Tumgik
#The BIG Christmas Bake
rebeccareviews · 2 years
Text
The BIG Christmas Bake written by Fiona Barker with art by Pippa Curnick
Tumblr media
The BIG Christmas Bake written by Fiona Barker with art by Pippa Curnick is a funny, cheerful, and quick read that will put your young readers into the holiday spirit. I love the charmingly detailed art as well as the original storyline!
The easy-to-follow story puts a lovely and lively spin to the traditional carol, the Twelve Days of Christmas. Follow along as two kids, their pet dog, and a huge flock of animal friends gather together to make a magnificent Twelfth Night Cake.
The simple rhyming narrative is fun and festive! The rhymes will be great to read aloud. However, at times, they are a little forced and do not flow very naturally. I love how the book nicely and uniquely uses elements from the Christmas carol to reflect the gathering of the ingredients for the special cake. It is such a clever and fun way to introduce kids to the tradition of the Twelfth Night Cake as well as the traditional carol. This book will also be a great tool to get kids into baking as the book even includes a super simple delicious Christmas Cupcake recipe!
I love the variety of animals that help out with the baking process! I was so excited to turn the page to see which new animals would join the party. There are the three hens who arrive in balloons with their gift of baking powder, nine dancing hippo ladies bring cherries, and five fancifully dressed rabbits contribute candied orange peels.
Curnick’s illustrations are so lovely and bright! Each page is more fun and festive than the last. If you’re lacking the Christmas spirit, get this book instantly because it will put you into a joyously festive mood! Every wonderful detail is so beautifully and sweetly rendered. I love that even the recipe and song pages are filled with cute illustrations. I particularly love the adorable penguins in their fuzzy sweaters and the kids’ super cute pet dog.
Thank you to NetGalley and Happy Yak for this book in exchange for an honest review.
🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂 out of 5 cakes!
0 notes
poorly-drawn-mdzs · 6 months
Text
Tumblr media
💙❤️Happy Holidays!❤️💙
571 notes · View notes
tinyq · 5 months
Text
Tumblr media
My contribution to the D/Hr Advent 2023 fest this year! (If you haven't already, go check out all the pretty art and lovely stories!!) Again, thank you to everyone who nominated me!
Happy Holidays!!
124 notes · View notes
cary-elwes · 3 months
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
everytime a director had to make Cary Elwes ugly or weird looking because his beauty is too powerful gifset
77 notes · View notes
fulgurbugs · 6 months
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
their asses got made into gingerbread
38 notes · View notes
what kind of mental illness is it to constantly be battling the urge to disappear into a small New England town and write the most deeply haunted shit imaginable
23 notes · View notes
If you need an excuse to write for G-Way I can ALWAYS use some kind of snuggly G-Way fic.
Like ...maybe Christmas shopping? Something fun and seasonal...baking cookies??? Snow...something? (I dunno...it's 50° F right now so like ...snow is pretty far off from the south in my neck of the USA)
Anywho...do whatcha want friend, and feel better! :)
💖💖💖🪦
A Hazy Shade of Winter (Gerard Way x reader) 
Summary: (y/n)’s never really been the type of person to do Christmassy things before - they don’t hate it, their family was just never that bothered! But Gerard loves all things Christmas, and he decides to show them just how much fun this time of year can be. 
Words: 2696 
Warnings: none it’s just adorable 
AN: it was snowing while I was writing this!!! I haven’t seen proper snow in years!!! 
“I can still feel you staring at me. Aren’t you bored yet?” 
“I just can’t believe you’ve never made a gingerbread house before!” 
(y/n) rolled their eyes with a laugh, glancing back over their shoulder. Gerard was still sitting at the little dining table, so distracted by that monumental bombshell that he’d stopped swinging back and forth on the chair. Had anyone else seen him, they would probably have assumed that he’d just been told the world was going to end. He looked genuinely devastated, baffled at the idea that something he’d loved so much as a kid hadn’t been a part of his partner’s life too. 
Drying the last mug, they tossed the tea towel aside and moved to sit opposite him. “Look, it’s not that big of a deal. My family just wasn’t ever that bothered about Christmas, that’s all.” 
