The 2021 Holiday Tag

I thought it was time for some fun posts so… here’s The 2021 Holiday Tag post. I read it first on Bee’s blog Mind. Beauty. Simplicity. So let’s go…

What is your favourite holiday movie?

I love Christmas Movies – you know how some channels are set up just to show Christmas films in July – well if I have access I am one of those people who will tune in for those films!

The favourites that I watch every year are It’s A Wonderful Life, The Muppets Christmas Carol,

A Christmas Carol will often pop up in different versions too. I quite like the Patrick Stewart one too. I’ve just looked up when it came out and realised it’s got a really all-star cast. Joel Grey (MC in Cabaret with Liza Minelli) played the Ghost of Christmas Past and Richard E. Grant plays Crachitt amongst many others.

What is the best way to celebrate a Saturday in December?

December in our house can often be very busy. On a ‘normal’ non-Covid Christmas we can spend most weekends bouncing from one carol service to the next. One Christmas we threatened to camp in the church garden because of how little time we’d actually be spending at home between services and events!

I think it would be nice to start the morning with a nice breakfast – not just a bowl of cereal but maybe pastries or pancakes. Then head off to outdoor carols somewhere (We’d often go to Jaffa Orchard or the Gordon Arms with church friends and do carols for an hour or two – in 2019 I was part of a flash mob in town singing carols). Maybe lunch with friends or just our little family.

Then if we’re having a real tree it would be going shopping for that, if not we’d go home, curl up in front of the TV and watch a Christmas movie or try and play a board game while Rex had a nap.

What’s your favourite holiday song?

There are two albums that always play in my Mum’s house and make me feel super Christmassy. With us not being at home for Christmas this year I’ve pretty much had those two on repeat since November 1st. One is Cliff at Christmas by Cliff Richard and the other is Home for Christmas by Amy Grant. Those opening bars of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” on the Amy Grant album always make me think of Mum baking up a storm in the kitchen. She’d have the oven heating up while she cut out a whole row of little circles for mince pies. She’d probably have something else in the background ready to go in the oven too when it was ready. (Oh and if we timed it right there could be sausage rolls too! They are super easy to make but so yummy – might need to write up that recipe if I can!)

What do you typically eat during the Holidays?

Too much probably! That last week leading up to the big day there will usually be mince pies, biscuits or a tub of sweets already on the go. As a kid, Christmas Eve tea was sandwiches and nibbles so Mum didn’t have to do too much ahead of the main event on Christmas Day. She’d have various bowls and dishes lined up in the Utility Room with peeled and prepped veggies and other bits ready to go in the oven or on the hob when the time came.

What is your favourite Christmas cookie or holiday treat?

Lebkuchen or Stollen are often my go-to. I’ve managed to find Stollen in the supermarkets here but haven’t found Lebkuchen – I might have to give up or see if Mum can bring me some in her suitcase when she visits…

This year we’ve been eating Æbleskiver and Brunkager. We cheat with frozen Æbleskiver but you can get a pan and make your own. Æbleskiver translates as Apple Slices – although there are no apples in them! Imagine pancake mix but cooked into small balls (bigger than a golf ball but smaller than a tennis ball), they are so good! They are served here with jam and icing sugar. Brunkager are ginger snap biscuits. This recipe from Louises Mad Blog (Louise’s Food Blog) contain almonds (mandler) and pistachios (pistaciekerner) too but the shop-bought ones we’ve had are just ginger biscuits. They are a favourite along with Pebbenødder (which literally translated is Pepper Nuts), these are also little ginger biscuits. Chris and Jaxon have been eating them with Skyr and strawberry jam/sauce. (Often accompanied with Kammerjunker (these biscuits you normally have with koldskål in the summer but they’ve decided they work all year round lol.

In our family, the making of the Christmas Cake is a family event. Mum makes the cakes and then Grandad does the icing. Previously, Grandma would make the cakes then Grandad would do the icing. Our cake would then either get dropped off or we’d collect it in the run-up to Christmas. This year, it’s become my job as we won’t be local this year. I put it off at first because we were moving apartment but now we’re almost under a week to go to the big day so I really need to get on with it and make it happen. I think tomorrow we’re going to top-up the baking ingredients and then set about getting the cake done.

Which fictional character would you want to spend the holidays with?

I always loved the Vicar of Dibley, I imagine Christmas with Geraldine would be busy but good fun. (I always wanted to be Alice so I could be her best friend lol). I’m not sure this is technically the Christmas episode but it always makes me laugh even though I’d seen it so many times!

Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?

Well in Twas The Night Before Christmas, Santa’s reindeer are Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen. (Did you know that Donner and Blitzen’s names come from the Dutch for Thunder and Lightning? – the idea is that they travel that as fast as thunder and lightning across the sky. First, it was Dunder and Blixem but over time it’s changed to Donner and Blitzen as we know today). Rudolph wasn’t added to the gang until much later (like 70 or 80 years later)

Where would you like to visit during the holiday season?

I would love to visit New York City and see the Rockefeller tree amongst other places. Courtney has been sharing about her recent trip to NYC and has been including pictures of the tree so I’m enjoying that vicariously for now.

It’s been nice to explore the Christmas markets around the city this year. The first one I went to was at Højbro Plads (just outside Illum). I have briefly been through a couple of others but it was earlier in the day and they hadn’t opened yet so there wasn’t so much to see. At the Højbro Plads one I bought Jaxon a Toffee Apple after we’d seen them on the Markets episode of Bluey. I think like me, he found the idea is better than the reality when it comes to them lol.

Do you like receiving gifts or giving gifts better?

A bit of both. I love to make gifts for people but always get anxious that it’s the wrong colours, yarn or style for the person. I made a Christmas present for a new friend here, it keeps getting moved around the apartment while we wait to see them again but with restrictions etc, church services have gone back online so I probably won’t see them until the new year now so it’ll be late and I’ll worry about it some more lol.
As far as receiving gifts, I always try to appreciate a gift – mostly because someone has taken the time to think of me. It doesn’t need to be big and flashy. The best ones are “I just saw this and thought of you”. My friend N says I’m good at this. We’d been talking about Pear Drop sweets at knitting group one week and I happened to pass Arcadia Sweetshop in Bedford (when Debs and Jan were still running it) so I popped in and got N a bag of pear drops – we sat and worked our way through them during the next knitting group lol. She appreciated it because to her it was just part of the conversation and yet I’d remembered and made an act of it (can you guess that Thoughtful Gifts is one of my primary love languages lol)

What is the best gift you’ve ever received?

The one that came to mind was made by Mum. For our first married Christmas, my Mum had made us a quilt. It’s been packed away for many years because as much as I want to use it, I also don’t want it to get trashed. I’m sure my Mum knew that it might get marked or stained along the way because that’s what comes with use but at the same time I wanted to be able to cherish it. It’s white and cream – maybe with a little pale yellow in there too and it’s beautiful. I know that many hours went into it and lots and lots of love too. Maybe one day I’ll have to get it out and put it on the bed so it can be used instead of just stored for a “rainy” day or special occasion.