H is for...Ho, ho, ho!

You can find it on cards, wrapping paper and decorations. When Father Christmas laughs he doesn't say, “Ha, ha!” or, “He, he!” but a big, hearty, “Ho, ho, ho!” from the bottom of his round, wobbly tummy. So where does Santa's famous laugh come from? In truth I've searched and searched and I can't definitively tell you. Just about everything else to do with Christmas you can find an origin be it religious history, local customs, a description, an illustration in a book or magazine or popularized in an advert, for Ho, ho, ho! it's a no, no, no!

I've seen that the term “Ho-ho-ho” has been recorded as a form of expressing laughter from as early as 1150. Where it was written down in 1150 I don't know. Apparently in the 19^th Century the term, “ha” when used when laughing or as an exclamation was changed to, “ho” when written in books. Which books? I haven't the foggiest. It's also been said that it has its origins in Irish Gaelic. Proof? I can't give you any.

The famous Shakespearean character Puck in Midsummer Night's Dream says, “Ho, ho, ho; coward, why com'st thou not?” So many common English words and phrases come from Shakespeare but I think it would be a very tenuous link for this example.

The last Ho, ho, ho! reference I can give you is Canada Post have a special Christmas address which is Santa Claus, North Pole, H0H 0H0, Canada. So where does, “Ho, ho, ho!” come from?

G is for...Goose

The popular choice for Christmas dinner in Britain is still turkey but in recent years goose has been making something of a comeback. It is probably due to a combination of nostalgia, welfare concerns and the simple fact that roast goose is a rare but expensive treat perfectly suited to the finery of a Christmas table. 

Rearing geese is far more expensive than the intensive methods used for turkey. Geese for one thing will not locked in a dark barn but need to out and about for a gander. Some health and welfare scares in recent years over turkey have also persuaded consumers to look to other alternatives.

Goose is especially suited to being eaten at the end of the year as they are at their fattest at this time. In medieval times Michaelmas was celebrated on 29^th September and a young or 'green' grass fed goose would be served. The remaining geese would fatten on corn to prepare them for the Christmas feasting.

Such was the importance of having a goose on the Christmas dinner table in Victorian times that 'Goose Clubs' were a popular way of saving in London. These were savings clubs were a person would give a pub landlord a couple of pence a week in order to save up for their family's Christmas meal. A 'Goose Club' is described in the Sherlock Holmes story, 'The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle'.

F is for...Father Christmas

What would Christmas be these days without Father Christmas? He his probably getting better known in Britain as just Santa. Even the 'Claus' is getting dropped. His function these days to determine who has been 'naughty or nice' but original references to him from the 15^th Century depict him as a character giving good cheer at Christmas and enjoying the feasting of the times. It is thanks again to the Victorians that we now know him in Britain as a distributor of gifts.

Whilst Coca Cola are credited with turning Father Christmas' clothes from green to red in their advert in 1931, it is probably more correct to say they popularised his red outfit. Thomas Nast's drawings for Harper's Weekly dating from 1863 onwards has Father Christmas shown as the large, jolly man we think of today. He took his inspiration from the description of 'St. Nick' in Clement Clark Moore's 1823 poem, A Visit from St. Nick, better known as 'Twas the night before Christmas.

All this points back to one person – St. Nicholas. He is said to have died on 6^th December 343, aged 73, and his feast day is also today. St. Nicholas is the patron saint of various causes including children and had an inclination of giving out secret presents such as leaving coins in the shoes that people had left out. The Dutch translation of St. Nicholas is Sinterklass and this is where the name Santa Claus has evolved from. Images of him in religious icons show him resembling the Father Christmas we are familiar with - an elderly man with a white beard and bald head.

E is for...Evergreen

The traditional colours of Christmas are red and green. The red symbolises the blood of Jesus when he was crucified. The green shows the evergreen leaves throughout the winter and the continuance of life. Mixed together they show where Christmas gets it origins from – Christian beliefs combined with ancient pagan rituals.

The spiky holly leaves symbolises the thorns in the crown Jesus was made to wear on the crucifix with its red berries the drops of blood.The Christmas carol of 'The Holly the Ivy' tells how, 'the holly bears the crown.' Whilst this is obviously a nod to Jesus' crucifixion crown it was also thought by men that holly was a strong, masculine plant and ivy a feminine plant. So songs began to appear being sung by men praising the holly and putting down the ivy. Women did the same thing by literally singing their praises of ivy. More of the masculine songs have survived over the years than the feminine ones. Perhaps I should seek out a new plate...

