Erimus Rotary Christmas 2021

T’is the season to be jolly!

1st December

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Children's Recipes 01st December - Download here

Games 01st December - Download here...

Colouring for the 01st December - Download here...

Christmas Cards for the 01st December - Download here...

Name the cities below - answers revealed on the 24th of December

2nd December

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Colouring for the 2nd December - Download here...

Christmas Cards for the 2nd December - Download here...

Children's Recipes 2nd December - Download here

Games 2nd December - Download here...

Unbelievably easy mince pies

(source...https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/unbelievably-easy-mince-pies)

Ingredients

225g cold butter, diced
350g plain flour
100g golden caster sugar
280g mincemeat
1 small egg, beaten
icing sugar, to dust

Method

STEP 1

To make the pastry, rub the butter into the flour, then mix in the golden caster sugar and a pinch of salt.
STEP 2

Combine the pastry into a ball – don’t add liquid – and knead it briefly. The dough will be fairly firm, like shortbread dough. You can use the dough immediately, or chill for later.
STEP 3

Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Line 18 holes of two 12-hole patty tins, by pressing small walnut-sized balls of pastry into each hole.
STEP 4

Spoon the mincemeat into the pies. Take slightly smaller balls of pastry than before and pat them out between your hands to make round lids, big enough to cover the pies.
STEP 5

Top the pies with their lids, pressing the edges gently together to seal – you don’t need to seal them with milk or egg as they will stick on their own. Will keep frozen for up to one month.
STEP 6

Brush the tops of the pies with the beaten egg. Bake for 20 mins until golden. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 mins, then remove to a wire rack. To serve, lightly dust with the icing sugar. Will keep for three to four days in an airtight container.

3rd of December

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Games 3rd December - Download here...

Colouring for the 3rd of December - Download here...

Christmas Cards for the 3rd of December - Download here...

Children's Recipes 3rd December - Download here

What’s the absolute best Christmas present?

A broken drum — you can’t beat it!

How did Mary and Joseph know Jesus’ weight when he was born?

They had a weigh-in a manger!

4th of December

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4th of December Activity Pack - Download here...

How well do you know Santa's reindeer?

Which one can you see in outer space?

Which one is the fastest?

Who is the most impolite?

Answers Tomorrow....

5th of December

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Answers from the 4th of December Comet, Dasher, Rude-olph

One for Mum and Dad
Nigella is always popular in our house

(but not banana skin curry!) and she is invaluable at Christmas. One recipe that is great when preparing vegetables and the table on Christmas Eve is Santa’s Little Helper cocktail. You need:

One measure of brandy
½ measure of amaretto
½ measure of triple sec or Cointreau.

You can soften it with the addition of a small amount of lemonade or serve it over ice if you want to! Multiple measures are fine.

6th of December

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6th of December Activity Pack - Download here...

Santa Jokes - from Christmas Crackers OH NO!

What says Oh Oh Oh?
Santa walking backwards!

What do you get if you cross Santa with a duck?
A Christmas Quacker!

What's Santa's favourite type of music?
Wrap!

What do you get if you cross Father Christmas with a detective?
Santa Clues!

What do Santa's little helpers learn at school?
The elf-abet!

What do elves post on Social Media?
Elf-ies!

7th of December

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7th of December Activity Pack - Download here...

Beatles Night Before Christmas

Magical Mystery Yule

(A viral parody of "A Visit from St. Nicholas")

'Twas the night before Christmas, but the spirit of Yule
Was not what it should be in olde Liverpool.
The stockings, all hung by the warm chimney grate,
Were still sadly empty. For Santa was late.

Yes, midnight had come and midnight had fled.
The children were lying awake in their beds,
Unable to sleep and beginning to fear
That Christmas was really not coming that year,

When off in the distance there came a strange noise
— Was Santa arriving at last with their toys?
Those surely weren't sleigh bells they heard from afar,
It sounded like drums — and electric guitars.

Now up in the sky, as the music drew near,
A strange silhouette began to appear.
Could those be reindeer? It seemed that they must,
But instead of a sleigh were they pulling a bus?

The reindeer drew closer, and yes, it was true,
Behind them a bus, all yellow and blue.
And out from the windows strange voices there came,
Which called out to each tiny reindeer by name.

"Now, Maxwell! Now, Martha! Now, Prudence and Pepper!
On, Sun King! On, Sadie! On, Jude and Loretta!"
The bus was soon landed. The slightest of pauses
Then out through the doors came four Santa Clauses!

But these weren't like Santas the children had seen,
For under the white beards their beads could be seen,
And clothing that wasn't just Santa Claus red,
But rainbows of dazzling color instead.

They all had long hair, some had curling moustaches,
And one of the four wore round little glasses.
They carried guitars, except for the one
Who staggered along with a full set of drums.

They spoke not a word, but as quick as a mouse
They carried their instruments into the house,
And, moving the Christmas tree out of their way,
They plugged in their amps and they started to play.

The room seemed to sparkle with magic and then
That sparkle grew brighter, then brighter again,
And exploded like fireworks, filling the air!
Then the stockings were filled; there were gifts everywhere!

But the four couldn't stay to admire the scene;
They sprang to their bus and were gone like a dream.
But their voices called out, as they vanished from sight,
"Merry Crimble to all!" and, "What a hard day's night!"

8th of December

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09th of December

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10th of December

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10th of December Activity Pack - Download here...

11th of December

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12th of December

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13th December

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Colouring for the 13th December - Download here...

14th of December

A Christmas Story (audio)

Christmas around the world

(courtesy of whychristmas.com, find out more on their website)

Hungary

In Hungary, Christmas Eve is very important and is called 'Szent-este' which means Holy Evening. People spend the evening with their family and decorate the Christmas Tree. Sometimes only the adults decorate the tree (without the children there), so when children come in and see the tree, it's a great surprise and they are told that angels brought the tree for them!

The main Christmas meal, which is also eaten on Christmas Eve, consists of fish (often fish soup called 'Halászlé' which is made with carp or other freshwater fish), stuffed cabbage (the leaves are stuffed with rice, mince pork, onion, garlic and other herbs) and a special kind of poppy bread/cake called 'Beigli' is a popular dessert. Gingerbread is also a traditionally eaten at Christmas in Hungary. The gingerbread is often wrapped in very bright colors and decorated with Christmas figures.

