Christmas Treats

 " I am the Ghost of Christmas Present, said the Spirit, Look upon me!"- "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, Butler Brothers, 1880 edition , New York and Chicago.

Smokey

 My beloved Dickens books. Found at a church Christmas bazaar many moons ago. Each book sewn together with linen thread, pages in really good condition. My favourite, of course, being "A Christmas Carol". Read and re-read a thousand times. I keep it, always, on a table, with a brass lions' head door knocker......I keep expecting the face of Jacob Marley to drift out of the cover.

 Some of my favourite descriptions are of the FOOD.  Christmas Treats. Yum.

 Years ago, I would get company to read this passage JUST before dinner, not exactly a Dickens style of dinner, But dinner nevertheless........it still conjures up images that stay with me today......

Greek Shortbread

 "The crisp leaves of holly, mistletoe, and ivy reflected back the light,as if so many little mirrors had been scattered there, and such a might blaze went roaring up the chimney....never known in Scrooge or Marley's time.

Mince/Cherry tarts

 Heaped up on the floor, to form a kind of throne,......

were turkeys,geese, game, poultry, brawn...... (Dickens loved to serve goose and plum puding, lots of booze, at his dinner parties)

Cranberry Bark

Great joints of meat, sucking-pigs, long wreaths of sausages, mince pies (these used to be made with meat, but gradually became fruit based)......

Ugly Sweaters

Plum puddings, barrels of oysters ( which were sometimes mixed into poor beef, carrots and watered down with stout to make a pie, in poorer homes), red-hot chestnuts, cherry-cheeked apples ,juicy oranges......

  Luscious pears, immense twelfth-cakes ( a decorative cake baked to distribute to friends on 12th night , which is Jan 6).......

Rose Cakes

 Seething bowls of punch,(something called Smoking Bishop, or a Gin punch) that made the chamber dim with their steam....

.In easy state upon this couch, there sat a jolly Giant....

Jam Jams

glorious to see, who bore a glowing torch...

Bunny's Butterscotch

 In shape not unlike Plenty's horn......

Fruitcakes

  and held it up, high up......

 To shed its light on Scrooge, as he came peeping round the door." Scrooge was to learn what Dickens wrote about: Kindness, Generosity, and compassion are the values we should give to others.....

Shortbread

 “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year,” Scrooge vows near end of the story. “I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach!”

Tiger Butter

 "It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow men, and travel far and wide......" 

Photographs 2018

CHRISTMAS TEA

 "The art of tea is a spiritual force for us to share..."
         -Alexandra Stoddard, (Tea Celebrations; the way to Serenity)

 Teatime. Especially Christmas company tea, was always special when I was growing up. My mother would save  her December seamstress pay, in an envelope, to dole out money to buy  ingredients. She  would  make goodies  for  tea. For good friends who came by. She enjoyed doing it every year. To celebrate Christmas. 

The good china. The antique Royal Crown Derby Blue Mikado  gleamed under Christmas lights. My mother would him and haw over it, polish it with a tea towel and arrange the dishes "just so" on the table. 

 "Tea! thou soft, thou sober, sage and venerable liquid , to whose glorious insipidity, I owe the happiest moments of my life....."
                                      --Colley Cibber

 Whatever she had, the best linens,some torn from years of use, patched and darned to look new again, would be used on the table. Candles saved from years gone by,  a bit of glitter scattered here and there over the table to make it festive. Christmas ornaments arranged just so, nestled by the candles.

 One year, I was sure that an uncle and aunt were coming for tea. If they came for evening tea, then there would be extra treats. I told  my mother they were coming by. So my mother set out the table in its finery and piled on the goodies.She worked all day at the food. My job was to set the table with the blue Mikado and slice fruitcake.

 Smoked oysters, slimy  in oil , set beside melting brie cheese, tiny sandwiches made with cress, cucumber, smoked salmon and parsley. Petit fours drenched in pink/ white icing, huge slabs of fruitcake ( ah yes my mother's brown fruitcake smelling of booze and gobs of cherries)......

