In case you have forgotten what Christmas is all about I am posting a picture of my little friend Sophie, the  senior angel at her school  Nativity play.

And here is a video which is a particular favourite of mine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvxLAHcsvRE&feature=related

Christmas Day

Following on my discourses on Christmas food  -  eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we diet !

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE.

More Christmas Food

Christmas pudding.  Pudding cloths were introduced in the eighteenth century and plum porridge became plum pudding cooked in a cloth in boiling water. When boar's head became scarce other joints, including turkey, replaced boar.  The pudding became the second main course and was drenched in brandy and set alight.  The Victorians  introduced the idea of  hiding silver charms in the pudding. A ring meant a sweetheart but a thimble meant no sweetheart for a year.  (Yesterday I found a thimble in my Christmas cracker so no luck for romance for this year !)

Mince pies date back before Elizabethan times.  In those days the pies were made with meat as well as spices and fruit.  They were oblong in shape and were said to resemble a manger.  It is said that for every mince pie you eat you are promised a happy month so the object is to eat at least twelve.

Christmas Food

It would appear, according to some of the menus, that everyone in the well-to=do houses in earlier times over indulged at Christmas.  Christmas dinner consisted of a vast number of courses.  The meal began with the traditional boar's head followed by Christmas pudding.  These two courses were brought in accompanied by loud cheers and blowing of trumpets.  The pudding consisted of  a kind of porridge boiled in a pan, made out of beef broth  thickened with breadcrumbs  and flavoured with raisins, currants, prunes and spices.. Then the real meal began consisting of beef joints, roasted swan,, venison, capons , peacocks and many side dishes.  These were followed by sweetmeats washed down by copious draughts of ale.  Remember Charles Laughton in the film Henry VIII tossing the bones to the dogs?  It makes our feasting sound positively frugal..

Carols

I thought my Danish friends would like to know that I have just spent a delightful hour listening to a concert of carols from the Garrison Church, Copenhagen as part of a BBC programme "Christmas around Europe". A lot of the programme was in English and most of the carols were familiar.  I am really getting in the Christmas spirit.

Christmas is Cancelled

In the year 1652 Christmas Day in England was officially cancelled.  The Puritans ruled the country  and they strongly disapproved of keeping any day special except Sunday, "the Lord's Day". So they passed an Act of Parliament to cancel Christmas 1652, and to show they meant it, they decided that Parliament would sit just as on any other day of the year.  Everything was banned - from mince pies to church attendance.

John Evelyn, the diarist, defied the ban and went with his wife to church.  He recorded what happened.  As they were receiving communion a party of musketeers broke in.  They waited till the service was over then arrested the worshippers.  They soon let them go however, unsure how to punish people for going to church.

Christmas is Coming

It is that time again when I have to put on my thinking cap and prepare for Christmas.  I have sent almost all my cards.  It is a pity if the price of postage prevents people from sending cards.  It is often the one time when far flung friends get in touch and if I don't send people will think, seeing how ancient I am, that I am already sitting on a cloud playing my harp.
Today I have baked the Christmas cake.  I have been watching the cookery programmes on TV.  Indeed they are so numerous it is difficult to dodge them.  Some of the dishes are so elaborate that, though clever, I find them quite ridiculous.  I shall not aspire to such dizzy heights.  I am what my mother used to call "a good, plain cook".
I have been listening to a book by Lilian Beckwith  about her time living on a remote Scottish island, beautifully read by the actress Hannah Gordon.  I was pleased to hear one of the characters say, on the day after attending a wedding  "Ah well, it's back to old clothes and porridge."  A favourite saying of my mother's  when getting back to normal after a  celebration.

Winter

I love the sight of snowy fields,
The sparkling sun on frosty lawn.
I love the robin on his twig,
Looking lost and quite forlorn.
These cold and wintry scenes of which
The versifiers never tire
Make me so glad that I can be
Snug and warm beside the fire
Watching rubbish on TV.

Today's Date

From Jay May's Book of Uninteresting Facts.

12. 12. 12.   It will be 100 years before anyone can again write the day's date like this.

My Fab Five!

Just one of the rare occasions when all my five grandchildren were in the same place at the same time ...