Memories of Christmas

http://www.zazzle.com/myshelle I thought I would do a little write up about my families Christmas. My mother has passed on now but I still have such fond memories of those happy times with her. A Traditional Christmas. On December 25th each year,most countries in our world celebrate Christmas in one style or another. A time for celebration with families and friends coming together for gift giving and eating and drinking. I started when young in England, celebrating what I still think of as a traditional snow filled Christmas. Many Christmas cards today still depict Christmas as having snow. Crisp, clean, white snow and with trees, gardens and homes covered in drifts of icy snow flakes. We migrated to Australia in 1964 and my mother continued our families traditional,hot Christmas dinner always eaten at lunch time here in Australia(around midday and later.) The Christmas Cake and Pudding were prepared and baked several weeks before. The week of Christmas was the time for baking the traditional fruit Mince Pies. Mum made the best pastry something I did not inherit,but always used MacRobertsons fruit mince. A traditional English Trifle was made by mum the day before and duly decorated with,strawberries and cream and grated chocolate. Many different styles of nibbles,sweet and savoury filled bowls scattered around for the hungry on the day. Mum always had a Christmas savings club at our local butcher so the money was always there to purchase our meats. A large Turkey,a leg of Ham and a leg of Pork for the New Year. Prawns in the shell were purchased for entree,sometimes eaten as is, or as a prawn cocktail. The huge Turkey was stuffed with my mums own homemade seasoning and set in the oven early Christmas morning,mum never baked our ham, that was sliced and served cold with the rest of the hot dinner. The vegetables to accompany were roast potatoes,mashed potatoes yes mum always served both types of potato with a roast. Brussel sprouts,carrots and peas,always served with mums home made gravy. Cranberry Sauce and Hot Mustard were set as an accompaniment on the table. The table always set beautifully in its Christmas finery and always a bon bon for everyone. This tradition continued even when in Australia it is the hottest time of the year our Summer, when the temperature can be well over 100 degrees. This tradition continued until I was in my late twenties and with a family of my own,travelling between two families to keep them all happy on the big day. One Christmas Day, we women who had done all the cooking,preparing, and the meal had then been consumed by all. Washed up all the dishes, but while as usual the men then sat and chatted and drank while we did so .Enough “I said” the following Christmas would be a cold serve,yes cold. Same meats,but salads instead of vegetables. Salads could be made the day before,the Turkey could be cooked the day before or the night before in extremely hot weather. Mother was not impressed, but on Christmas Day that following year there was no going back. So much easier to prepare and clean away after,if the weather was scorching it did not matter, we were not all sweltering and could get away at a more reasonable hour to move on to the next relative to visit. We all found it far more relaxing. Today my mother has passed, I have Grandchildren,When having our Christmas at home we stay with the cold serve tradition with rather much larger quantities of food for the extended family. However by far my most favourite Christmas Day is going to a Hotel or Restaurant and being thoroughly spoilt. No dishes and home for a nana nap . I do still though even when we go out,buy a Ham and the nibbles, these days I actually bake my ham, a tradition I started when my American son-in-law joined our family.