Peace and goodwill

Remembrance, like a candle, burns brightest at Christmas time. ~ Charles Dickens

Wishing everyone peace this Christmas.

Grey is the new red

As I wandered around town the other day, I suddenly noticed that the Father Christmases (or should that be Fathers Christmas?) were dressed in grey.  When did this new fashion start?  Have I been missing something.

Wine seller

Optician

Pharmacy

I also see they are all wearing spectacles.  The first one I noticed was the one in the optician's window and I thought they were being clever.  Then the wine seller had his Father Christmas surrounded by bottles, fair enough, but I started to worry when I got to the pharmacy.  However the worry was unecessary and he was clutching his skis.

I don't know where this fashion for grey came from.  Whatever next?  Grey berries on the holly?

A traditional Christmas

After many years of Christmas having to be somewhere in the UK, this year will be the first in a very long time that we have been able to have a Christmas in France.  We thought we'd have a very quiet and relaxing time, doing nothing.

However the best laid plans of mice and men.....  Our younger son and his wife will be joining us after all.  Our daughter-in-law is French and, I'm told, really looking forward to a traditional Christmas celebration.

A traditional Christmas?  Is there such a thing?  I suspect every family has a slightly different view on the traditions of Christmas.  We have family recipes for Christmas cake and Christmas pudding.  My grandmother did make her own mincemeat but for years I've just added extra brandy to a jar of a good bought variety.  We almost always had turkey with two different stuffings, and bread sauce, but occasionally we've tried goose or joints of beef.  This year it will be beef.

Then there are all sorts of traditions covering when to open the presents, when to eat (finishing in time for the Queen's speech, anyone?).  At least we no longer have the stocking or pillowcase, and where to leave them, dilemma. 

So I'm really hoping that daughter in law's vision of a traditional Christmas, and presumably she will mean a British one, will coincide with my offerings.  I've started the pudding, late as usual, but what else?

Winchester Christmas market

The Christmas market in Winchester is very new. Last year was the first time it happened but it was such a success that it has been enlarged, so I went along to have a look.
It is held in the Cathedral Close. I arrived in the late afternoon when the cathedral was bathed in the rays from the setting sun. It looked spectacular.
The stalls were arranged all around the Close, with the central area being given over to a "portable" ice rink. Nobody was skating while I was there: the ice was being washed!
The stalls sell everything that could be possibly connected to Christmas or be a Christmas present. 
As it is run by the cathedral, unsurprisingly several stalls had a religious theme and there was a simple nativity scene. 
Tapestries. 
Nothing but candles.
More Christmas decorations. 
I was particularly taken by this pottery man outside a stall selling pottery mugs and jugs. 
I'm not at all sure how eco-friendly it was, but I certainly enjoyed it. By the time I left, the sun had almost set and the lights were visible in the trees. The whole thing was very attractive.

You might also like to see RennyBA's great post on the Yule market in Oslo.
Updated to add the Christmas street market in Stockholm, from Captain Lifecruiser.
The Christmas market in Brussels, from Gattina.

Eco-friendly Christmas markets

From a TV5 report (in French*)

If asked, 90% of French people think Christmas has become too commericalised**. Apart from the cost, the excesses translate into a vast amount of waste and takes a toll on the environment.

There is plenty of advice for individuals on how to lower their impact on hte environment during this season, but not so much for local authorities who are very much left to their own devices.

ADEME, (Agence de l'Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l'Energie) have been asked to conduct a study which will result in a guide on how to minimise the environmental impact of Christmas without destroying its magic.

Because of the increasing popularity of Christmas markets, a charter has been drawn up prior to the study.

Environmentally friendly Christmas markets

1. Stalls should be insulated when they are in use, and should be reusable.
2. Electricity consumption should be limited and attention given to the type of lights with low consumption bulbs being given preference (as in Paris).
3. Access should allow for bicycles and there should be good public transport.
4. To limit waste, gift packaging should not be excessive and environmentally friendly products shouldbe used.
5. Recycling waste disposal facilities should be available on site.
6. There should be consideration given to the types of products on display.
7. Promotion of fair trade and products from the local economy should be encouraged.
8. Promotion of the event should be responsible in the amount and types of paper and inks used.
9. Visitors and stall-holders should be informed of environmental problems and encouraged to limit their impact.

* I have discovered by chance that TV5's articles seem to have a wonderful add-in whereby you double click on a word and it gives you a translation. I'm in England at the moment and it translates into English, presumably detecting that automatically. You can though choose the languages you need.

**I would imagine most people, in most countries would agree with this.

Stir-up Sunday

Stir-up Sunday is traditionally the day in Britain for making the Christmas pudding, the name coming from the opening words of the collect for the day in the Book of Common Prayer 1549: "Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people". It is the last Sunday before Advent, tomorrow.

Apparently the tradition of making a pudding has been dying out, with two thirds of children never having stirred a pudding. So there are moves afoot by celebrity chefs to rekindle the traditions surrounding it.

We have followed this tradition at home wherever we have lived (sometimes finding the ingredients was harder than others, and as a result it wasn't always mixed right on time). I can well remember my grandmother letting us stir the mixture and make a wish, every day for a week, before its first cooking.

The first recipes included meat, prunes and wine, not unlike the original mincemeat recipes. Apparently Oliver Cromwell banned Christmas puddings as being "a lewd custom inappropriate for people who followed God". Nowadays they don't contain meat, but may have shredded beef suet along with with nuts and dried fruit. It used to be, and still sometimes is, known as plum pudding or even plum duff.

Our family recipe has been changed and adapted over the years, as all the best family recipes do. It uses butter instead of suet, no flour at all, plus whiskey and stout. I can't help feeling the latter two are an Irish influence. The latest change has been to say that anyone tasting the mixture at the same time as making a wish will forfeit the wish. That particular adaptation was the result of certain small boys growing up in the family. Tasting became more and more "generous" as the boys grew up!

Our family recipe is here for anyone interested.

Christmas pudding recipe

This gives a very moist pudding which is only just sliceable before it collapses, possibly the result of the quantity alcohol. Just how much is a bottle of stout after all?

Still in the old pre-metric weights. 1 lb = 450 grams (roughly)

1/2 lb white breadcrumbs
1/2 lb brown sugar
1/2 lb melted butter
1/2 lb each raisins, currants, sultanas, and 3/4 lb large raisins (making up 2 - 2 1/4 lb mixed fruit)
1/4 lb mixed peel (often left out in this family)
2 oz chopped almonds
a grated apple
3 eggs
pinch salt
bottle of stout
1/2 glass whiskey
1/2 oz mixed spice
1/2 grated nutmeg

Mix together the dry ingredients in a bowl, adding the melted butter. Beat eggs thoroughly and add to the bowl. Mix well. Add the grated apple. Lastly stir in whiskey and stout.

Keep the mixture in a cool place, stirring every day for a week. Put into a buttered bowl (I use two for this amount of mixture) with a round of buttered greaseproof paper in the bottom. Cover with another piece of greaseproof and then with foil over the top (used to be muslin). Boil slowly for 7 hours making sure it doesn't boil dry. On Christmas Day boil for another two hours.

I have tried cooking it in a microwave and in a pressure cooker, but slow boiling is by far the best for a deep flavour and colour.