“But it’s so much fun!” He couldn’t help but frown - so many of his fondest memories had come from enjoying the Christmas season with his family. Sure, there were some parts he hadn’t enjoyed; church services were always far too long and dull for his liking. But there were so many things that would never fail to make him smile. Begging to be the one to carry the Christmas tree home, even though there was no way in hell he was capable of carrying it all that way and hated asking for help. Hiding all his vegetables in very elaborate ways so he’d have tons of room for all the wonderful sweet things on offer. Saving tiny scraps of funky wrapping paper to fill in the gaps of the collage of random crap that covered the walls of his basement room. 
The one memory that stood out among all of those was the gingerbread house. Every year, his family had turned the kitchen into an absolute bombsite, trying to outdo themselves and what they’d designed in years past. They actually had a photo album somewhere, thick with pictures of every possible angle of each year’s creation. Every detail had to be perfect: the boiled sweet windows, the piped design for the roof, the little people posed to go about their daily activities. It had started out as a replica of their family, but had soon descended into utter madness. One year, there had been gingerbread aliens and a questionable rendition of Batman and Robin, soon joined by some even worse looking gingerbread zombies. Usually these little additions were Gerard or Mikey’s idea - and their mom was rarely impressed by the way they spoiled her nice tidy handiwork - but it really did make the whole thing something special. Entirely unique to their family. 
“And every time you’ve spoken about it, it’s sounded like a great time! And the photos your mom has are incredible.” They smiled, seeing his face brighten up a little. “It’s just... never how my family did things, that’s all. Usually at least one of my parents was working on the day so we never did much through the rest of December. Christmas always felt... I don’t know, a bit anticlimactic? I don’t think the seasonal depression helped either.” 
They’d only been together for four months, and there was still so much they had to learn about each other. Clearly, they’d had very different experiences growing up - neither had been bad, just different. And the wonderful thing about that was that it meant they could teach each other all the little things that they had done as kids! There were so many traditions that they could share and combine now, creating new ones that were entirely their own. 
Gerard got to his feet, taking (y/n) by the hand and pulling them to stand by the counter. “Let’s make a gingerbread house together.” 
“But I don’t know how.” 
“That doesn’t matter. I can teach you, and if things go wrong then we’ll just make it up as we go along anyway. That’s half the fun.” 
He looked so hopeful, eyes sparkling with childish glee, and there was simply no way they could say no to him. “Okay. But you can’t blame me if we end up setting your kitchen on fire.” 
“Hey, joint effort, joint blame. Now, I’m pretty sure I’ve got everything we need in here somewhere...” 
It took just about fifteen minutes for him to search through the cupboards, but in the end he’d managed to find everything the two of them would need to make the gingerbread. While he’d been looking, (y/n) had dug through his cupboards for a mixing bowl and baking sheets, excited by the thought of baking together again. They’d tried to make cupcakes a couple of weeks prior, but they had come out slightly burnt because they’d been distracted scraping the remaining batter out of the bowl. It had been tons of fun, and they just knew that this would be the same. 
Gerard took the lead, directing his partner to weigh out the right amount of each ingredient while he melted the butter, sugar and syrup together. They were following instructions from a slightly stained handwritten recipe, a sheet written up by his mother that was a little sticky in places - clearly, it was one that got brought out and used on a regular basis. 
When it came to kneading the dough, they ended up having to split the mixture in half so they could both get involved; then it became a competition, both trying to create the most phallic shapes they could. That’s what happens when you let two people with the emotional maturity of twelve year olds into a kitchen - food fights and inappropriate jokes. 
They let the dough rest for a little while, killing time by leaving floury handprints on each other’s butts and working their way through a bag of chocolate chips that had been hiding in the back of one of the cupboards. When it came to rolling the dough out, they were a little more well behaved - at first. After creating enough rectangular sheets for the walls and roof, along with two little people to represent themselves and some extra details to add, like window frames and doors, all of the leftover dough was used for normal gingerbread cookies. Well, if you can call gingerbread dicks and disproportionate hands flipping the middle finger ‘normal’. After a moment of thinking they added Gerard’s bandmates to the mix too, throwing in some cookies shaped like Frank’s dogs for good measure. 