 Shortbread dipped in sugar with balls of candied peel on top with silver dragees. Those fat mincemeat tarts scalding from the oven were in competition to the meat pies. So hot their innards spilled forth like a dam breaking when stabbed by a fork. 

 Blonde Russian tea cakes,strawberries made of sugar and fondant. Snickerdoodles, spiced and crackling, piled hungrily with powdery crescent cookies smacking with nuts.

 Tiny scones made in the shape of hearts, smothered with  whipped cream. Homemade raspberry preserves plopped over, with soft butter curls, just waiting to be devoured.

 Then came the chocolate......white cream cranberry bark, Peanut Butter bark ( now I call it Tiger Butter),Truffles rolled with coconut frosting, dipped in dark chocolate ......

 And the tea. Poured into the tea pot with great ceremony, sugar and cream at ready. Hot. Ready. Waiting....

 We waited an hour. We waited another hour. At least it felt like an hour. No aunt and uncle. Tea cold. Tea refurbished. more steam. 

 My mother decided we might as well try some of the goodies. No sense in letting them all go to waste. Yum to the chocolate, the sandwiches, the scones. Yuck to the oysters...My mother , very thrifty and careful, put everything away.

The next night I told my mother that my aunt and uncle were DEFINITELY coming over that night. So she put out all the goodies again. What were left. We waited with bated breath. Waited some more. Hmmmm. No aunt and Uncle. They must have forgotten. 

 Shame to let it all go to waste. So once again we nibbled at scones , meat pies , mincemeat and fondant strawberries. The sandwiches were all gone by this time, My mother very carefully put away what was left. The fridge was looking empty .

Next day, my mother finally phoned my aunt and uncle. Turns out they didn't know they were expected for tea. Golly. I was SURE they were coming, I protested. This time they agreed to  come over.And they did. On time. I was waiting in my room when they came. Well, I had been SENT to my room. to wait. Through the closed door I could hear them arrive. Soon there would be treats.....yum.

 When I was finally asked to come to the table, I looked for that glorious spread of tea. All that was left were the slimy oysters, runny brie cheese and a few shortbread. We'd eaten it all.Such was our special Christmas Tea that year.......(And  I was washing dishes for a long time after that........)

 "Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world revolves.." -Thich Nhat Hanh

Photographs 2018

Christmas Is...

 "Christmas is the spirit of giving without a thought of getting.It is happiness cause we see joy in people. It is forgetting self and finding time for others. It is discarding the meaningless and stressing the true values..." -Thomas S. Monson

 "I've always loved Christmas, and that's not really gone away from me from being a child now.It's always a magical time, and I'm unashamed for my love for Christmas..." -Martin Freeman

 "Christmas is joy, religious joy,an inner light of joy and peace..."
                                                -Pope Francis

 "I love all things Christmas..." -Samantha Barks

 "Christmas is not a time or a season, but a state of mind.To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas...." -Calvin Coolidge

 "God seeks to influence humanity.It is the story of light coming into the darkness.God's work to save the world---" -Alexander Hamilton

 "Christmas, my child, is love in action.Every time we give, it's Christmas..." -Dale Evans

 " I start looking forwards to Christmas before it's even summertime..." -Mariah Carey

 "Every year we celebrate the season of Advent.Every year we pray those beautiful prayers of longing and waiting, and sing lovely songs of promise..." -Karl Rahner

 "Christmas is never going to go away. There's always room for one more Christmas song.." -Johnny Mathis

 "The earth has grown old with its burden of care, but at Christmas it is always young, the heart of the jewel burns lustrous and fair,and its soul full of music breaks the air, when the song of angels is sung..." -Phillips Brooks

 "Faith is salted and peppered thru everything at Christmas. And I love at least one night by the Christmas tree to sing and feel the quiet holiness of that time that's set apart to celebrate love,friendship,and God's gift....." -Amy Grant

 "I don't think Christmas is about things. It's about being good to one another.It's about the Christian ethic.It's about kindness...."
                                         - Carrie Fisher

 "What I love about Christmas is it stays around every year and comes back..." -India Arie

 "Christmas is the day that holds all time together...." -Alexander Smith

 Photographs 2018