After the apples are peeled and cut up, there's nothing to do except wait for the slow cooker to do its thing.

Yesterday there was a lull in the rain and I decided to go for a walk and see one of the many Nativity scenes that there are in Madrid. We were under a strong wind alert, but I don't think it was too bad - only cold. I don't know if I got rid of any unwanted calories. I commented to a friend that my jeans felt tighter in the new year, and she said I must have washed them in hot water. LOL  I was just glad to be able to walk and avoid deep puddles of water. I still haven't got those rain boots I talked about last winter. Luckily there weren't too many leaves to fall on the pavement. I avoided the ones I saw though. The little ornamental tree outside my windows is completely bare of leaves.

Hope everyone had an enjoyable and safe New Year's celebration. One good piece of news is there were no deaths (so far) from car accidents anywhere in Spain. This hasn't happened since 1960! Tomorrow is the last official day of the Christmas holidays. As soon as I post this, I'm off to start putting my decorations away. Have a good week all.