The Midnight Mass service is very popular in Hungary. Most people go to Church after their Christmas meal.

On Christmas Eve children also hope that they will be left some presents under the Christmas Tree. They're told that the presents are brought by Jesus, he's often called "Jézuska", a nickname or cuter version for "Jézus". Children wait outside the room where the tree is and when they hear bells ringing, they can enter and the presents await them under the Christmas tree.

On Christmas Day people visit their families.

St. Nicholas also visits Hungary on the 6th December. In Hungary he is known as 'Mikulás'. Children leave out shoes or boots on a windowsill to be filled with goodies! Presents might also be brought by Télapó (Old Man Winter).

In Hungarian Happy/Merry Christmas is 'Boldog karácsonyt' (Happy Christmas) or 'Kellemes karácsonyi ünnepeket' (pleasant Christmas holidays). Happy/Merry Christmas in lots more languages.

(courtesy of whychristmas.com, find out more on their website)

15th of December

The Tradition of Advent

Christmas or Xmas?

Courtesy of whychristmas.com
Christmas is also sometimes known as Xmas. Some people don't think it's correct to call Christmas 'Xmas' as that takes the 'Christ' (Jesus) out of Christmas. (As Christmas comes from Christ-Mass, the Church service that celebrated the birth of Jesus.)

But that is not quite right! In the Greek language and alphabet, the letter that looks like an X is the Greek letter chi / Χ (pronounced 'kye' - it rhymes with 'eye') which is the first letter of the Greek word for Christ, Christos.

The early church used the first two letters of Christos in the Greek alphabet 'chi' and 'rho' to create a monogram (symbol) to represent the name of Jesus. This looks like an X with a small p on the top: ☧

The symbol of a fish is sometimes used by Christians (you might see a fish sticker on a car or someone wearing a little fish badge). This comes from the time when the first Christians had to meet in secret, as the Romans wanted to kill them (before Emperor Constantine became a Christian). Jesus had said that he wanted to make his followers 'Fishers of Men', so people started to use that symbol.

When two Christians met, one person, drew half a basic fish shape (often using their foot in the dust on the ground) and the other person drew the other half of the fish. The Greek word for fish is 'Ikthus' or 'Ichthys'. There are five Greek letters in the word. It can also make up a sentence of Christian beliefs 'Ie-sous Christos Theou Huios So-te-r' which in English means "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour". The second letter of these five letters is X or Christos!

So Xmas can also mean Christmas, but it should also be pronounced 'Christmas' rather than 'ex-mas'!

16th of December

Activity pack for 16th of December

The History of Mince Pies

Why is Christmas Day on the 25th December?

Courtesy of whychristmas.com

Christmas is celebrated to remember the birth of Jesus Christ, who Christians believe is the Son of God.

The name 'Christmas' comes from the Mass of Christ (or Jesus). A Mass service (which is sometimes called Communion or Eucharist) is where Christians remember that Jesus died for us and then came back to life. The 'Christ-Mass' service was the only one that was allowed to take place after sunset (and before sunrise the next day), so people had it at Midnight! So we get the name Christ-Mass, shortened to Christmas.

Christmas is now celebrated by people around the world, whether they are Christians or not. It's a time when family and friends come together and remember the good things they have. People, and especially children, also like Christmas as it's a time when you give and receive presents!

The Date of Christmas

No one knows the real birthday of Jesus! No date is given in the Bible, so why do we celebrate it on the 25th December? The early Christians certainly had many arguments as to when it should be celebrated! Also, the birth of Jesus probably didn't happen in the year 1 but slightly earlier, somewhere between 2 BCE/BC and 7 BCE/BC, possibly in 4 BCE/BC (there isn't a 0 - the years go from 1 BC/BCE to 1!).

The first recorded date of Christmas being celebrated on December 25th was in 336, during the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine (he was the first Christian Roman Emperor). But it was not an official Roman state festival at this time.

However, there are many different traditions and theories as to why Christmas is celebrated on December 25th.

A very early Christian tradition said that the day when Mary was told that she would have a very special baby, Jesus (called the Annunciation) was on March 25th - and it's still celebrated today on the 25th March. Nine months after the 25th March is the 25th December!

March 25th was also the day some early Christians thought the world had been made, and also the day that Jesus died on when he was an adult (Nisan 14 in the Jewish calendar) and they thought that Jesus was conceived and had died on the same day of the year.

The Winter Solstice is the day where there is the shortest time between the sun rising and the sun setting. It happens on December 21st or 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere. (In the Southern Hemisphere, this time is the Summer Solstice and the Winter Solstice happens in late June.)

To pagans this meant that they knew that the days would start getting lighter and longer and the nights would become shorter - marking a change in the seasons. To celebrate people had a mid-winter festival to celebrate the sun 'winning' over the darkness of winter. At this time, animals which had been kept for food were also often killed to save having to feed them all through the winter and some drinks which had been brewing since the autumn/harvest would also be ready to drink. So it was a good time to have a celebration with things to eat and drink before the rest of the winter happened. (We still have New Year celebrations near this time now!)

In Scandinavia, and some other parts of northern Europe, the time around the Winter Solstice is known as Yule (although the word Yule only seems to date to about the year 300). In Eastern Europe the mid-winter festival is called Koleda.

In Iranian/Persian culture, the winter solstice is known as 'Yalda Night' or 'Shab-e Chelleh' and it's a time when families and friends come together to eat, drink and recite poetry. Shab-e Chelleh means 'night of forty' as it happens forty nights into winter. The word Yalda means 'birth' and comes from early Christians living in Persia celebrating the birth of Jesus around this time. Eating, fruits, nuts, pomegranates and watermelons are important at Yalda/Chelleh and you can get Yalda cakes which look like watermelons!

The Roman Festival of Saturnalia took place between December 17th and 23rd and honoured the Roman god Saturn. The Romans also thought that the Solstice took place on December 25th. It's also thought that in 274 the Roman emperor Aurelian created 'Dies Natalis Solis Invicti' (meaning 'birthday of the unconquered sun') also called 'Sol Invictus' and it was held on December 25th.

Because of the dates, some people say that the Christians 'took over' December 25th from these Roman festivals and/or Yule. However, there are records going back to around 200 of early Christians connecting the Nisan 14 to the 25th March, and so 25th December was a 'Christian' festival date many years before 'Sol Invictus'! (More recent studies have also found that the 'Sol Invictus' connection didn't appear until the 12th century and it's from one scribbled note in the margins of a manuscript. There's also evidence that 'Sol Invictus' might also have happened in October and not December anyway!)

