Words by Jules
Christmas traditions as we know them today are the result of a small collection of poets, writers, and artists in late nineteenth-century New York. A man named Clement Clarke Moore created a poem for his daughters simply for their enjoyment. Originally called “Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas,” the poem was published in the New York newspaper The Troy Sentinel on 23 December 1823. The story is none other than The Night Before Christmas. These fifty-six lines transported Christmas from the tavern and public square to people’s homes complete with a warm kitchen and fireplace. There are plenty of other examples of artworks and novels that provide evidence for how artists’ imaginations shaped experience, tradition, and meaning making. Yet perhaps none is more prominent than Dicken’s A Christmas Carol. Written in 1834, this book is filled with imagery that is the prototype of how we commemorate Christmas today. Candlelight, plum puddings, and holly all feature in this book, which focuses on the working class, and the haunting of a greedy rich man named Scrooge.
Music too, defines the season, and the repertoire is ever evolving. It’s not all Bublé, Mariah, and Sinatra. Artists continually expand their imaginations to accommodate the complexities of the season. Images of homes, greenery, merriment, and the warmth of fireplaces and hot summers, sit against a backdrop of war, longing, death, and grief. This all occurs as centuries of carols, hymns, and songs provide the soundtrack. It is with this in mind, that I embarked upon curating a Christmas EP.
The music traditions we have drawn from my EP It’s Coming on Christmas are a tried-and-true mix. German hymns are placed next to the yearning melancholic ballads of wartime Hollywood, and the first iterations of Laurel Canyon truth-telling.
And so, Christmas with all its fun, theatre, traditions, and of course heartbreak, can provoke a jumble of emotions. I have titled this EP It’s Coming on Christmas, the first line from Joni Mitchell’s River. River was not intended to be part of the Christmas canon, but it has ended up being covered by over 500 artists in their Christmas albums. What makes River resonate with people is how immensely sad it is. Against the Californian sunshine, Joni Mitchell wants a frozen river on which to skate away. In sunlight, she wants a cold winter. Is there anything that could illustrate despondency more?
So here are five of my favourite Christmas traditions, many of which have helped me get through many a blue Christmas.
Difficult Christmas desserts.
Every year I try my hand at a difficult Christmas dessert. My favourite one to date is a Bûche De Noël, which means Christmas Log. This is a European cake which you need to roll. Rolling a sheet cake into a log is very stressful and rewarding! Then, I fill with Frangelico cream, which is an Italian hazelnut liquor cream. Then it’s time to drizzle in ganache. Finally, I decorate the log with little meringue mushrooms, frosted rosemary, and red berries, finishing with a blanket of icing sugar snow. I am unsure what I will make this year, but I have just picked up The Magical Christmas Cookbook. The recipes are inspired by the European Christmas markets. I have my eye on a Honey Parfait with Mulled Wine Plums. This has become a hardcore baking and crafting marathon that I just adore. I pop my headphones on, sip wine, bake away, and won’t let anyone interrupt me.
House decorating day.
Our family waits until 1 December, or the weekend around that time, to deck the halls. All my children look forward to adorning our tree with the decorations we have accumulated over the years. It always feels like Christmas before Christmas when we peer into the boxes that have been stored away in the roof for eleven months. This year I was so happy to reunite with these knitted Scandinavian faceless gnome Christmas wine bottle covers. I had completely forgotten about those guys.
Wrapping presents in front of the movie The Holiday.
This movie is my Christmas present-wrapping movie. I pour wine and wrap all of the presents as I watch this film for the umpteenth time. My sister Sarah and I used to do this together, but she moved to London. Now we will text each other photos of our yearly ritual.
Listen to Hugh Grant read A Christmas Carol on Audible.
Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol written in 1834, is filled with imagery that is the prototype of how we commemorate Christmas today. Candelight, plum puddings, and holly all feature in the pages of this novel. A Christmas Carol is an ode to the working class, and the haunting and humbling of an insatiable old man named Scrooge. I don’t know whose genius move it was to ask Hugh Grant to narrate this story for Audible, but they should be given all the Christmas hampers their hearts want because this recording is impeccable. Grant says, “It’s … pretty much impossible not to love Dickens – he’s funny, he’s angry, he’s a linguistic genius, and he belongs to that rare group of great writers who actually loved human existence.”
Advent countdown.
Advent is a great tradition that reinforces the importance of hope-filled waiting. It lasts just under four weeks. While we all know about the modern tradition of Advent calendars, the tradition began with the lighting of 24 candles on an Advent wreath. This practice began in a nineteenth-century orphanage in Germany. Here’s how historian Kate Bowler describes it: “To help the children count down the days to Christmas and manage their excitement, [Johann Hinrich Wichern] constructed the first Advent wreath from a large cartwheel, placing 24 candles on it: four large white candles for Sundays and nineteen small red candles for the weekdays of Advent. Each day, a new candle was lit, teaching the children both patience and the significance of Advent. The tradition continues, inviting us all to push back the darkness one light at a time.” While my kids diligently pluck their sweet treats from the tiny boxes of our Advent Calendar from 1 December, I think the lighting of candles is better. Kate Bowler says, “While Christmas is all joy-filled and ‘fa-la-la,’ Advent is more like, ‘we’re in the dark, holding a candle, and really hoping the light shows up soon.’”