Another evergreen still popular today is mistletoe. In ancient times mistletoe was considered a scared plant. The practice of kissing under the mistletoe comes from an old fertility ritual. Mistletoe is a parasitic plant that grows on other deciduous trees. This coupled with its forked branches and white berries gives it a rather sexual. Indeed, some churches to this day ban it from being used as decorations.

D is for...Decorations

Do you deck the halls with boughs of holly or are you more “Bah, humbug!” about the whole decorations thing? Do you have them up on 1^st December and feel sad when they come down on Twelfth Night or is as just a few strands of tinsel for as short a period as possible?

The first Christmas decorations was natural greenery such as holly, ivy and mistletoe. Evergreen trees such as fir or spruce were hung with shiny red apples to represent the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. This has developed into today's modern baubles. It is said that lit Christmas trees came about in the 16^th Century when the Protestant reformer Martin Luther was walking in a snow covered forest on Christmas Eve. He was stuck by the beauty of the snow shimmering on the trees in the moonlight and decided to cut a small tree down and take it home. To replace the glittering snow he attached small candles to the branches. The practice of using candles continued for many years until 1882 when Edward H. Johnson had 80 red, white and blue bulbs displayed on the tree at his home on 5^th Avenue, New York. Johnson was the Vice-President of the Edison Electric Light Company.

Christmas lights, Bridge Street, Stratford upon Avon

It's now standard practice to bring down all your decorations by Twelfth Night, 5^th January, otherwise you will have a year of bad luck unless you keep them up all year (which seems like bad luck in itself). Such silly superstitions aside most people take them by 5^th January if only because by the time New Year's has passed and life goes back to normal you end up being sick of the sight of them. Well, I do at any rate. However, you will find in many churches that decorations are kept up throughout January until Candlemas on 2^nd February, which signifies 40 days after Jesus' birth.

Vegan Christmas Cake - C is for...Cake

Vegan Christmas Cake

I can't believe it has taken me three days of my countdown to Christmas to give you a recipe but it's been worth the wait as it's for a cake! It seems that the traditional Christmas cake as we know it today made with lots of dried fruit and spices has its origins in the 16^th Century. Back then a fruit cake was made for Twelfth Night but since Victorian times it has been made especially for Christmas Day. Of course nowadays you can start buying Christmas cakes in the supermarkets at the end of August. I usually make my Christmas cake at the end of October and then feed it regularly until a couple of days before Christmas so I can marzipan and ice it.

A traditional Christmas Cake is very rich and takes over four hours to cook. The size of it can also put people off and not everyone now like a fruit cake. This is my solution to this problem. As the title suggests it is vegan plus has no extra fat or sugar added and also no alcohol. To add to this cake's halo I've also made it with wholemeal flour. I originally made for my Clandestine Cake Club's 'Noel Novelty' meeting where it went down so well I got asked for the recipe. The multi-coloured glacé cherries can be tricky to get hold of as the supermarkets don't seem to sell them anymore. I found mine at the fruit & nut stall in Sheffield Market (along with the dates) and later the same week spotted them at a fruit and nut concession in Boundary Mills. Of course just the standard red ones would still work a treat. 

Click here for a printable recipe. 

Equipment: 1 large bowl, 2lb (900g) loaf tin

Ingredients

1lb (450g) Mixed dried fruit, including candied peel

4oz (110g) Dried dates, chopped

2½oz (75g) Dried apricots, chopped

1½ (45g) Glacé cherries, washed, dried and quartered

¼ pint (150ml) Strong tea

Juice and zest of 1 Orange

6oz (170g) Self-raising wholemeal flour

1tsp (5ml) Baking powder

2oz (55g) Ground almonds

1tsp (5ml) Mixed spice

¼ pint (150ml) Cold water

Decoration

1tbsp (15ml) Apricot jam

Glacé cherries in mixed colours, alternatively you could stick to red glacé cherries and mix them with some pecans, whole almonds and walnuts. You could also make up some runny icing sugar and drizzle it over the top.

Method

1. Put all the dried fruit in a large bowl. Add the tea and the orange juice and zest. Mix well, cover and leave for at least 8 hours to soak.

2. Pre-heat the oven to 160°C.

3. Grease and line the loaf tin (I use loaf tin liners)

4. Add the flour, baking powder, ground almonds and mixed spice to the fruit mixture and stir until well combined. It will be quite dry.