While the dough was in the fridge, they cleaned up all the mess they’d made so far - before creating even more when (y/n) knocked over the bag of sugar. Well, it wasn’t entirely their fault. The only reason their elbow had ended up hitting it in the first place was because Gerard had taken them by surprise, pinning them against the counter and kissing them so hard it felt like they would never breathe properly again. 
The beep of the timer stopped their little make out session from going any further and they worked to fit all the trays of gingerbread in the oven at once, both a little red and flustered. As they brought the last tray over, (y/n) stopped dead, staring out the window in wonder. 
“When did it snow?”
There was probably a foot of snow on the ground; it seemed like it had appeared out of nowhere! Like it had just flopped out of the sky in one big sheet and landed with a soft thump in a pillowy layer or pure white. Neither of them had noticed it start to fall (probably because they’d been so busy with their tongues down each other’s throats) and the dim afternoon seemed so much brighter now that it had something to reflect off. 
The gingerbread only needed ten minutes in the oven, and when it was finished Gerard cleared some space on the counter and set the trays out to cool. Both of them grinned as the smell of sweet gingerbread filled the kitchen, before hissing in pain - at exactly the same time, they had reached for one of the spare cookies and burnt their fingertips. That made the pair of them crack up laughing at their own idiocy, lamenting the fact that they would have to wait for everything to cool down before they could try their creation. So they finished the last of the cleaning instead, bouncing ideas for decorations back and forth. 
“What about a little woolly sweater on the dog?” 
“We should put ‘elf’ on Frank’s jumper because he’s so tiny.” 
“Hey, let’s ice a string of lights around all the windows!”
“I’ll call my mom and ask her how to make the snow out of marshmallow, she always does that and it’s insanely cool.” 
By now the real snow outside was falling thick and fast again, blanketing the ground outside with at least two feet of soft white flakes. Gerard couldn’t help but smile at the look of sheer awe on his partner’s face as they stared out of the window, fingers resting lightly against the glass. 
“It’s pretty, huh? Not quite as pretty as you, though.” 
They didn’t really register the second thing he said, lost in the glorious swirling eddies outside. “I... I’ve never seen snow like this before.” 
“Really?” 
“Yeah. Where I’m from, all we ever got was a crappy layer of slush, or black ice deadly enough to break your neck. I don’t think we ever had more than an inch of actual snow at any one time.” 
Resting a hand on the small of their back, he nuzzled against the side of their head. “Wanna go out and play for a little while?” 
“I thought we were gonna start decorating?” 
“Oh, we can’t do that for a good few hours, at least. The gingerbread needs a while to cool. And, if we’re using my mom’s tricks - which we definitely are, by the way, she is the undisputed queen of gingerbread - then we should leave it overnight. She always says its better when it’s had time to rest properly.” 
“Ah.” (y/n) was quiet for a moment, and he started to think that maybe something he’d done had touched a nerve. Maybe he’d upset them somehow. Maybe something he’d said at some point had made their thoughts wander somewhere a little unpleasant. But then they turned to look at him, a quiet sort of hope flickering in their eyes. “Can we... can we make snow angels?” 
“Hey, of course we can! They might not be there by the morning though, with the way that snow’s falling it wouldn’t surprise me if we woke up to a couple more feet.” 
“That’s fine. I’ve just never done it before.” 
“Oh, so we are absolutely doing it today then. Come on.” 
Within five minutes, the pair of them had their shoes on and were zipping up each other’s coats, sifting through the drawers of random crap in the hall cupboard to find enough hats, scarves and gloves to keep them both nice and cosy. The second they were all bundled up, Gerard took (y/n) by the hand and practically dragged them into his backyard. The snow came up to their knees, soaking through their jeans - the cold was uncomfortable, but it soon became easy to ignore. The very first thing the two of them did was lay backwards, (y/n) squeaking as snow slipped into the hood of their coat. Once they were laid flat, Gerard explained just how snow angels worked, giggling a little as his coat swished against the snowy ground with every movement. They got the hang of it soon enough, feeling a bit uncoordinated at first but very much enjoying it anyway. 
When he was satisfied with the mark he’d left, Gerard struggled back to his feet and hauled his lover upwards, kissing them deeply. “Hey, look what we did!” 
