Christmas is upon us once again and although it's pretty much universal it will mean different things to each of us. How should Christmas be celebrated? As a religious festival, a commercial opportunity or a time for social gatherings and a bit of Christmas excess.....?
In recent years here in the UK there has been a conscious attempt to get the Christianity out of Christmas, even the expression 'Merry Christmas' has been replaced with 'Happy Holidays.' But for many, the Christian connotations give hope to the thought that humankind has a better destiny than being an accident in an accidental universe that has no purpose or meaning.
A senior spokesperson from John Lewis has said Christmas has become savagery, well he should know, many large corporations start their Christmas campaigns in September, and by Black Friday, Christmas has become 'so last week.'
For many people Christmas has become about balancing the demands of working, socialising, shopping, expenditure and family obligations, whilst at the other end of the scale, for 800,000 people in England it is a time of chronic loneliness.
During the festive period we are bombarded with adverts tempting us to buy more than our bodyweight in food, Interspersed with these adverts are the crys for help from various worldwide charities, in the space of 2 minutes we see an advert for a five bird roast that weighs more than a starving child, yet, whilst this might momentarily prick our conscious, we'll still bin edible food come Boxing day.
Christmas is extremely emotive, and mine will certainly be different this year with Bert spending his first ever Christmas away from home. I've made very little in the way of 'picky bits' which we normally eat on Christmas eve and Boxing day, however, I had an ingenious idea about chilli jam (goes well with cheese, sausage rolls and other picky bits.) I also made some simpler than simple delicious chickens puffs (for want of a better description) I literally made these with ready made pastry and some leftover chicken curry, if you have any leftover turkey you could chop it up, add a splodge your favourite sauce, some peas, spices and seasonings and hey presto a tasty snack!
Well readers, I'd like to wish you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS and thank you all for sticking with Donna's Pink Kitchen. I'd particularly like to thank those of you who contribute by way of recipes, photos, links to information and lovely feedback and comments, I can't tell you how appreciative I am. I'm off to Spain so shall be taking a short break but I'll see you all on the other side.
I made this off the top of my head because (never one to waste anything!) I had a few near empty jars of jam and cranberry sauce, and even a tiny bit of fig chutney, languishing in my fridge which wouldn't keep whilst I'm away. So, I scraped them all into a small pan and added dried chillies, I gently heated the jams then poured it into my nutri bullet and blitzed (to blend the chilli flakes) bloomin marvellous idea, if I do say so myself!
'Christmas is not a time or season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill and to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.'
- Calvin Coolidge.
Love Donna xxxxx
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