Merry and Bright...

Christmas traditions have always commenced on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend in my life.  The tree is decorated with lights and ornaments, and a wreath is hung on the door.  Carols ring throughout our house while the oven is constantly occupied with baking cookies.  Our beautiful personalized stockings are hung.  Christmas Eve mass is celebrated.

Christmas traditions are sprinkled throughout the month of December.  Old traditions were ever present this Christmas, our first in England, while some new ones were added.  While the ornaments that hold the memories of past vacations and life events did not make the trip to England with us, new ornaments given with love by neighbors adorned our tree this year.  These new ornaments will forever carry memories of our adventure in a foreign land and the friends that became family.

A truly American ornament to remind us of home from our Welsh neighbors!

Our kitchen smelled of the usual Christmas cookies for many days.  As I boxed up cookies to give to friends, I was flooded with memories of baking along side my mom.  Every year as a child, weekends in December were spent whipping up batches of our favorites.  There was a notable Christmas treat missing from my kitchen this year...my mom's scrumptious fake toffee.  The yearly lesson on how to make the perfect fake toffee has become a part of my Christmas.  Standing in my mom's kitchen vigorously stirring the pan of sugar and butter, my mom and I would chat about life happenings or reminisce about my childhood Christmases.  She would tell me to put some muscle into it and to not stop stirring while I would just hope that maybe one day I could make this Christmas staple without her help.  After a few prep talks, I was ready to tackle making this myself, only to discover that I could not buy the essential ingredient...saltine crackers!  Though I have been known to import tinned pumpkin, I could not justify shipping saltine crackers in!

The smell of peanut butter blossoms, sugar cookies, gingerbread, cornflake cookies, and spiced pecans filled my kitchen, while mince pies were baking in my neighbor's oven.  My misconceptions of mince pies led me to politely decline every time I was offered one this December.  The mention of mince pies would conjured up visions of ground meat in pie crusts, which did not scream Christmas or tasty.  Once my misconceptions about this traditional British Christmas treat were set straight, I indulged in many and have added them to our Christmas cookie list!

Homemade mince pie baked filled with raisins and currants, not meat!

In my opinion, the Christmas season is launched as soon as the Thanksgiving dishes are cleaned and put away.  Thanksgiving marks the end of autumn and the beginning of the Christmas season.  Thanksgiving meals are not a part of English life, but the Brits have not missed out on the opportunity for a large festive meal.  Christmas dinner is a crucial element for the English.  Our first Christmas dinner was with our church group.  We feasted on the usual Christmas dinner fare...parsnips, potatoes, brussel sprouts, carrots, and ham.  On Christmas Day, we sat down for Christmas dinner with our neighbors.  With our paper crowns on, we indulged in the standard Christmas dinner fixings.  Tasty Yorkshire puddings, carrots and pears, peas, pork, stuffing, and pig 'n blankets filled our plates.

Throughout the Christmas season, love from family and friends was present.  It was felt in each Christmas card received, every present opened, and all the meals shared.  Our first English Christmas was rich with new traditions and lots of love.  As we enjoy our twinkling Christmas tree for a few more days, remember our lights are always on.

~W