They glanced down, smiling at the sight before them. The two snow angels were slightly wonky - like the people who’d created them - and close enough to be almost holding hands. They were ever so slightly marred by footprints, but beautiful nonetheless. 
(y/n) beamed, cheeks feeling red raw from the cold wind. “Aw, they’re so cute! They look just like the ones you see in cartoons.” 
“I know, right? Now, you feeling up to a little snow friend as well? Or are you getting too cold?” 
“Snow friend, definitely.” 
By the time they had managed to roll two decent sized balls - one for a body and one for a head - their noses were bright red and neither of them could really feel their fingers any more. But they just weren’t ready to go back inside yet; they were having far too much fun! Who cares about a little frostbite when you’re having the time of your life with the person you love? 
Finding things to decorate their snow friend with was a little more challenging - by now, the snow was thick enough that they weren’t going to find anything on the ground to use. So they had to get creative. The standard carrot for the nose was pretty easy to find in the kitchen - and along with it came two frozen brussels sprouts for the eyes. Deciding that it was doing very little against the cold anyway, (y/n) donated their scarf to their new little buddy. Gerard liked that idea and gave up his hat, a dusting of snow settling across his hair as he tried to fit it onto the head. The two of them were a bit stuck for ideas on what to use for the arms, eventually deciding on a pair of spare drumsticks that they found in his office - why Gerard had drumsticks, neither of them really knew. They'd just sort of appeared there.
Standing in front of their slightly lopsided creation, Gerard wrapped his arms around his lover's waist and grinned. "Well they're a little crooked, but very sweet. Any ideas on a name?"
They thought for a moment, shivering now they had stopped moving around so much. "They kinda look like a Norman to me."
"Norman, huh? Yeah, I think that fits." The twilight above them was quickly darkening, and both of them were definitely feeling the cold. "Wanna head in now?"
"Yeah, I think that's a good idea. I haven't been able to feel my toes for the last twenty minutes."
When they got back inside, the smell of gingerbread seemed even stronger than it had done earlier, and the two of them felt instantly warmer - even though their fingertips were a slightly questionable shade of purple. They left their damp gloves and coats hanging up to dry by the door, giggling all the way up the stairs as they peeled off their icy wet clothes and searched through Gerard's drawers to find something for (y/n) to wear. It was getting to the point in their relationship now where they were staying over at his house with some regularity, and he was considering asking if they'd like to have a drawer to keep some stuff in. They already had a toothbrush in his bathroom. That was just the next natural step.
Once they were both in warmer, drier clothes, they went back down to the kitchen, still cold to the bone but slowly warming up. Gerard made hot chocolate for each of them, piling each mug with such a large amount of whipped cream and marshmallows that it was practically impossible to drink without making a complete mess of things.
As they snuggled up on the couch, huddling under the blankets and letting the mugs warm their hands, Gerard pressed a kiss to the side of (y/n)'s head. "So, did I successfully get you to enjoy some Christmassy things today?"
"Yeah, you did." They smiled softly, nuzzling against him. "I can enjoy anything when I'm with you."
"You might not say that tomorrow when I start icing those gingerbread men to look like storm troopers instead of us."
"I bet I can ice better looking ones than you can."
"Oh, you've just started a gingerbread war."
"Yeah, and I'll win."
"I'd like to see you try."
86 notes · View notes
scummylake · 6 months
Text
Tumblr media
First night of sugar cookies with my sister
6 notes · View notes
sbnkalny · 22 days
Note
I met my husband on r/Cigarettes in 2011. We were making fun of everyone there among the first to do so. We moved to MSN and I hacked his account: he loved a freaky hacker chick. I went to visit him in the sexy part of Canada in 2012: he fucked on this freaky hacker chick bodyy
O heavenly Kalny, will my husband return from war.... It is quite intense i’m not making fun of him). She hacked me all your recent posts tagged DAY1 ? what are YOU. Mmm hit me baby one more Time to be popular with everyone in canada has as (or should i say to my Friends at this party oh wise one?