Christmas had also been celebrated by the early Church on January 6th, when they also celebrated the Epiphany (which means the revelation that Jesus was God's son) and the Baptism of Jesus. (Like the December 25th date above, this was based on a calculation of Jesus's death/conception but from the 6th April not the 25th March.) Now Epiphany mainly celebrates the visit of the Wise Men to the baby Jesus, but back then it celebrated both things! Jesus's Baptism was originally seen as more important than his birth, as this was when he started his ministry.

The Jewish festival of Lights, Hanukkah starts on the eve of the Kislev 25 (the month in the Jewish calendar that occurs at about the same time as December). Hanukkah celebrates when the Jewish people were able to re-dedicate and worship in their Temple, in Jerusalem, again following many years of not being allowed to practice their religion.

Jesus was a Jew, so this could be another reason that helped the early Church choose December the 25th for the date of Christmas!

Most of the world uses the 'Gregorian Calendar' implemented by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. Before that the 'Roman' or Julian Calendar was used (named after Julius Caesar). The Gregorian calendar is more accurate than the Roman calendar which had too many days in a year! When the switch was made 10 days were lost, so that the day that followed the 4th October 1582 was 15th October 1582. In the UK the change of calendars was made in 1752. The day after 2nd September 1752 was 14th September 1752.

Many Orthodox and Coptic Churches still use the Julian Calendar and so celebrate Christmas on the 7th January (which is when December 25th would have been on the Julian calendar). And the Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates it on the 6th January! In some part of the UK, January 6th is still called 'Old Christmas' as this would have been the day that Christmas would have celebrated on, if the calendar hadn't been changed. Some people didn't want to use the new calendar as they thought it 'cheated' them out of 11 days!

Christians believe that Jesus is the light of the world, so the early Christians thought that this was the right time to celebrate the birth of Jesus. They also took over some of the customs from the Winter Solstice and gave them Christian meanings, like Holly, Mistletoe and even Christmas Carols!

St Augustine of Canterbury was the person who probably started the widespread celebration of Christmas in large parts of England by introducing Christianity to the regions run by the Anglo-Saxons in the 6th century (other Celtic parts of Britain were already Christian but there aren't many documents about if or how they celebrated the birth of Jesus). St Augustine of Canterbury was sent by Pope Gregory the Great in Rome and that church used the Roman Calendar, so western countries celebrate Christmas on the 25th December. Then people from Britain and Western Europe took Christmas on the 25th December all over the world!

If you'd like to know more about the history behind the dating of Christmas, then read this very good article on Bible History Daily (goes to another site).

So when was Jesus Born?

There's a strong and practical reason why Jesus might not have been born in the winter, but in the spring or the autumn! It can get very cold in the winter and it's unlikely that the shepherds would have been keeping sheep out on the hills (as those hills can get quite a lot of snow sometimes!).

During the spring (in March or April) there's a Jewish festival called 'Passover'. This festival remembers when the Jews had escaped from slavery in Egypt about 1500 years before Jesus was born. Lots of lambs would have been needed during the Passover Festival, to be sacrificed in the Temple in Jerusalem. Jews from all over the Roman Empire traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival, so it would have been a good time for the Romans to take a census. Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem for the census (Bethlehem is about six miles from Jerusalem).

In the autumn (in September or October) there's the Jewish festival of 'Sukkot' or 'The Feast of Tabernacles'. It's the festival that's mentioned the most times in the Bible! It is when Jewish people remember that they depended on God for all they had after they had escaped from Egypt and spent 40 years in the desert. It also celebrates the end of the harvest. During the festival, Jews live outside in temporary shelters (the word 'tabernacle' come from a latin word meaning 'booth' or 'hut').

Many people who have studied the Bible, think that Sukkot would be a likely time for the birth of Jesus as it might fit with the description of there being 'no room in the inn'. It also would have been a good time to take the Roman Census as many Jews went to Jerusalem for the festival and they would have brought their own tents/shelters with them! (It wouldn't have been practical for Joseph and Mary to carry their own shelter as Mary was pregnant.)

The possibilities for the Star of Bethlehem seems to point either spring or autumn.

The possible dating of Jesus birth can also be taken from when Zechariah (who was married to Mary's cousin Elizabeth) was on duty in the Jewish Temple as a Priest and had an amazing experience. There is an excellent article on the dating of Christmas based on the dates of Zechariah's experience, on the blog of theologian, Ian Paul. With those dates, you get Jesus being born in September - which also fits with Sukkot!

In the Bible, John 1:14 says "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us...". In Greek the word for 'dwelling' is 'eskēnōsen' (ἐσκήνωσεν) which means 'to pitch and live in a tent/encampment'. In Hebrew this translates as 'mishkan' ('מִשְׁכַּן' meaning to dwell and it's also the name given to the Tabernacle which was where God 'dwelled' in the Jewish and Christian faith during the Jews time in the wilderness in the book of Exodus) and/or 'sukkah' ('סוכה'). So John seems to have clearly been drawing on this analogy saying that Jesus 'pitched his tent' as a human and also quite possibly he is making the link to the time of Jesus's birth. John certainly knew both Jesus and Mary and so would have known when Jesus was born!

The year that Jesus was born isn't known. The calendar system we have now was created in the 6th Century by a monk called Dionysius Exiguus. He was actually trying to create a better system for working out when Easter should be celebrated, based on a new calendar with the birth of Jesus being in the year 1. However, he made a mistake in his maths and so got the possible year of Jesus's birth wrong!

Most scholars now think that Jesus was born between 2 BCE/BC and 7 BCE/BC, possibly in 4 BCE/BC. Before Dionysius's new calendars, years were normally dated from the reigns of Roman Emperors. The new calendar became more widely used from the 8th Century when the 'Venerable Bede of Northumbria' used it in his 'new' history book! There is no year '0'. Bede started dating things before the year 1 and used 1 BCE/BC as the first year before 1. At that time in Europe, the number 0 didn't exist in maths - it only arrived in Europe in the 11th to 13th centuries!

So whenever you celebrate Christmas, remember that you're celebrating a real event that happened about 2000 years ago, that God sent his Son into the world as a Christmas present for everyone!

