A Domino Effect

Sunday again!  More Mince Pie Diaries!  Today’s entry is written by New Zealand-based blogger Ginger Jane, who you can normally find over at her smart, witty and just generally really entertaining site, Self-Conscious Posturing.  Here she tells us about Christmas in the southern hemisphere.  As I look out of the window into yet another snow storm I can’t help but feel that escaping somewhere warm would be really rather nice right now…

Rachel has already said that for her Christmas is about mini-traditions – and I think that’s the way I feel too! Food and traditions, mixed up together to make a delicious tradition-flavoured Christmas snack. I’m from an English immigrant background, so growing up we almost always had a “proper” sit down Christmas dinner with all the trimmings – a big piece of roast meat, lots of cooked veges, Christmas pudding, mince pies et al. In the middle of summer, all this food was hugely fatiguing (the act of physically eating it all was totally killer alone, let alone in the heat) and we’d all end up asleep in the lounge while “watching” something peculiarly reverse-seasonal on the TV.

My family structure has changed a bunch over the last five years and it’s taken me a a while to resign myself the family sitch. To be frank, this is the first year since pre-parent break up where I haven’t approached Christmas with a fair degree of trepidation (oh God the guilt). I think the difference is that, as of last year, I’ve started to create my own traditions and moved away a little from the kind of immigrant Christmas that I was brought up with. Because Christmas, for me, is not so much about eating a huge amount of hot heavy food, but is rather inextricably wound up in summer. When the clocks go back, the days get longer, the veges are thriving and I dig out my summer frocks and sandals – that’s when I begin to feel as though Christmas is nigh.

My new traditions have taken some cues from the “traditional Kiwi Christmas” that my friends and various boyfriends have always had. A couple of years ago I went up to Tauranga (read: very sunny) with my boyfriend and had Christmas with his family and it was all about: being together, barbeques, salads, seafood, backyard cricket and drinking everything in sight. It was pretty much the most relaxed family Christmas I’ve ever had and I think it’s the feeling of being relaxed that I want to have most in my own traditions! I’ve become increasingly obsessed with Christmas music (this is pretty good), drinking fizzy wine with vodka soaked raspberries in the bottom of the glass from about 11am, making all my own presents and the idea of swimming in the sea at the end of the day. My flatmate has hypothesised home made bagels with smoked salmon and cream cheese on Christmas morning and that sounds pretty good to me too!

So anyways: YAY Christmas, YAY for eating enormously for three days in a row and lastly, but not at all leastly, FREAKING YAY for SUMMER!

Image above from Flickr – doug88888.

It’s Mince Pie Diaries time again people! Today it’s the turn of the super-duper Kat from This Year I, a blog that’s been on my Google Reader perhaps longer than any other. Kat writes funny, insightful and inspiring posts (see this, this and this for starters), and is also in the process of building a career doing what she loves, something I will never stop admiring her for. Here she gives us her take on essential dos and don’ts in the run up to Christmas. Paper hats at the ready y’all…

When Bex asked me to contribute to the Mince Pie Diaries, I sat down, chewed on a pen, and had a good long think about what to write. It dawned on me that the best bit about Christmas, for me, has rarely been about Christmas Day itself. It’s always been about the couple of weeks before Christmas, when the excitement begins to build and bubble away. So here are my tongue-in-cheek DOS AND DON’TS FOR THE RUN UP TO CHRISTMAS DAY. Enjoy!

DO….

• …forget the diet. Really. It’s nearly Christmas! Who are you kidding?!?
• … make the most of the free bar and dance “ironically” at the work party. Unless you’re the CEO. In which case your employees might like you more, but they will respect you a lot, lot less (and may potentially have damning videographic material that will inexplicably surface at the time of their appraisal).
• …wear the paper party hat at your team lunch. Yes, it’s cringey but there’s nothing worse than having one miserable sod who’s too self-important to join in
• …have low expectations about what your spouse/significant other is getting you for Christmas, so when you DO receive that gift-wrapped, mop-shaped present, you don’t burst into unfestive tears. And on that note:
• …start practising that “oh, I LOVE it!” face for when you receive horrid presents. Be polite about it, they never have to know you’re going to re-sell it on Ebay.
• …teach your kids the descants to all the Christmas carols. The other kids in the school choir will find them smug and annoying, but they will sound angelic and you can be one proud momma at the Christmas Concert.
• …set your tellybox to record Creature Comforts. It’s ace.
• … give that house on your road, decked in hundreds of pounds worth of Christmas lights (see above), a disdainful look every time you go past. That kind of attention-seeking behaviour is not to be encouraged. Alternatively, drop a leaflet about the environmental impact of excess energy consumption through their letterbox.