3 notes · View notes
lunar-years · 1 year
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Have a very Jancy Christmas everyone :)
41 notes · View notes
Text
serving quiche to my enemies at a dinner party, as a flex
22 notes · View notes
goodnightwindy · 7 months
Note
i really like the new theme. its chrismis time 🔥
YEEAAHHH christma🔥🔥🔥
#u have no CLUE how big of a deal christmas is in my family.#xmas shopping starts in like. september. and all year my parents are like Christmas Is Coming! every time i ask them to buy me smth#we basically spend all of november hyping ourselves up and sometimes my mom brings the decorations inside in the#middle of the month#and we'll take an entire day to just decorate the house and play christmas music#every night in december my mom reads a different xmas story to my siblings and i. yeah its childish but its a tradition#[ which i started btw ]#putting the tree up is an all-day thing. mostly bc we cut our own trees so we have to go to the back forest and pick one which takes#a while lol#and all of this leads up to The Big Night. ie christmas eve#in which my mom tends to spend all day baking cookies [ which she does like every day for the whole month. i forgot to mention ]#and my siblings and i either do fuckall or get some last-minute xmas day prep done. ie wrapping the last of the gifts or smth#and then in the evening my mom puts out some appetizers [ ie little slices of salami. sliced vegetables. stuff like that ]#usually we also watch a movie around this time. last year it was national lampoons christmas vacation [ which is a great film btw ]#and then we all sit on my parents' bed and my mom reads ' the night before christmas ' to us. as is tradition#we always put out cookies and milk for santa like most ppl. but also carrots for the reindeer and candy canes for mrs claus :]#theres a bunch more stuff but i dont wanna talk TOO much lol. feel free to ask tho !!#asks#friend tag :]
4 notes · View notes
Text
Hot bitches can't get in a taxi back from a gig so end up taking 2 hours longer going home across three buses and two short walks.
2 notes · View notes
thunderheadfred · 1 year
Text
youtube
hey so you can watch the entire NYC Ballet / George Balanchine version of The Nutracker for free on YouTube, which I think is pretty neat
7 notes · View notes
xmooncanary · 2 years
Text
Tumblr media
Adopted a little Gingerbread Flareon from my friend @bunbunearys and doodled him and Canary together immediately on the back of an envelope at work!!! His name is Toast, short for Toasted Marshmallow and I love him <3
6 notes · View notes
xcziel · 1 year
Text
.
#this year is just the weirdest christmas vibe i've ever had goning on#i have all the stuff for a hallmark-y christmas: it's cold for once on christmas eve! i have a kitchen and a bare tree#but family is overworked and stressed and and i'm sick and worn out from retail so no visiting or sharing baking#so no reason to bake or decorate - even though i fully have the ability! the things are sitting out i am looking at them#but i just want to bury in the bed and read sad or schmoopy fanfic instead#i just can't get in the mood and it's so disappointing bc i remember loving having like#christmas music on and singing along and baking and i never could do much in my apartment bc of it being so small etc#and now i have a full big kitchen counter and could have the tree i always wanted and play christmas cartoons loudly#and it wouldn't bother anyone and there's lights up in the neighborhood i could go see but#i'm just so exhausted and generally discouraged and it's the MOST first world of situations but i may never get#another chance to have a christmas like this and who knows where/how i'll be next year ...#maybe it's really just the not being able to bake - like i don't even really feel like it but i still get sudden impulses#and it's like nope no family to cart tins of cookies to - can't take them or cake to work bc don't want to risk people getting sick#tempted to just force myself into christmas spirit but then the apathy just rolls back over me#i'm so worried about my bil and sister who are stressed bc if medication shortages#and all y'all who are suffering power outages and winter weather onslaught and stressful weekend plan changes#and seasonal overwork and all that entails i'm worried for you also and wishing for everything to be better and go well for you#it just feels like everyone's having an anxious exhsusting holiday season this year and i would like so much better for us#than just 'making it through'#ugh now i'm making myself sappy and teary again#whatever - anybody bothering to read this just know i wish you warmth happiness and joy however they may come to you#hug your loved ones if you can love on your pets eat something for a treat and look at some pretty lights this evening#i maybe am gonna light some candles and put on music and see if my sis wants to call or facetime later#but first my rx are finally filled so i have to go fetch them#happy holidays whoever reads this - mutuals i love you and wish you the best may your evening be merry and bright#or at least warm!
5 notes · View notes