As well as Christmas and the solstice, there are some other festivals that are held in late December. Hanukkah is celebrated by Jews; and the festival of Kwanzaa is celebrated by some Africans and African Americans takes place from December 26th to January 1st.

17th of December

Activity pack for 17th of December

The Tradition of Mistletoe at Christmas

The History of Christmas Crackers

Courtesy of whychristmas.com

Christmas crackers are a traditional Christmas favorite in the UK. They were first made in about 1845-1850 by a London sweet maker called Tom Smith. He had seen the French 'bon bon' sweets (almonds wrapped in pretty paper) on a visit to Paris in 1840. He came back to London and tried selling sweets like that in England and also included a small motto or riddle in with the sweet. But they didn't sell very well.

In 1861 Tom Smith launched his new range of what he called 'Bangs of Expectation'!

Legend says that, one night, while he was sitting in front of his log fire, he became very interested by the sparks and cracks coming from the fire. Suddenly, he thought what a fun idea it would be, if his sweets and toys could be opened with a crack when their fancy wrappers were pulled in half.

However, looking into the history of the Tom Smith company, it's thought that Tom actually bought the recipe for the small cracks and bangs in crackers from a fireworks company called Brock’s Fireworks. The story of him sitting by the fire was probably added to help sell his new items.

Crackers were also nicknamed called 'cosaques' and were thought to be named after the 'Cossack' soldiers who had a reputation for riding on their horses and firing guns into the air.

When Tom died, his expanding cracker business was taken over by his three sons, Tom, Walter and Henry. Walter introduced the hats into crackers and he also traveled around the world looking for new ideas for gifts to put in the crackers. The crowns might have been inspired from Epiphany cakes from Europe which are often decorated with a paper crown on the top.

The company built up a big range of 'themed' crackers. There were ones for bachelors and spinsters (single men and women), where the gifts were things like false teeth and wedding rings! There were also crackers for Suffragettes (women who campaigned to get women the vote), war heroes and even Charlie Chaplain! Crackers were also made for special occasions like Coronations. The British Royal Family still has special crackers made for them today!

Very expensive crackers were made such as the 'Millionaire's Crackers' which contained a solid silver box with a piece of gold and silver jewerly inside it!

Cracker manufacturers also made large displays, such as horse drawn carriages and sleighs, for the big shops in London.

The Christmas Crackers that are used today are short cardboard tubes wrapped in colorful paper. There is normally a Cracker next to each plate on the Christmas dinner table. When the crackers are pulled - with a bang! - a colorful party hat, a toy or gift and a festive joke falls out! The party hats look like crowns and it is thought that they symbolise the crowns that might have been worn by the Wise Men.

Crackers are famous for their very bad jokes! Here are some bad Christmas themed Cracker jokes!

The world's longest Christmas cracker measured 63.1m (207ft) long and 4m (13ft) in diameter and was made by the parents of children at Ley Hill School and Pre-School, Chesham, Buckinghamshire, UK on 20 December 2001. Now that would be one big bang!

The biggest Christmas cracker pull was done by 1,478 people at an event organised by Honda Japan at Tochigi Proving Ground, Tochigi, Japan, on 18 October 2009. Now that would be a lot of bangs!

18th of December

Activity pack for 18th of December

The Tradition of Advent

Boxing Day - the Day after Christmas!

Courtesy of whychristmas.com

Boxing Day takes place on December 26th and is only celebrated in a few countries; mainly ones historically connected to the UK (such as Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand) and in some European countries. In Germany it is known as "Zweiter Feiertag” (which means 'second celebration') and also “Zweiter Weihnachtsfeiertag” which translates as Boxing Day (although it doesn’t literally mean that)!

The dating of Boxing Day can get rather complicated. You might also see it described as 'the first weekday after Christmas'. However, that's describing the 'Public (or Bank) Holiday' for Boxing Day in the UK. I think it's possible to separate Boxing Day 'the day' (the 26th) and 'the bank holiday'. They're normally on the same date but don't have to be. The same is true for Christmas and its bank holiday! In 2021, Christmas Day and Boxing Day (the 25th and 26th!) are on a Saturday and Sunday. So their bank holidays are on the 27th and 28th of December - a Monday and Tuesday. But that doesn't mean that 'Christmas' 2021 will be on Monday the 27th! So if you're going by the bank holiday definition of Boxing Day, then it should be described 'the first weekday *after the Christmas bank holiday*' not *after Christmas* - as they can be different too! On the UK government's site listing the bank holidays in the UK, it states "If a bank holiday is on a weekend, a ‘substitute’ weekday becomes a bank holiday, normally the following Monday."; this make more sense than saying Boxing Day or Christmas Day are 'on' other dates!

The 26th December is also St. Stephen's Day (or 'the feast of Stephen'). Just to confuse things, there are two St. Stephens in history! The first St. Stephen is believed to have been a very early follower of Jesus and he is said to have been the first Christian Martyr (a person who dies for their religious beliefs). The Bible says that Stephen (who was a Jew) was stoned to death by some other Jews (who didn't believe in Jesus).

The second St. Stephen was a Missionary, in Sweden, in the 800s. He loved all animals but particularly horses (perhaps why there is traditionally horse racing on boxing day). He was also a martyr and was killed by pagans in Sweden. In Germany there was a tradition that horses would be ridden around the inside of the church during the St. Stephen's Day service!

Both St. Stephens have been associated with charity and giving for a very long time; and historically that's what St Stephen's Day/Boxing Day was about.

Starting in the Middle Ages, it was the day when the alms box, collection boxes for the poor often kept in churches, were traditionally opened so that the contents could be distributed to poor people. Some churches still open these boxes on Boxing Day.

It might have been the Romans that first brought this type of collecting box to the UK, but they used them to collect money for the betting games which they played during their winter celebrations! In The Netherlands, some collection boxes were made out of a rough pottery called 'earthenware' and were shaped like pigs. Perhaps this is where we get the term 'Piggy Bank'!

It was also the day when rich land owners would give 'gifts' (often some leftover food from the main Christmas feast!) to those who worked and lived on their land; and later on it became traditional that servants got the day off to celebrate Christmas with their families on Boxing Day.

Before World War II, it was common for working people (such as milkmen and butchers) to travel round their delivery places and collect their Christmas box or tip. This tradition has now mostly stopped and any Christmas tips, given to people such as postal workers and newspaper delivery children, are not normally given or collected on Boxing Day.

