Cinnamon and Spice

 .Greek Christmas sweets, biscuits, cookies.  These are all being baked by my most traditional greek who now considers himself the expert.  I willingly handed the baking apron over to him years ago.  It makes him so happy to be able to give these handmade biscuits to friends and neighbours and anyone in mourning who cannot/should not do festive baking in the first year of bereavement.

Real men don't bake so he tells most people that I made them.  Pat on the back.  I work so hard!

He doesn't make them the same way as his mother did.  She used fragrant sheeps butter.  He studies the cooks and chefs on TV who are at this time all cooking pork and baking sweets on their shows.    We've spent so much money on packs of Lurpak it would have been cheaper, and easier, to buy them all from the bakery.

Kourabiethes

Almond biscuits/cookies made with lots of almonds and that butter

They are smothered in rose water and icing sugar.   You can't eat them in secret because you're sure to end up with your clothes covered in white icing sugar which sort of gives the game away

Melomakarouna

meaning honey makaroons

covered in honey syrup and crushed walnuts

Some of the family came up and made a batch of their own

Yummy bite sized cookies, covered in cinnamon and sugar.

That's Nels who made the cheesecake.  She doesn't need supervising so her Mum and me had a G&T

All hands on deck

Yiannis cracks the walnuts and almonds

The gang

And Poppi, who enjoys whatever she does, even setting the table.

All work and no play is just not on the cards for the Greek male

I still have only one Christmas card though I did hear from a friend that there's one for me at her house and she will give me one, so that's 3 cards at least, before Xmas