5. Add the water and mix in until it becomes moist.

6. Put it into the prepared tin and level the top.

7. Bake for 1 hour and then cover and cook for another 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

8. Leave the cake to cool for a few minutes in the tin before turning out and leaving to cool completely on a wire rack.

9. When cool heat the apricot jam in a small saucepan until warm and then brush along the top.

10. Decorate with your choice of cherries, dried fruits or nuts.

B is for...Bethlehem

B is for...Bethlehem

Day two of the A-Z of Christmas and we're off to where it all began. Thanks to Caesar Augustus deciding it was time to have a census the very heavily pregnant Mary set off with Joseph to register in Bethlehem. In those times there was no form posted through the door or census official coming round to you had to go the town where your family line came from. Since Joseph was of the line of David it was to Bethlehem that they had to go. Of course by the time they arrived there the town was full of others needing both to register and find a bed for the night. There was no room at the inn and the stable had to do.

The site of Jesus' birth is thought to be where the Church of the Nativity stands today. It now comes under the control of the Palestinian Authority. The majority religion is Islam, however there is still a significant population of Christians. Once December starts the tourism season gets into full swing with people making pilgrimages from around the world. Bethlehem may be known to you but a survey commissioned in 2007 by the theological think-tank Theos found that just 27 per cent of British people over the age of 18 was able to identify Bethlehem as the place of Jesus' birth.

To add to your knowledge of useless facts Bethlehem is twinned with several cities including Florence, Athens, Milan, Glasgow, Chartres and Cologne.

Feel Good Food Blogging Challenge - December 2013 CLOSED

There's been a small break for this challenge but it's back for the festive season with Victoria from A Kick At The Pantry Door allowing me to guest host it for this month. If you don't know the drill it's all about food that is good for you without following the relentless cycle of dieting.

December is a tough time when you want to keep the naughty temptations at bay. There are indulgences everywhere, the days are getting shorter and shorter and it's blinking freezing. Help is at hand though with this month's choice of food which is...

CRANBERRIES

It's up to what sort of cranberries you wish to use – juice, dried or the very seasonal fresh cranberries that are in abundance this month. I won't blind you with science but the various forms contain sources of polyphenol antioxidants, phtochemicals and flavonoids. All this adds up to possible benefits to your heart, lungs, blood, urinary system plus the addition of anti-cancer properties.

So fill me with festive cheer with your juice mixes that pack a punch of flavour, a very merry muffin or simply the best cranberry sauce ever to go with your Christmas dinner. I look forward this seeing all your creations both sweet and savoury.

Here comes the rules...

• Recipes should be submitted by midnight on the 28^th December 2013.

• Recipes do not need to be calorie controlled, but wherever possible, try to use wholemeal carbohydrates (flour, pasta, rice etc) and avoid food high in saturated fats to make them as nutritious as possible.

• You can enter as many recipes into each challenge as you like, the more the merrier. Existing posts are welcome, as long as they contain the chosen ingredient and have been updated to include a link back to this challenge.

• Recipes can be your own or someone else's, but if you do use an existing recipe please credit the source.

• Posts must contain the Feel Good Food logo above, be tagged with Feel Good Food, and contain a link back to me and Victoria at A Kick At The Pantry Door.

• Once your post is live, you can add the URL to the linky tool at the bottom of the page.

• If you are on Twitter, tweet me the link @jibberjabberuk and also @ThePantryDoor1, using the hashtag #FeelGoodFood and we will endeavour to retweet as well.

At the end of the month I will do a round-up of all the recipes and will publish them on this blog. 

A is for...Advent

A-Z of Christmas. A is for...Advent.

Rather appropriately we kick off our Christmas countdown with an 'A' for Advent. If you say Advent probably the most associated words are calendar and then chocolate. The assumption is that 1^st December heralds the start of the true Christmas period and when we tick off the days until 25^th December. The fact is Advent starts on the fourth Sunday before 25^th December which this year of course does actually happen to be today, 1^st December. In theory this can be any of the days between 27^th November and 3^rd December.

Another common thought is that we are counting the days down to Christmas Day. Whilst Christians will will be looking forward to commemorating the birth of Jesus it is actually a time to prepare about the Second Coming. I bet that's not something most people think about when they shove a piece of cheap chocolate into their months after they've open the calendar door.

If you're of a certain age you may remember that each year on Blue Peter they got some wire coat hangers, a bit of tinsel and a selection of candles to make an Advent Wreath. I doubt they still do this today if only because of the difficulty of getting hold of a wire coat hanger. Churches still have an Advent Wreath with another candle being lit each Sunday in the run-up to Christmas Eve. We have a single Advent candle each which you burn each day down to the next number. A little tip – once you put your decorations up remember that the candle flame can melt the tinsel that you have stylishly hung round your living room mirror...

Church's Advent candle wreath