St Stephen's Day is when the Carol 'Good King Wenceslas' is set. That carol is about a rich King helping the poor. It was written in 1853 and reflects the Victorian view of being charitable at Christmas. You can read about the real history of Wenceslas here...

Boxing Day has now become another public holiday in countries such as the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand (If Christmas is at the weekend, normally the next working day is made into a public holiday as a 'substitute' for Boxing Day). It is also the traditional day that Pantomimes started to play.

There are also often sports played on Boxing Day in the UK, especially horse racing and football matches! In Australia there is the cricket Boxing Day Test Match, where Australia play another country. Boxing Day is also when shops traditionally had big sales after Christmas in the UK (like Black Friday in the USA).

19th of December

Activity pack for 19th of December

The Tradition of Mistletoe at Christmas

Some Stories behind Christmas Carols

Courtesy of whychristmas.com

I Saw Three Ships

The tune of this carol is a traditional English folk song and the words of this carol (of which there are several versions) were written by wandering minstrels as they traveled through the country. In the original version of the carol, the Three Ships were the ones taking the supposed skulls of the wise men to Cologne cathedral in Germany. However, since the Middle Ages, when it was first written, there have been many different lyrics with different Bible characters being on the ships. The most common lyrics used today are about Mary and Jesus traveling to Bethlehem. Sing along to I Saw Three Ships! (on a different site)

I saw three ship come sailing in,
on Christmas day on Christmas day.
I saw three ship come sailing in,
on Christmas Day in the morning.

And what was in those ships all three?
on Christmas day on Christmas day.
And what was in those ships all three?
on Christmas Day in the morning.

Our Saviour Christ and His lady,
on Christmas day on Christmas day.
Our Saviour Christ and His lady,
on Christmas Day in the morning.

And where they sailed those ships all three?
on Christmas day on Christmas day.
And where they sailed those ships all three?
on Christmas Day in the morning.

All they sailed in to Bethlehem,
on Christmas day on Christmas day.
All they sailed in to Bethlehem,
on Christmas Day in the morning.

And all the bells on earth shall ring,
on Christmas day on Christmas day.
And all the bells on earth shall ring,
on Christmas Day in the morning.

And all the angels in heaven shall sing,
on Christmas day on Christmas day.
And all the the angels in heaven shall sing,
on Christmas Day in the morning.

And all the souls on earth shall sing,
on Christmas day on Christmas day.
And all the souls on earth shall sing,
on Christmas Day in the morning.

And let us all rejoice again,
on Christmas day on Christmas day.
And let us all rejoice again,
on Christmas Day in the morning.

Good King Wenceslas

This carol was written in 1853 by John Mason Neale to a traditional folk tune (which had been used as a Spring carol for several hundred years!). It was written in the town of East Grinstead, in the county of West Sussex, at Sackville College where he was staying at the time. The story in the carol is about the King (or Duke) of Bohemia (an area in Central Europe which is now part of Czechia) from over 1000 years ago, seeing peasants, on Boxing Day, from his castle and taking food and wood to them. The story in the carol was probably completely made up to reflect the view that you should be charitable at Christmas. In fact the real story of King Wenceslas (907-935) is rather gory!

Wenceslas' father was the Duke of Bohemia and a Christian but it's thought that his mother might have been a pagan. His father died when he was 12 and, as he was not old enough to become Duke until he was 18, his mother took control of the land as regent. During this time his grandmother, Ludmilla, took care of Wenceslas and brought him up as a Christian (she smuggled priests into the house to help teach him). It's thought that his mother had Ludmilla banished to a distant castle where she was murdered by the Queen's guards!

Wenceslas was still a Christian after this and learned to read and write, something which was unusual for even a King/Duke in those days! He had local Bishops smuggled in at night to teach him the Bible. When he reached 18, Wenceslas took control of his dukedom. He then defended Bohemia from a couple of invasions by Dukes of neighboring regions and legend says that he banished his mother and her pagan followers from his castle.

Wenceslas put in a good education system and a successful law and order system, so the parts of the carol story about him being a kind King are certainly true!

After four years of happiness, when Wenceslas was 22, his brother Boleslav, became very jealous of Wenceslas and plotted (possibly with the pagan followers of their mother) to kill Wenceslas. Boleslav invited Wenceslas to celebrate a saint's day with him, but on the way to the Church, Wenceslas was attacked and stabbed to death by three of Boleslav's followers!

The (fictitious) story told in the song was written by a Czech poet Václav Alois Svoboda in 1847. He wrote many 'manuscripts' that tried to prove that Czech literature was much older and more developed than it really was. The poem was written in three languages, Czech, German, Latin, and was called 'Sankt Wenceslaw und Podiwin' (Saint Wenceslas and the Crocheteer). The Poem found it's way into the UK in the 19th Century where JM Neale put the translated words to the tune of a 13th century spring carol 'Tempus Adest Floridum' ('It is time for flowering') that was came from a collection of old religious songs called 'Piae Cantiones' that was published in 1582 in Sweden/Finland!

So this Christmas song has got quite a confusing story behind it!

Sing along to Good King Wenceslas! (on a different site)

ALL:
Good King Wenceslas looked out,
upon the Feast of Stephen,
when the snow lay round about,
deep and crisp and even:
brightly shone the moon that night,
though the frost was cruel,
when a poor man came in site,
gathering winter fuel.

KING:
Hither page and stand by me!
I you know it telling:
yonder man who is he,
where and what his dwelling?

PAGE:
Sir he lives a good way hence,
underneath the mountain;
right against the forest fence,
by Saint Agnes' fountain:

KING:
Bring me food and bring me wine,
bring me pine logs hither:
you and I will see him dine,
when we take them thither.

ALL:
Page and monarch forth they went,
forth they went together,
through the wild wind's loud lament,
and the bitter weather.

PAGE:
Sir the night is darker now,
and the wind grows stronger;
fails my heart - I know not how,
I can go no longer.

KING:
Mark my footsteps well my page,
follow in them boldly:
you shall find the winter's rage,
chills your blood less coldly.

ALL:
In his masters steps he trod,
where the snow lay even,
strong to do the will of God,
in the hope of Heaven:
therefore Christians all be sure,
grace and wealth possessing,
you that now will bless the poor,
shall yourselves find blessing.

