On The 1st Day of Kitschmas @Rudedoodle Gave to Me- One Star Wars Holiday Special (Watch it Here!)

If you've never seen it, you can't believe it can be as bad as everyone says it is. But it is. 

The ill-advised Star Wars Holiday Special, written by George Lucas and shown in 1978 is the stuff of legends.

Han Solo & Chewie go to visit the latter's family, and we also see appearances from Leia, Luke, CP30 and of course Darth Vader. 

The definitely-not-canon ordeal includes bizarre scenes like Chewie's creepy uncle viewing what can only be described as virtual reality, 3D, soft porn. 

One interesting fact- the Holiday Special is actually the first appearance of cult favourite character Boba Fett. He pops up in a cartoon animated sequence, then goes on to star in the second Star Wars movie shortly after. 

So my first day of Christmas blog for you, my loyal readers, is a link to a fairly good quality version of the entire show. 

If you've already seen it, and can't put yourself through it again, then why not  read this Mental Floss article about the making of the Star Wars Holiday Special instead? They talk to those who were involved who I guess have come to terms with the creation they put out there.

Stayed tuned over the next eleven days for more Kitsch Christmas treats. 

#MerryKnitmas Staying Warm With Fenetic Wellbeing & A New Year's Resolution to Get Knitting Again

This Christmas I want to get knitting again. Whilst it's a little late to start hand crafting gifts, at the speed I knit anyway, the Christmas break is an ideal time to start a project.

 Fenetic Wellbeing kindly sent me some Cath Kidston knitting tools, to kickstart my hobby again. 

With many older people at their most vulnerable during the Winter months, Fenetic Wellbeing are currently looking into how best we can keep warm, particularly through the idea of knitting winter accessories. 

My original knitting-crazy period was when I was expecting Smix. It was a hobby I could do while sitting watching tv, and I quickly was able to produce a stack of brightly coloured, woolen, baby blankets. Indeed I used my own blankets in the hospital (we had to stay 11 days after he was born), and throughout his first years. 

We are so used to buying everything we need, that it's cool to know you can still make something like that yourself, to keep your family cosy.

I found knitting very relaxing and rewarding, so it's a hobby I'm excited about starting up again over the holiday break. 

Keeping warm at this time of year is vital for health, especially for older people. Our oil ran out on Saturday, and while we spent the day time at my parents', on Sunday night we had a cold one, waiting until the oil was delivered on Monday morning. Wearing layers is one of the best ways to combat the cold. So we bundled up in onesies & made it through the night, but I was so relieved Monday morning wasn't one of the icy starts we've seen. I could have hugged the oil delivery driver when he arrived! 

There are other ways to keep your home warmer- like making sure your sofa isn't blocking any radiators. When you are cooking, or even having a hot shower, leaving those doors open will allow heat to spread through the house. Shutting the curtains retains the heating you are pumping out, and with this being the shortest day, you can cosy up early in the evening. If you do run out of heat, as well as putting on layers, stick a hat on! 

If you are quick-knitted then why not pick up your needles and follow this tutorial Fenetic Wellbeing have created for making a Christmas stocking? 

I'll be sharing my finished Cath Kidston scarf on Twitter after Christmas. You can find out tips on staying warm on Twitter @FeneticTrading, or on Fenetic Wellbeing's Facebook.

The Award For the Craziest Press Release Gift of 2016 Goes to- Greggs' Bakery, for Their Christmas Flavour Lip Balm! And You Can Get One Free This Coming Monday!

Greggs has launched two limited edition flavoured lip balms just in time for Christmas – and is giving them away in nine cities across the UK, including Belfast.

With all those Christmas kisses under the mistletoe in mind, the UK’s leading bakery food on-the-go retailer has created two special festive lip balms – Festive Bake and Sweet Mince Pie flavour – offering the ultimate flavours of the season for your lips.

I burst out laughing when my parcel arrived this morning containing a sprig of mistletoe & my own set of lip balms. 

The Festive Bake flavour is inspired by the taste of chicken breast, sage & onion stuffing and sweetcure bacon in a creamy sage and cranberry sauce.

The Sweet Mince Pie flavour is based on Greggs’ deliciously crumbly short crust pastry filled with sweet mincemeat, which is made with vine fruits, Bramley apple and candied orange and lemon peel.

A Greggs spokesperson, said: “This Christmas we wanted to bring some fun to the last minute present dash by giving busy shoppers the chance to pick up a festive lip balm from a number of our shops across the country."

