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Dame get up and bake your pies
When I was a young child living in the Carmarthenshire countryside, we had a holly branch hanging from the ceiling, decorated with a few baubles from F.W. Woolworths as our'Coeden Nadolig'. (Although this is an old Welsh custom,I didn'tmuch care forit at the time.)
As I grew olderapine took the place of the holly tree but, in myteens, I thought fir treesvery 'infra dig' . In their steadI sprayed skeletal branches white, decorating them with a robin and woolly pom-poms.I was miffed when a neighbour saw my effortsand said, dubiously: 'Well, it saves money,I suppose'.
It was art, for goodness sake. Did she have no idea of the mirth, the magic, the merriment of the season? I wasn't listeningto 'Bah Humbug!'
The Puritansdisapproved of Christmas, but Charles 11 was not dubbed the 'Merry Monarch' for nothing. Lucy Walter's 'Black Eyed Boy' returned to the throne during the'Glorious Restoration' and we arenow allowed to bake a few mince pies and eat a capon or two, or a sausage and a few portions of pudding.
I wondered today how many hours I have spent working out Christmas ideas. More that that, why is it so important to me that our house should look like Lapland for a week or two of the year?
One year, I stackedshimmering Silver Birch logs at the side of the fire and interspersed them with fir cones.
'Woman and Home' magazineshowed how to make a Mexican village (cardboard boxes, covered with white shelf paper, and placed on even larger boxes and stuck down firmly). I made one for Emma and Kate. 'Why Mexican?'Peter asked quite reasonably. 'Christmas all over the world,' was my answer.
I've hadtables laid with white damask cloths, gold lame runners, cut glass, crystal, bowls of fruit with pineapples -(exotic in Fishguard in 1960 and providing anappropriate oriental touch, I thought).
Having been a teacher, I've had more than my fair share of Christmas decorations, plays, Carol Concerts, pantomimesand, as my mother said today: 'You've had a lot of staff Christmas dinners and Christmas dinners in schooland at home'.So yes, I've had more than my share of stuffing, but over the last few years, we've simplified.
No more boiling puddings wrapped in muslin a la 'The Christmas Carol' for me. And I'm not chopping fruit and nuts and beating brown sugar and butter because this year, it's all coming ready prepared. Yes, the chicken in a foil container, the stuffing in a foil container, thepeeled sprouts, thepudding, the brandy cream and the mince pies.
We'll cut a small tree from the garden and hang the lights up soon. You see, I like the preparations for Christmasmore than the day itself, so I'll be enjoying every moment of this very special seasonduring the coming weeks.
Hallo Daffni, I used to have a hedge of fir trees, but last January they were cut down. I still have a few small firs so we'll cut one for the house. I had a variegated holly, but that has gone because I was tired of it scratching my shoulders every time I walked by (Icould have trimmed it, but someone told me hollies can be tricky to cut if they go too large).We also have eucalyptus, which is nice in a vase with white carnations. We put coloured lights in all the windows and that is about the extent of our decorations now. However, I have seen the 'Three ships a-sailing bye' in a shop window (made of twigs, sprayed silver) and I am rather tempted . . .
I used to enjoy the preparations and the day itself when I had a house full of foster children. But they have all grown up and have their own grandchildren now. So I have given all my baubles to a friend with a family and am really relieved I don't have to do anything except my christmas cards and presents for friends. Most of all relieved not to have to dispose of the tree and its needles. I stuck to tradition and real tree all through the years.