Sunday the 21st was Stir Up Sunday. The traditional day for making the Christmas pudding. I adopted this tradition last year and think its a lovely addition to the calendar. It is always the last Sunday before Advent and is therefore about a month before Christmas, allowing plenty of time for the fruit (and booze) in the pudding to mellow, mature and develop that richness and texture. home made pudding is so, so much better than the shop bought ones. It's not hard, it involves soaking the fruit, adding ingredients and boiling the buggery out if it. Mine took about 3 1/2 hours to cook.It's traditional for each member of the household to stir the pudding, while making a wish. Karl got a stir (he is a good stirrer) and I did the rest. I do a stir (and a wish) for everyone I think need it. So I go through all of my friends and family and have a little wish for them all. It's stretching the tradition - but I like it that way. Apparently, if you want to do things properly, you are also supposed to stir the mixture from east to west in honour of the Three Wise Men. I didn't go quite that far. Now roll on December 25th!
Hi Mark,
ReplyDeleteThis is a lovely tradition we do every Christmas passed on from Grandmother and also done last Sunday in our home. We always have such a 'to do' about getting it tied in the cloth tightly etc. It was lovely reading your blog post and see that others follow some old traditions. We love Christmas baking in our home; so look forward to seeing more of your posts.
Wow - I completely forgot about doing this this year: it doesn't feel very Christmassy over here...I'll have to sample one of yours :-)
ReplyDelete