DON’T….

• …be that house on people’s roads, decked in hundreds of pounds worth of Christmas lights. Please. The neon lights don’t shout out “It’s Christmas!!”, they shout out “Bad Taste!!”.
• …ever go down the road of letting your kids believe there’s a Santa Claus. You’re only setting them up for heartbreak in later years. And why would you want them to think a lardy, geriatric, bearded man bought them that Wii anyway? It was you. You and your hard-earned cash. Let them know it!
• … ever make eye contact with the person who is holding a sprig of mistletoe. Unless they look like [insert your current TV crush here].
• …plan to have turkey for your Christmas day lunch. Poor Bernard Mathews has passed. Give the maligned birds a breather this year.
• … ever force your children to wear items of clothing featuring grinning reindeers or festive penguins. Bullying is really debilitating and the effects can last a lifetime.
• …let people get away with not buying you a chocolate advent calendar. If they’ve forgotten, make a fuss until the world is put to rights. (This one is from personal experience).

Image above from Flickr – william couch.

This Sunday’s entry in the Mince Pie Diaries is written by the lovely Kate, who you can normally find over at Domestikate, a blog with an ass-kickingly gorgeous design that’s filled with lots of lovely writing about cooking, crafting, baking (seriously, her cakes look amazing) as well as lots of other things.  Do swing by if you have the chance – I promise you’ll be inspired!  Here she talks about why, for her, fairy lights embody the true spirit of Christmas…

There are a lot of things I like about Christmas (advent calendars, bread sauce, Bing Crosby, carol singing, marzipan, putting up the tree, homemade gifts, Doctor Who specials and bracing after-dinner walks, to name but a few) but I really like fairy lights!  Not the crazy take-over-your-house kind, but the cheery hang-a-string-of-lights-and-instantly-transform-your-room kind.  I love the way a simple string of lights can turn an ordinary space into something magical and wonderful, don’t you?  They are just so bright and shiny and joyful; they make my heart happy.

Like Holly’s long standing relationship with food, my love of fairy lights goes way back.  There has been a happy string of coloured lights in my parents’ living room pretty much as long as I can remember; they went up for an early Christmas party one October and then stayed up until Christmas that year, but once the festivities were over it seemed such a shame to take them down with the rest of the decorations.  So they stayed, and have been brightening up the place ever since!

Although we have fairy lights shining all year round, they are particularly special at Christmas.  Whether on the tree, in a window or around a frame, fairy lights give me that excited tingling feeling in my tummy, and fill me with festive cheer.  I love coming downstairs first thing in the morning and switching them on, then having a cuppa by fairy light, the room (and my heart) basking in their warm glow.  They’re bright, they’re heartwarming, they’re twinkly and exciting, and they’re definitely one of the things I love most about Christmas!

Images above in order: Kate’s Tumblr, We Heart It and Kate’s Tumblr again.  Follow Kate on Twitter – she is @domestikate84.

1. I love the biting, toe-curling, crimson-cheeks-making cold that’s so necessary for you to appear…
2. I love bunkering down in bed with a cup of tea and a good book, occasionally glancing up to watch your graceful downward plummet…
3. I love the way you demand we wear bobble hats, earmuffs and stripy, colourful, joy-creating mittens…
4. I love the way you make snow angels possible – so simple, so beautiful, so easy to do…
5. I love the community spirit you engender – we desperately need our yearly dose of that ‘lend a shovel or a pair of hands’ mentality…
6. I love the ridiculous amounts of unnecessary news coverage you so effortlessly command…
7. I love the vehicle-free streets you fill with revelling pedestrians…
8. I love the way you encourage us to dust off our walking boots, wellies and cross-country skies.  Your zero-tolerance attitude to heels reminds me to keep it real…
9. I love the way you encourage the architects in all of us – snow sculptures are far more fun than buildings…
10. I love layering my clothes as a mark of respect to the power you have to freeze me where I stand…
11. I love the hot chocolates, oozing cream, marshmallows and calories from every drop that are totally justified after an afternoon spent with you…
12. I love the way you close our workplaces and fill our parks…
13. I love the way mulled wine tastes even more delicious when it’s consumed in your presence – the palette-pleasing way to warm chill-bitten fingers…
14. I love the way you lie heavy on branches, so lazily creating the most astounding Dickensian Christmas card scenes…
15. I love the way you silently endorse snuggling under blankets with festive films and all manner of snacks…
16. I love the perfect silence and the sound insulation you bestow upon us for free…
17. I love the way you so often come in the night, giving us the most exciting early morning surprises…
18. I love the way you make guys want to wear roll neck jumpers in neutral tones…
19. I love your non-elitism – a 99p roasting tin is as good a vehicle for sledging as any…
20. I love the way you encourage stomping…
21. I love the way you render our cars speechless and bury them in drifts – you remind us we don’t actually need them to survive, which is nice…
22. I love the way you know we won’t slow down unless something makes us, and that you then take it upon yourself to actually be that something…
23. I love the way you drape yourself over our most beautiful buildings and instantly bring them to life again – like a light, white, icing sugar frosting…
24. I love the way you bring us joy – everyone seems to smile, giggle and dance more when you’re around, and I appreciate that…
25. I love the impromptu falls in the street you so cheekily cause – these do wonders for reminding me not to take myself too seriously…
26. I love the way you bring us together, make us equal and encourage us to smile and engage with each other.  You are, without doubt, my favourite form of free entertainment.  Please don’t go away too soon…

