Friday 7th December 2007
The seasons mean a lot to people who live close to the land. Supermarket shopping has divorced us from this closeness to the land and to the seasons. I have not been able to get my favourite cheese with pickle in it from the delicatessen for weeks. It is the season of Christmas. I always made my children go without for weeks before Christmas. Without sweets, without biscuits and cakes. Then the plenty of Christmas was twice as plentiful. The Delicatessen stall owner will tell you, they are now building up the stock for the festive season for then people will buy luxuries they will not buy the rest of the year and they want to be able to supply. I have ordered my 5 cheeses for my hampers and myself. This penury for the few weeks before Christmas is what it is all about. It is a tradition that the nuts and chocolates and festive eats are not put out until the children are in bed on Christmas Eve. We would always cook the meat other than the turkey on Christmas Eve and when the men returned from the pub, where they would sing carols and meet people visiting their families for Christmas, they would return to the first plate of pork or beef with the pickles and chutney out on the table. Our turkey was normally cooked over night so the smell in the house early on Christmas day when the children woke excited was all set. Then they would crack nuts and dish out chocolate from huge bars and toffees from beautiful tins. This is what makes Charistmas for me and my family.