Silent Night

The words of Silent Night were written by a Priest called Fr. Joseph Mohr in Mariapfarr, Austria, in 1816 and the music was added in 1818, by his school teacher friend Franz Xaver Gruber, for the Christmas service at St. Nicholas church in Oberndorf, Austria.

Fr. Mohr asked Franz Gruber to compose the melody with a guitar arrangement. It was several years later that Franz Gruber wrote an arrangement for the organ. Historians who have conducted research in recent years believe that Fr. Mohr wanted a new carol that he could play on his guitar.

There is a legend associated with the carol that says, Fr. Mohr wanted the carol to be sung by the children of the village at the midnight Christmas Eve service, as a surprise for their parents. But in the middle of practising, the organ broke and not a note would come from it! So the children had to learn the carol only accompanied by a guitar. They learnt the carol so well that they could sing it on its own without accompaniment.

However, there are no records to indicate that a children's choir was involved or that the organ was broken!

At Midnight Mass in 1818, Fr. Mohr and Franz Gruber sang each of the six verses with the church choir repeating the last two lines of each verse. Mohr set down the guitar arrangement on paper around 1820 and that is the earliest manuscript that still exists. It is displayed in the Carolino Augusteum Museum in Salzburg. There are a number of manuscripts of various 'Stille Nacht' arrangements that were written by Franz Gruber in later years.

The original words of the song were in German (and it was called 'Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht') and the first translation into English went:

Silent night, holy night,
Bethlehem sleeps, yet what light,
Floats around the heavenly pair;
Songs of angels fills the air.
Strains of heavenly peace.

Now the first verse is normally translated as:

Silent night, holy night!
All is calm, all is bright.
Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child.
Holy infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.

It's thought that the song might have traveled around the area with an organ repairman, Karl Mauracher, who could have taken an early arrangement with him in about 1820. Then two singing families (like the 'Von Trappes' in The Sound of Music) seem to have discovered the song and performed it as part of their concerts. In December 1832, the Strasser family performed it at a concert in Leipzig. It was first performed in the USA in 1839 by the Rainer family, who sang 'Stille Nacht' at the Alexander Hamilton Monument outside Trinity Church in New York City. During this time the tune changed to the one we know and sing today!

It was translated into English in 1863 by John Freeman Young. The carol was sung during the Christmas Truce in the First World War in December 1914 as it was a song that soldiers on both sides knew!

By the time that the carol was famous, Fr Mohr had died. Franz Gruber wrote to music authorities in Berlin saying that he had composed the tune, but no one believed him and it was thought that Haydn, Mozart or Beethoven had written it! But then the 1820 manuscript was found and in the top right corner Fr Mohr had written: 'Melodie von Fr. Xav. Gruber.'.

It's now one of the most, if the the most, recorded songs in the world! I've got over 100 versions of it in my collection of Christmas music (which is over 250 Christmas albums)! Sing along to Silent Night! (on a different site)

20th of December

Why do have Christmas Trees?

The History of Nutcrackers

Courtesy of whychristmas.com

Figures of Nutcrackers are quite a common Christmas decoration now. However, they only became popular around the world after World War II.

Nutcracker dolls have been made in made in parts of what's now Germany and Czechia/Czech Republic (around Bohemia and Saxony) since the late 1600s. They might have original been made as good luck symbols or caricatures.

One story says that a rich but grumpy farmer couldn't find a good way of cracking walnuts and offered a reward to anyone who did. A wood carver from the village of Seiffen (in Saxony) made a doll with an opening and closing mouth which was powerful enough to crack nuts. It was a great success and the farmer rewarded the village!

Today Nutcracker dolls are normally made like toy soldiers but they were also made decorated like miners, the police and kings.

By 1800 they were popular decorations in the areas of Saxony and Sonneberg. There are records of them being sold in Dresden market in 1786. Napoleon occupied this area in the early 1800s and it might have been Nutcrackers made to look like Napoleon and his soldiers which gave them the look we still have today.

Nutcracker dolls became popular around other parts of Germany and Europe from the early to mid 1800s.

21st of December

The History of Eggnog

Courtesy of whychristmas.com

Eggnog is a traditional 'American' drink but it started life in the UK as a kind of 'posset' (hot milk mixed with wine or ale and spices). There are a very few old mentions of eggs being mixed in as well.

During the middle ages, possets were used to help treat colds and the flu. (Now the word posset is normally used for a cold set milk pudding which was developed from the drink in the 16th century.)

'Posher' possets were also drunk by the upper classes in the UK, where it was made with Sherry or Brandy rather than beer or ale.

There are some different theories about how the 'nog' in eggnog came about. One theory says that 'nog' was the name given to strong beer in East Anglia and when eggs were added to it, it became eggnog. Another theory says the nog comes from the word 'noggin' a middle English word for a small and carved wooden mug which was used to serve alcohol (and noggin is still a song term for your head!). And yet another say the nog comes from nugg or nugged ale, a Scottish term meaning ale which had been warmed by putting a poker from the fire in it!

In the mid 1700s the drink travelled over to the USA, where sometimes rum was used in it rather than ale. And from that there's another naming theory, as rum was known as grog, so eggnog could have started out as egg-n-grog.

But I think the eggs and strong ale or eggs in the noggin cups makes more sense...

The first written use of eggnog is from 1775 when Jonathan Boucher, a clergyman and philologist (someone who studies old texts) from Maryland, wrote a comic poem about the various drink he had during the day! (But his poem wasn't publish until after his death 30 years later.)

"Fog-drams i' th' morn, or (better still) egg-nogg,
At night hot-suppings, and at mid-day, grogg,
My palate can regale..."
In March 1788 a newspaper in New Jersey reported that:

"A young man with a cormerant appetite, voraciously devoured, last week, at Connecticut farms, thirty raw eggs, a glass of egg nog, and another of brandy sling."
The earliest connection of Christmas and eggnog is from the Virginia Chronicle in 1793:

"On last Christmas Eve several gentlemen met at Northampton court-house, and spent the evening in mirth and festivity, when EGG-NOG was the principal Liquor used by the company. After they had indulged pretty freely in this beverage, a gentleman in company offered a bet that not one of the party could write four verses, extempore, which should be rhyme and sense..."
An early eggnog recipe comes from 1799 when the book 'Travels Through the States of North America and the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada' (volume 2) described how and inn in Baltimore made eggnog:

"The American travellers, before they pursued their journey, took a hearty draught each, according to custom, of egg-nog, a mixture composed of new milk, eggs, rum, and sugar, beat up together;..."
Also in the 1790s, George Washington was the first US President to serve eggnog. His recipe contained rum, whisky and sherry!