Image above from Flickr – Jason Prini.

This week’s entry in the Mince Pie Diaries is written by the lovely Rachel over at Go Placidly (@go_placidly on Twitter).  Rachel writes a really touching, inspiring blog that’s full of praise for life and the joy of living it.  I particularly love her ‘Things I Love Thursday’ series, which always makes me laugh (if only because tea features almost every Thursday without fail ).  Here she talks about her favourite Christmas traditions and why the festive season is so important to her.  Take it away Rachel…

Christmas, for me, is about a hundred mini-traditions – personal to me, my family, developed over time, or appropriated from popular culture, each one is a sort of mini-ritual, something to savour, to make the dark nights and cold mornings a little easier to bear, a high point in dreary Winter, to appreciate in the knowledge it only comes once a year (even if the shops are determined to make it last as many “shopping days” as possible…!) So here are a few of my favourite favourite Christmas-time traditions…

1. Christmas films. Even the grinchiest amongst you has to have a favourite Christmas film. There are so many to choose from, that I defy you not to feel a tiny flicker of festive spirit and cosy contentment as you snuggle down with your hot beverage of choice, a blanket, and something nommy to nibble on, to watch Home Alone, It’s a Wonderful Life, A Muppets’ Christmas Carol or Love Actually. What is your favourite? For me, Jimmy Stewart’s ”Richest man in town” beats all. Sob!

2. In a similar vein…I have a personal tradition of reading Little Women every year in December. Not only is it my favourite book, it begins with the line “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents!” Um, hello, perfect festive reading matter!

3. Flavoured coffees. I know, I know, corporate coffee houses are of the devil*. But I kind of love my gingerbread spice latte all the more for knowing it’s only available for a few months out of the year.

4. The Queen’s Speech. A lot of people have very definite ideas about the Monarchy. I, for one, think the Queen balances out the rest of them in terms of awesomeness. I love her dearly, and now quite look forward to HRH’s 10 minutes on the telly at 3 o’clock. Perfect to unwind with post-dinner with a cup of tea, and start exchanging presents (yep, we often don’t start on the presents until after dinner. What I used to hate as a kid has now become one of my favourite aspects of our family celebration: it makes the whole day last longer)!

5. Writing cards, wrapping presents. Light candles/switch on fairy lights. Play CD of Christmas music. Locate pens, wrapping paper, Christmas cards (handmade is better!). Make hot chocolate/chai tea. Don’t rush. Enjoy.

6. The ubiquitous Christmas specials. I can’t let the traditions slide without mentioning Dr. Who. Props to the BBC for managing The Doctor’s comeback so well, he only seems to go from strength to strength. And the Christmas Day episodes are always even more special (perhaps because it’s one of the few times I get to watch it with my brother, and have great in-depth discussions of whovian logic (or lack thereof)…

7. Finally, as a Christian, I can’t let Christmas pass without mention of Jesus. I know a lot of “the reason for the season” has been stripped out and replaced with even bigger and better boxes under the tree, but for me it’s still important to remember that God came down to earth as a baby. At this time, more than any other during the year, light came into a dark world. I do go to Church on Christmas morning (and it’s always fun: everyone’s in a good mood, the children bring in their Christmas presents to show the congregation what Santa brought them, invariably our Pastor gets dressed up as a reindeer or something equally “spiritual”, and we sing a lot of carols. What’s not to like?!) and this year I’m hoping to go to midnight mass on Christmas Eve, as a reminder to focus on Jesus as well as Santa Clause…

What are your favourite things about Christmas?

*except for Caffe Nero, which is LOVE.

Image above from Flickr – brockvicky.