Greggs is giving away a total of 5,000 lip balms at selected shops across the country on Monday 19 December from 10.00am until supplies run out, including:

·Belfast - Donegall Square West, BT1 6JH

·Birmingham - High Street, B4 7SL

·Cardiff - Queen Street, CF10 2BW

·Glasgow - Buchanan Street, G1 2LW

·Leeds - Central Arcade, LS1 6DX

·Liverpool - Wall Street, L1 8BU

·London - The Strand, WC2R 1JA

·Manchester - Deansgate, M3 2AY

·Newcastle - Northumberland Street, NE1 7DE

To view the full Greggs menu, or to find your nearest shop, go to: www.greggs.co.uk

Copeland Spirits' Fruit Infused Gin- Here's To Inventive Cocktails This Christmas!

 Copeland Spirits is a Northern Irish brand with very cool ideas about gin flavours and cocktails. They've just launched their first two fruit infused gins, Raspberry & Mint, and Rhuberry, a combination of berries and rhubarb flavours.

Gin is really trendy right now, but there have always been speciality gin bars in cities across Europe. Copeland's fruit infusions open up a world of new cocktail ideas you can make at home, with even a partnership with a good quality tonic giving you a different spin on your favourite juniper beverage. 

I tried the Rhuberry with tonic & whilst the fruit twist is there, it still retains the classic gin flavour, it's certainly not just a fruit drink for girls- it packs a punch!

Of course with such attractive packaging, Copeland gin makes an excellent Christmas gift. Right now Copeland is making its way into bars throughout Northern Ireland, but if you want to keep up to date with where you can currently try it, The Copeland Gin Facebook Page is a great place to start.

To get your hands on a whole bottle of either the Rhuberry or Raspberry & Mint, with UK wide delivery, visit Neil Wine. Here's to plenty of inventive cocktails with Copeland this Christmas!

Marks & Spencer Sweet Sweet Christmas Party Food 2016

Fruit cups £6 : Santa hats £4

Two weeks ago I showed you what Marksie's had instore for savoury party food this Christmas 2016. Flown in by Mrs Claus in her helicopter no doubt.

This time around I'm sharing the M&S Christmas party food sweet selection. Party food is on 4 for 3 this week, so again it's worth taking advantage of the offers as they will likely wind down closer to the big day.

Its worth noting you will find the party desserts in three different locations instore. So if you see a product in this blog you want to buy, but can't find it amongst the chilled fridge part desserts, try the frozen department and lastly the bakery section.

Pecan tarts £7 : Doughnuts £4 : fritters £4

A lot of the desserts have edible glitter on them, which I absolutely love. The pecan tarts have golden glitter, as do the chocolate orange brownie tarts. The brownie cubes have actual edible stars, while the Prosecco charms have a silvery sheen.

Brownie tarts £4 : Brownie star bites £4 : Viennese charms £4

This weekend there also is a Dine In £10 offer on. That's where you can get your hands on the glittery, chocolate mousse pine cones from the new M&S Christmas advert. 

Still shimmering are the lustred macaroons, which almost look too good to eat. 

Macaroons £7 : Pine cones in the £10 deal, or £4

Stollen £4

If you want some traditional Christmas tastes, there are of course mince pies, Christmas cake bites or slices, and Stollen.

After all the chocolate the passion fruit profiteroles taste fresh & sweet.  Finally we loved the mini red velvet cupcakes because they look like little Santa hats.

Cupcakes £4 : Profiteroles £6

What a lovely festive spread you can put on with M&S. Remember many of these desserts can be frozen so you can use them for New Year's if you wish.

Brownie stars

Red velvet cupcakes and Prosecco whirls

Passion fruit profiteroles  

Chocolate orange brownie tarts

Pecan tarts

Spar NI The Kitchen Range- Win One of 3 Hampers During #FoodNIHour Tonight

Spar's new range The Kitchen offers us hungry customers 39 products, perfect for making tonight’s tea. The Kitchen brand is a range of fresh meal solutions, perfect for quick and easy dinners for one, two or the whole family.

Beef stroganoff  

I tried out some of the meals this weekend. There are mains for two, sides and sharing desserts, as well as dinners for one you can pop in the microwave. The difference between The Kitchen & frozen microwave meals is the quality & freshness. The beef stroganoff has big chunks of real meat, with a creamy sauce that tastes like you've made it freshly yourself. 

To put together The Kitchen range Spar NI have worked with local suppliers here in Northern Ireland, Armagh’s Daily Bake, Willowbrook Foods in Killinchy, Big Pot Co. in Cookstown and Quinfresh from Dungannon ensure only the best home-grown produce is used for each product.