The 'Tom and Jerry' is an eggnog cocktail made with rum and brandy. It was invented in 1920 by the British journalist Pierce Egan. It's thought that the Tom and Jerry cartoon might be named after this cocktail!

In the 1892, 'The Medical Brief' journal suggested that eggnog could be used as a treatment for the flu - so going back to how medieval possets were used!

The eggnog you can now get in cartons, isn't normally alcoholic.

22th of December

Traditional Yorkshire Pudding Recipe

A common English side dish, it is a versatile food that can be served in numerous ways depending on its ingredients, size, and the accompanying components of the meal; Yorkshire pudding is a baked pudding made from eggs, flour and milk.

Preparation Time : 1 Hour

Ingredients:

4 large eggs
1 teaspoon kosher salt
⅞ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole milk
¾ cup melted beef fat

Method:
Step 1
Whisk eggs and salt together in a bowl until light and frothy. Whisk in flour and milk until smooth and lump-free; batter will be thin and barely coat the back of a spoon.

Step 2
Transfer batter to a 4-cup measuring cup and chill in the refrigerator, at least 15 minutes.

Step 3
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

Step 4
Fill each cup of a 12-cup nonstick muffin tin with 1 tablespoon melted beef fat; use your finger to grease the sides and tops of the cups. Place the muffin tin on a baking sheet.

Step 5
Heat in the preheated oven on the middle rack until fat is smoking hot, 10 to 15 minutes.

Step 6
Remove from the oven and fill each muffin cup halfway full with batter.

Step 7
Bake pudding in the preheated oven until browned and fully puffed, about 25 minutes more. Remove from the oven and immediately poke a hole in the center of each to release steam. Serve hot, warm, or room-temperature.

Courtesy of allrecipes.com

23th of December

Favorite Christmas song : Twelve Days of Christmas beautifully sung by top talented choir

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Courtesy of whychristmas.com

The 12 Days of Christmas start on Christmas Day and last until the evening of the 5th January - also known as Twelfth Night. The 12 Days have been celebrated in Europe since before the middle ages and were a time of celebration. Now sometimes the 12 days before Christmas are called the 12 Days of Christmas - but that's wrong! The time before Christmas is Advent.

The 12 Days each traditionally celebrate a feast day for a saint and/or have different celebrations:

Day 1 (25th December): Christmas Day - celebrating the Birth of Jesus
Day 2 (26th December also known as Boxing Day): St Stephen’s Day. He was the first Christian martyr (someone who dies for their faith). It's also the day when the Christmas Carol 'Good King Wenceslas' takes place.
Day 3 (27th December): St John the Apostle (One of Jesus's Disciples and friends)
Day 4 (28th December): The Feast of the Holy Innocents - when people remember the baby boys which King Herod killed when he was trying to find and kill the Baby Jesus.
Day 5 (29th December): St Thomas Becket. He was Archbishop of Canterbury in the 12th century and was murdered on 29th December 1170 for challenging the King’s authority over the Church.
Day 6 (30th December): St Egwin of Worcester.
Day 7 (31st December): New Year's Eve (known as Hogmanay in Scotland). Pope Sylvester I is traditionally celebrated on this day. He was one of the earliest popes (in the 4th Century). In many central and eastern European countries (including Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czechia, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland and Slovenia) New Year's Eve is still sometimes called 'Silvester'. In the UK, New Year's Eve was a traditional day for ‘games’ and sporting competitions. Archery was a very popular sport and during the middle ages it was the law that it had to be practised by all men between ages 17-60 on Sunday after Church! This was so the King had lots of very good archers ready in case he need to go to war!
Day 8 (1st January): 1st January - Mary, the Mother of Jesus
Day 9 (2nd January): St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen, two important 4th century Christians.
Day 10 (3rd January): Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. This remembers when Jesus was officially 'named' in the Jewish Temple. It's celebrated by different churches on a wide number of different dates!
Day 11 (4th January): St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American saint, who lived in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Day 12 (5th January also known as Epiphany Eve): St. John Neumann who was the first Bishop in America (and so far the only US male citizen) to become a saint. He lived in the 19th century. In some churches, it's also the Saint's day of St Simeon Stylites the Elder, who lived on a small platform on the top of a pillar for 37 years!
Twelfth Night
Twelfth Night was a big time of celebration with people holding large parties. During these parties, often the roles in society were reversed with the servants being served by the rich people. This dated back to medieval and Tudor times when Twelfth Night marked the end of 'winter' which had started on 31st October with All Hallows Eve (Halloween).

At the start of Twelfth Night the Twelfth Night cake was eaten. This was a rich cake made with eggs and butter, fruit, nuts and spices. The modern Italian Panettone is the cake we currently have that's most like the old Twelfth Night cake.

A dried pea or bean was cooked in the cake. Whoever found it was the Lord (or Lady) of Misrule for night. The Lord of Misrule led the celebrations and was dressed like a King (or Queen). This tradition goes back to the Roman celebrations of Saturnalia. In later times, from about the Georgian period onwards, to make the Twelfth Night 'gentile', two tokens were put in the cake (one for a man and one for a women) and whoever found them became the the 'King' and 'Queen' of the Twelfth Night party.

In English Cathedrals, during the middle ages, there was the custom of the 'Boy Bishop' where a boy from the Cathedral or monastery school was elected as a Bishop on 6th December (St Nicholas's Day) and had the authority of a Bishop (except to perform Mass) until 28th December. King Henry VIII banned the practise in 1542 although it came back briefly under Mary I in 1552 but Elizabeth I finally stopped it during her reign.

Wassailing at Maplehurst, West Sussex 2
Wassailing apple trees on Twelfth Night in Maplehurst, West Sussex, UK by Glyn Baker [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
During Twelfth Night it was traditional for different types of pipes to be played, especially bagpipes. Lots of games were played including ones with eggs. These included tossing an egg between two people moving further apart during each throw - drop it and you lose; and passing an egg around on spoons. Another popular game was 'snapdragon' where you picked raisins or other dried fruit out of a tray of flaming brandy!

The first Monday after the Christmas feast has finished was known as ‘Plough Monday’ as this was when farming work would all begin again!

