Or, for those of you who aren’t as old fashioned as I am, the day when you put your Christmas puddings on to steam. My base recipe comes from Delia Smith, and you can find it here, https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/international/european/british/a-traditional-christmas-pudding I reduce the sugar, increase the fruit and use wholemeal breadcrumbs and whatever spirts and beer I happen to have in the house.
So, on Friday, I began by gathering the ingredients with the help of my family, exactly as I’ve done for the last twenty five years. It’s always a little sad doing this because I used to make Christmas puddings and cakes for so many friends and family who are no longer with us. It always hits me that I am the older generation these days, especially since the wisdom that I’ve been expecting doesn’t seem to have turned up yet.
But mostly, I feel a surge of excitement at the official start of Christmas in the Brown household as the playlist is played for the very first time. On November the thirtieth we will fetch down the big advent calendar that I bought when my daughter was five. It’s shaped like a Christmas tree with nice big pockets because the gifts that go in there change but the tradition continues.
This year, I’ve got a new tradition. I’ve got strings hanging in the hall for Christmas cards but more and more people do things online now so one of them is being repurposed for 24 hanging decorations, each with a number on them. We’ll clip one to the string on each day and enjoy the countdown…
What will you be doing? Let me know, won’t you?
