Twinkle Lights, Snow, mulled wine……Below are some favorite bits & bobs….enjoy

Charles Dickens popularised the traditional, English Christmas in 1843 in his novel A Christmas Carol, when Bob Cratchit and his family sit down on Christmas Day to eat a dinner of goose with mashed potatoes and apple sauce accompanied by sage and onion stuffing and followed by Christmas pudding.

It’s a vision that is watched – unseen by the Cratchits – by a fast-repenting Ebenezer Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Present who is showing the miser the error of his ways.

Duly chastened by his supernatural experience, the newly festive Scrooge sends over, on Christmas morning, a turkey that is “twice the size of Tiny Tim” – and will certainly feed more people than the goose. This set the seal for the popular English Christmas meal. But what did people eat at Christmas time before goose and turkey? more from this interesting article: Food history

NEGUS: Its origin lies with the English officer class of the late 17th and early 18th centuries, who got into the very sensible habit of watering down their wine to avoid getting too drunk of an evening. They still wanted something to drink though. It is named after Colonel Francis Negus (1660-1732), ‘a well-connected gentleman’, who, aside from being a noted member of the officer class, was also an MP, and a talented horse rider and hunter, so-much-so he was given the position of Master of the Horse and Warden of Windsor Forest. Quite the chap it would seem. The earliest description known comes in the form of a handwritten note in a 1725 edition of Tacitus’s works. It said: ‘After a morning’s walk, half a pint of white wine, made and hot and sweetened a little, is recond very good. – Col. Negus, a gentn. of tast, advises it, I have heard say. Article here

For some great Holiday cocktails, check out this Pinterest Board

An 1891 painting of a Christmas scene, 'Silent Night' by Viggo Johansen. (Hirschsprung Collection, Copenhagen)

Christmas through the ages: Christmas preparations began in the home of the poor as well as the rich. Winter foliage was available, and greenery was gathered to decorate the house with garlands. Holly, ivy, and mistletoe had long been admired by the Celts and were associated with protection against evil spirits and fertility. A giant double hoop of mistletoe usually took pride of place in one's living room.