In many parts of the UK, people also went Wassailing on Twelfth Night.

Twelfth Night is also known as Epiphany Eve. In many countries it's traditional to put the figures of the Wise Men/Three Kings into the Nativity Scene on Epiphany Eve ready to celebrate Epiphany on the 6th January.

It's also traditional to take your Christmas decorations down following Twelfth Night.

Twelfth Night is also the name of a famous play written by William Shakespeare. It's thought it was written in 1601/1602 and was first performed at Candlemas in 1602, although it wasn't published until 1623.

24th of December

Listen to the Top Christmas Carols

The traditions and Customs of Christmas Eve

Courtesy of whychristmas.com

Carols were first sung in Europe thousands of years ago, but these were not Christmas Carols. They were pagan songs, sung at the Winter Solstice celebrations as people danced round stone circles. The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year, usually taking place around 22nd December. The word Carol actually means dance or a song of praise and joy! Carols used to be written and sung during all four seasons, but only the tradition of singing them at Christmas has really survived.

Christmas, remembering the birth of Jesus, then started to be celebrated at the same time as the solstice, so the early Christians started singing Christian songs instead of pagan ones. In 129, a Roman Bishop said that a song called "Angel's Hymn" should be sung at a Christmas service in Rome. Another famous early Christmas Hymn was written in 760, by Comas of Jerusalem, for the Greek Orthodox Church. Soon after this many composers all over Europe started to write 'Christmas carols'. However, not many people liked them as they were all written and sung in Latin, a language that the normal people couldn't understand. By the time of the Middles Ages (the 1200s), most people had lost interest in celebrating Christmas altogether.

This was changed by St. Francis of Assisi when, in 1223, he started his Nativity Plays in Italy. The people in the plays sang songs or 'canticles' that told the story during the plays. Sometimes, the choruses of these new carols were in Latin; but normally they were all in a language that the people watching the play could understand and join in! The new carols spread to France, Spain, Germany and other European countries.

The earliest carol, like this, was written in 1410. Sadly only a very small fragment of it still exists. The carol was about Mary and Jesus meeting different people in Bethlehem. Most Carols from this time and the Elizabethan period are untrue stories, very loosely based on the Christmas story, about the holy family and were seen as entertaining rather than religious songs. They were usually sung in homes rather than in churches! Traveling singers or Minstrels started singing these carols and the words were changed for the local people wherever they were traveling. One carols that changed like this is 'I Saw Three Ships'.

Carol-singing men on a square in Ljubljana
Carol-singing men on a square in Ljubljana - Johann Weikhard von Valvasor [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
When the Puritans came to power in England in 1640s, the celebration of Christmas and singing carols was stopped. However, the carols survived as people still sang them in secret. Carols remained mainly unsung until Victorian times, when two men called William Sandys and Davis Gilbert collected lots of old Christmas music from villages in England. Carols were sung as folk songs in places like pubs but they often weren't thought of as 'proper' or 'nice' songs by the middle or upper classes. (Singing carols in pubs still happens today and there are some very famis carol sings pubs in the north of England, especially in North Derbyshire and South Yorkshire.)

Before carol singing in places like churches became popular, there were sometimes official carol singers called 'Waits'. These were bands of people led by important local leaders (such as council leaders) who had the only power in the towns and villages to take money from the public (if others did this, they were sometimes charged as beggars!). They were called 'Waits' because they sang on Christmas Eve (This was sometimes known as 'watchnight' or 'waitnight' because of the shepherds were watching their sheep when the angels appeared to them.), when the Christmas celebrations began.

Also, at this time, many orchestras and choirs were being set up in the cities of England and people wanted Christmas songs to sing, so carols once again became popular in churches and concert halls. Many new carols, such as 'Good King Wenceslas', were also written in the Victorian period.

New carols services were created and became popular, as did the custom of singing carols in the streets. Both of these customs are still popular today! One of the most popular types of Carols services are Carols by Candlelight services. At this service, the church is only lit by candlelight and it feels very Christmassy! Carols by Candlelight services are held in countries all over the world.

The most famous type of Carol Service might be a Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, where carols and Bible readings tell the Christmas Story.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas brings every heart together. It’s the perfect time of the year to greet others from your heart. Everyone dear to you including your friends, family, spouse, girlfriend, boyfriend, relatives, colleagues expect some sweet Christmas wishes from you. Don’t miss this great opportunity to show the love and warmth your heart holds for them. Spread and share the spirit of Christmas by sending them a Christmas wish.

Santa, being in the more vulnerable age group needs to self isolate himself until the busy evening, but, with a huge stroke of good fortune, he was able to spend some time with Rotary recording a special message for local children across the town.

This year we are focussing on the Salvation Army Toy Fund

To donate £2 please text ERIMUSSANTA2 to 70085

To donate £5 please text ERIMUSSANTA5 to 70085

To donate £10 please text ERIMUSSANTA10 to 70085

(the cost will be your donation plus your standard message charge)

Every penny raised goes toward a great cause.

Alternatively, donations of any size can be sent via the link below

Erimus Rotary Santa's Giving Page

Erimus Rotary Christmas 2021

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1st December

2nd December

Unbelievably easy mince pies

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3rd of December

What’s the absolute best Christmas present?

A broken drum — you can’t beat it!

How did Mary and Joseph know Jesus’ weight when he was born?

They had a weigh-in a manger!

4th of December

How well do you know Santa's reindeer?

5th of December

One for Mum and DadNigella is always popular in our house

6th of December

Santa Jokes - from Christmas Crackers OH NO!

7th of December

Beatles Night Before Christmas

Magical Mystery Yule

8th of December

09th of December

10th of December

11th of December

12th of December

13th December

14th of December

Christmas around the world

Hungary

15th of December

Christmas or Xmas?

16th of December

Why is Christmas Day on the 25th December?

The Date of Christmas

So when was Jesus Born?

17th of December

The History of Christmas Crackers

18th of December

Boxing Day - the Day after Christmas!

19th of December

Some Stories behind Christmas Carols

I Saw Three Ships

Good King Wenceslas

Silent Night

20th of December

The History of Nutcrackers

21st of December

The History of Eggnog

22th of December

Traditional Yorkshire Pudding Recipe

23th of December

The Twelve Days of Christmas

24th of December

The traditions and Customs of Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas!

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One for Mum and Dad
Nigella is always popular in our house