December Edition of The Hearth and Soul Link Party

Welcome to the December Edition of the Hearth and Soul Link Party! Are you getting excited for the holiday season? I sure am! Of course, the holiday season has already started as Hanukkah is early this year. Wishing everyone who is celebrating a Happy Hanukkah. If you are reading this after 6th December, I hope you had a lovely time.

The Hearth and Soul Link Party welcomes family-friendly blog posts about anything to feed the soul. Things that feed the soul may include (but are not limited to) recipes, decorating, crafts, family, home, DIY, organization, travel, book reviews, the arts and self improvement. 

The party is now held monthly, opening on the first Sunday of every month. The party will remain open until the 20th of the month, or until 300 entries are reached. Please continue to visit and share throughout the month. I will visit as many posts as I can, and share your content across my social media platforms.

Special January Announcement

The first party of 2022 will go live on Sunday 9th January. This will us all time to fully enjoy the New Year Celebrations and settle back into routine for the New Year.  

What’s Been Happening?

November was a fun, busy month. I enjoyed visiting the Bags exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum with a dear friend. It’s open till 12th January, so if you are within reach of London, I recommend it. We also had a fun short break in London with our son Alexander and his partner, Hannah.

Hannah is a singing teacher, and maintains that ‘everyone can sing, it’s all about finding your voice’. So, I have begun online singing lessons! Hannah’s lessons are so much fun. Not only are they building my confidence in singing, but they are also helping me use my voice effectively on video and on podcasts.

Speaking of which, I have been a guest on two podcasts this month. A few weeks ago I was featured on the Unlock Your Hidden Confidence Podcast with Lara Lauder, talking about my evolution both personally and professionally. I was also very happy to be asked to share my family’s Plum Pudding traditions with the As We Eat Podcast’s Alimentary Advent Calendar. I would love it if you had a listen and please do let me know what you think!

My husband and I were invited to a Christmas celebration at Christian Dior’s flagship store in New Bond Street last week. It was a totally magical evening in wonderful company.

If you would like to see more photographs of this amazing event, please check out my carousel post on Instagram. The party was in one of the private suites and the table looked absolutely incredible.

On The Blog

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas on the blog. I’m sharing Holiday Shopping Tips and Gift Ideas to help make choosing gifts easier, less time consuming and more fun.  Be sure to check out my ideas to help you enjoy Holiday Entertaining Without Stress, and my Easy Appetizers for Relaxed Entertaining.

There are also loads of delicious recipes for you to enjoy over the holidays. From my family’s treasured recipes for Old-Fashioned British Christmas Cake (there’s a Gluten-Free Christmas Cake too!) and Christmas Pudding to my Auntie Irene’s Cherry Coconut and Date Christmas Squares (they are naturally gluten-free!) and my ever-popular Orange Gingerbread Crinkles, there’s definitely something for everyone. Looking to get ahead for Christmas? You can make the dough for the Slice and Bake Cherry Christmas Cookies (above) now and stash it in the freezer to slice and bake closer to the big day.

Thank you all for visiting and sharing your wonderful content!

Have You Joined the New Hearth and Soul Facebook Group?

Have you joined the New Hearth and Soul Link Party Community on Facebook? Whether you visit the Hearth and Soul Link Party to share, be inspired, or both, I hope you will all join the group. Simply click the link above to go to request to join. Thank you to everyone who has joined!

Being part of a Facebook group will help us all to expand our reach and connect with each other in different ways. You can also share your own posts in the group as well as at the party – and I will share your posts as well.

December Edition Featured Posts

December edition featured posts (from top left, clockwise):-

This cute little Campfire Pullover by Tin Can Knits and Kiku Corner would make such a lovely gift for the little ones in your life. It makes me wish I could knit!

The recipe for these delicious Raisin Filled Cookies really appeals to me. However, I enjoyed Crafts a la Mode’s blog post sharing precious memories and photographs of her late mother making the cookies at age 101 even more.

These healthier No Bake Twix Bars from Curated by Jennifer look so delicious!

While this lovely tablescape from The Little Corner Store was actually for Thanksgiving, I think it provides some inspiration for lots of other holiday celebrations as well.

On with the party!

The Hearth and Soul Link Party

• Please share the permalink to your blog post, and not to the home page of your blog. Please do not link to anything except blog posts. 
• By submitting a post to the link party here, you assert that you own the content and photographs. You also give me permission to share as many of them as I can on Pinterest, Twitter, and both my own Facebook page and  The Hearth and Soul Community Facebook Group. I may also potentially feature them here on my blog with photographs from the post. 
• There are buttons at the top and bottom of this post to help you bring Hearth and Soul to the attention of your friends and followers. I really appreciate it when you do!

I look forward to your posts! Please continue to visit and share at the party here, and in our new Hearth and Soul Facebook Group.

Happy December – and let me be among the first to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  

Don’t forget! Next month’s party will open on Sunday 9th January.