If you fancy winning one of three hampers of The Kitchen products then you can join in with #FoodNIHour tonight between 9 & 10pm. You can follow SparNI @SparNI, and the food hour hosts @foodnihour, and I will be taking part as @rudedoodle.

M&S Christmas 2016 Party Food- 3 for 2 Savoury Goodies For a Tree Decorating Family Feast

It seems the older I get, the more it is that my favourite part of Christmas is the eating. Christmas dinner is one of my top three favourite meals ever, and the Boxing Day buffet is legendary in the Spence household.  

Another great part is the fancy party food that goes on sale in Marks & Spencer in mid-November. There are the yearly classics like smoked salmon bites and mozzarella cheese sticks, but there are always some new party food additions, so I chose a selection to try out before the season really kicks off.

For this post I stuck to the savoury selection, so watch for a sweet party food follow up in the next couple of weeks. 

First off, M&S have realised the great untapped market of BREAKFAST party food. Christmas Day breakfast is one portion of the day not set with tradition, apart from the universal fact that we all will have eaten chocolate pre-10am. Since I've had my own household, and even now when it's just myself & Smix, Christmas breakfast for us is a plate of thick American pancakes, bacon & maple syrup. Smix inevitably has to be told a thousand times to eat, as he's distracted by Santa's delights, so I'm thinking of changing things up a little this year and going with M&S's mini breakfast bacon cups. 

They come in their own tray to pop in the oven and when ready you have a bite size crispy bacon cup filled with scrambled egg, baby tomato & flecks of mushroom. They. Are. Amazing. I'm not even ashamed to say I ate the whole tray of them the morning I cooked them to test. They would be so much easier to get a kid to eat than sitting down with a knife and fork to eat pancakes and bacon. 

Also​ above are the new mushroom baubles. If you are cooking a whole fry, these would be a cool treat on the side.

The Brie and cranberry tartlets would also be good to be served any time of day. If you've never tried that combo, you don't know what you are missing. ​

All the savoury and sweet party food is 3 for 2 right now, and I'm thinking a little spread of goodies would be a nice tradition to kick off for tree decoration night. It's another one of those times the whole family gets together to decorate the tree and home, so why not mark the occasion with a little party too?

Some of the party food is more for an adult palate, but everyone will love the Christmas cracker shaped sausage rolls, and bacon & cheese rolls.  Cheese & bacon potato skins are another crowd pleaser, but my absolute favourite party food for the kids is the mini buckets of southern fried chicken pops with fries. There's also a fish and chips variety with the same novelty buckets. I love the buckets. I would buy these all year round, they are so cute. Mini posh dogs are another option for all ages to share.

Moving on to some of the more adult options there are lots of great Asian influenced foods. The sticky Asian chicken lollipops go really well with the oriental prawn selection. It's worth noting that all the party food oven cooks around 190-200, so I was able to cook everything together just by scheduling the times. 

New this year is the hog roast on mini crackling plates. These are really tasty & I've not seen anything like them anywhere else.

The mini scallops en croutes with champagne sauce are most definitely a more adult taste, and serving them in a shell is just plain fancy pants. They taste great too.

So that's the savoury party food we tried out, all 3 for 2 right now. I will feature the sweet selection soon, but in the meantime I want to share with you the  Christmas cake I ordered this week for Christmas Day. M&S actually sold this same cake last Christmas & I spotted it in store & decided to buy it closer to the day. Then my local store sold out of them! Luckily I phoned round nearby stores & managed to drive and buy one on Christmas Eve in east Belfast. So this year I've been smart and ordered and paid for it already, to pick up Christmas week at my local store. I can't wait!

Chunky Kitsch Wooden Jewellery: Miss Snix is Back With a Christmas Collection Including Those Trampoline-loving Foxes!

I've blogged about  Miss Snix's Wooden Jewellery at least three times before, and check what she has newly listed every few months. I always seem to come away with a purchase, cause it's my sort of stuff. I'm not fond of delicate silver or gold pieces, I love big, chunky, colourful wood or plastic jewellery, necklaces and brooches, and Miss Snix seems to also make the collection subjects things I like too! 

This time around I bought a massive, vintage, green Mini brooch, to pin on my fake fur leopard coat.  

I'm incredibly tempted by the leaping foxes from her Christmas collection too. Hopefully this store could inspire you when gift shopping the next couple of weeks. The price points are very fair too, from £6 up to £18 for the really large pieces. There's also the option to offer a price of your choice on many of her eBay listings.