A blessed Christmas to you all, and many wishes for a better year ahead!
xx,
Hello, my dears!
I can’t believe it is only five days until Christmas! Even less if you are reading this from the other side of the world. How are your Christmas preparations coming along? The holidays undoubtedly look very different for much of the world this year, but I would love to know what sorts of things you have planned. What are some of the traditions you and your family keep?
I hope that everyone who reached out about receiving a homemade Christmas card has received theirs. I mailed them on the last day of November, but as swamped as the postal service is this year, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if some of them take a while to reach their destinations. Please do let me know if you don’t get yours. I love making cards and I love you – my awesome online community.
So. I had this great idea, that I would make a Yule log cake (also called a Bûche de Noël if you want to sound fancy), share the recipe with you today before the winter solstice, and tell you about the history behind the tradition. In my fantasy, my cake would taste better than Mary Berry’s and look more beautiful than Paul Hollywood! But, alas, after two disastrously failed attempts which resulted in the wasting of food, the wasting of my time, and a wound to my pride, I decided to just buy the damn thing. This situation reminds me of the line in the cute movie “Calendar Girls” when Chris (Helen Mirren) wins the baking contest and gives the following advice on how she achieved such a light sponge: “Line the bowl with butter. Always use a warm spoon. And if it’s a special event, get it at Marks & Spencer’s.” Well, we don’t have a Marks & Spencer’s here, but we do have The Fresh Market, and it turns out they make a bloody good cake!
Dear Friends,
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support of my blog this past year. Our interactions on here have meant so much. I will end this year with a Christmas Eve prayer by the wonderful Robert Louis Stevenson. Have a very merry Christmas, and I’ll see you all again in January!
Loving Father, help us remember the birth of Jesus, that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and worship of the wise men. Close the door of hate and open the door of love all over the world. Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting. Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings, and teach us to be merry with clear hearts. May the Christmas morning make us happy to be thy children, and Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
xo,
Heap on more wood! – the wind is chill;
But let it whistle as it will,
We’ll keep our Christmas merry still.
∼From “Marmion”, by Sir Walter Scott
May your Christmas bring joy to your hearts and happiness to your homes. Love, peace, and God’s blessings to all.
xo,
And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
∼1 John 5:11
*star photo courtesy of Pexels; popcorn photo courtesy of Pixabay
Hello again, friends. It’s recipe day! Since I haven’t done any holiday baking thus far, today I’m going to do just that. I’ll be trying my hand at Sticky Toffee Pudding, a recipe by my blogging friend and fellow lover of Scotland, Cristine Eastin.
To we Americans, Sticky Toffee Pudding is not a pudding as we know it. It is actually a date cake topped with a delicious toffee sauce.
Cristine is a sweet and talented author who has published two works of fiction as well as a book of Scottish recipes – A Wee Scottish Cookbook (all available on Amazon). It was in her cookbook that I found the recipe for Sticky Toffee Pudding. As Cristine points out, this dessert is a relatively new concoction. And although its origination may have been in England, the Scots have embraced it as a holiday tradition as well.
Click on any of the links above, and you’ll be redirected to Cristine’s beautiful blog. I hope you’ll check it out!
Read more
For today’s post, I would like to share with you a time when Christmas was banned in Scotland. Yes, it really was! And to mix things up a bit, I thought I’d have a little fun and try my hand at writing it as a poem. Perhaps it will sound a bit familiar to you. 🙂 Enjoy.
‘Twas the night before Christmas
and all through the land,
not a creature was stirring,
for Christmas was banned.
“Why?” you might ask,
when in Scotland of old,
the Yule was indeed
important we’re told.
You see, Yule – from the ‘Yuletide’-
was a festival of fun,
a time to laud the solstice
and the return of the sun.
Greenery was hung
as a symbol of life,
and the yule log burned warm,
merry, and bright.
In the year 1560, though,
something new happened.
The Reformation began –
spirits were dampened.
What used to be fun
was now frowned upon.
No more celebrations.
Beloved Yuletide was done.
From there it got worse,
more sadness and gloom.
And in 1640,
the Church lowered the boom.
Too pagan! Too Catholic!
Not biblical they said.
Go to work, eat your supper,
just be quiet instead.
Yuletide was banned,
the festivities finished.
If caught in celebration,
one would certainly be punished!
With no games, no gifts,
no more feasts to be had,
the people of Scotland
must have felt sad.
Thankfully, though,
cooler heads would prevail.
Nearly fifty years later
the act was repealed.
Three centuries more
was the notion suppressed,
though little by little
Christians welcomed the fest.
Old traditions and customs
that once had been barred,
were now part of Christmas,
reclaimed and restored.
Today Yuletide carols
are sung by a choir,
and Christmas trees sparkle
by the light of a star.
This Christmas as you
and your family delight,
I wish a happy Christmas to all
and to all a good night.
*Christmas became a public holiday in Scotland in 1958.
Enjoy your week, everyone, and I’ll see you again soon!
Cheers,
To old friends, new friends, and friends I have yet to meet,
I want to sincerely thank you all for welcoming me into your blogging community this year. It has been great fun to write for you these last few months, and you have been so encouraging. I have enjoyed our interactions, and I look forward to getting to know you even better through your posts over this next year.
A few weeks ago, I came across this Christmas prayer. It is widely attributed to one of Scotland’s literary sons, Robert Louis Stevenson, although I am unable to find the source. Regardless, it is beautiful, and it is my personal prayer for you this blessed season.
Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas.
