Happy Christmas to you, and your kith and kin! Here’s some seasonal spice:
a new Christmas story for you
a historic gingerbread recipe
and memories of Christmas past
I’ve loved Christmas since I was a kid. The promise of holidays, the scent of the pine tree, brandy butter on pudding, sparkly decorations and lumpy stocking treasures...
Christmas in Australia means the end of the school year, with concerts and prize nights. I enjoyed the whole show when I was a kid. The school choir was rehearsed in advance by our cranky music teacher (remember her, some of you?) Every child was in our choir — we were all going to sing, no excuses.
The carol that started 'We three kings of Orientah' fired by imagination. Ok, so now I know that’s not quite how it goes. But then, 'Orientah' seemed a fairytale place, of kings, frankincense and myrrh. The minor chords of the song had a sombre dignity. It resonated deeper than flashy-nosed reindeer.
Here’s a lovely Wiggles version, with kids’ choir:
Australian Christmas is often a warm and sunny time of togetherness. The original Christmas was a lot darker, as the carol suggests. But hope in darkness is all the more wondrous. For you, dear readers, I’ve written a short story about the kings of ‘Orientah’. Or magi, more accurately. It’s too long for the Scroll word limit, so click on this link for ‘Starbound’ [Link removed from public post. Subscribe here if you’d like to read my stories.]
Mega Christmas Dinner
Browsing 1880s newspapers (again!) for Christmas stories, I found this:
The largest Christmas pie ever known was that shipped in 1770 to Sir Henry Gray, Baronet, London… Into the composition of this great pie entered two bushels of flour, 20lb of butter, four geese, two turkeys, two rabbits, four wild ducks, two woodcocks, six snipe, four partridges, two neats’ tongues, two curlews, seven blackbirds and six pigeons. It weighed 12 stone, and was 9 feet in circumference at the bottom. It was furnished with a case on wheels, for convenience in passing it around to the guests.
Australian Town and Country Journal ,17 December 1887, p31.
Wow.
Literary Christmas Flavour
This old recipe (below) is more modest and appealing. (Although I have cut it to a sixth of the original quantities). A few years ago, the cookbook of beloved children’s author, Beatrix Potter, was sold at auction. It contained a recipe for gingerbread. The treacle and spices give it a dark caramel gingernut flavour, with a bit of wholemeal chewiness. Yum. I’ve updated the measurements to metric.
Peter Rabbit Gingerbread
2 cups wholemeal flour
300g treacle
1/4 cup sugar
70g butter
3 teaspoons ginger
3 teaspoons allspice
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
100ml ale
Add two thirds of the ale to the other ingredients and beat them well for some time then dissolve soda in the rest of the ale and add it just before you put it into a slow oven.
Notes: I mixed all the dry ingredients, melted the butter, added the treacle, dissolved the soda in the ale, and mixed all together. Then I formed the dough into a ball, rolled it 1/2-1cm thick, cut into shapes and baked 10 mins at 150 deg C.
And that’s all for 2022! I have so enjoyed writing for you. Let me know how you like the gingerbread, or the story, or any other thoughts you have. I’ll be back in your inbox in 2023.