Mr Christmas feels the credit crunch

Britain's very own Mr Christmas - who celebrates Christmas every single day - said the recession had forced him to scale back the whirlwind of daily festivities this year.

Mr Christmas (a.k.a. Andy Park, a divorced electrician from Melksham*) said his weight had plunged after slashing his mammoth daily portions of mince pies, champagne, roast turkey and all the trimmings.

He used to blow £11,000 a year on his daily Christmas knees-up but has trimmed his budget down to £5,000 in 2009.

"Before the credit crunch I was eating a 14-pound turkey, now I'm down to a four pounder. I've cut down from nine massive roast potatoes to four," Park said.

"I used to have 40 peas on my plate, now its just a tablespoon. I now have to make a bottle of champagne last two days. From 40 mince pies a day I've gone to 12 and there's no double cream."

To read more, click here.

* What I want to know is was Santa cited as the 'other party' in his divorce proceedings.

Nativities, Christingles and Mulled Wine

The preparations for Christmas in the Green household really started in earnest this week. First off it was Son's Nativity, next week it's Daughter's Nativity and yesterday we hit the shops (and the plastic) hard to get most of our Christmas shopping done. Oh, and the kids met Santa Claus.

This morning we're off to a Christingle service and then this afternoon we're going round to a neighbour's to enjoy some mulled wine and mince pies. But what are the origins of Nativity plays, Christingles and mulled wine?

One man is credited with creating the Christmas crib more than any other, and that is the 13th century Saint Francis of Assissi. In 1220, Francis made the pilgrimage to Bethlehem. While there, he saw how Christmas was celebrated in the town of Jesus' birth and was so impressed that he asked the Pope if he might recreate something like it in his own Italian home of Greccio.

And of course during the Medieval period, mystery plays - with mummers acting out stories from the Bible - were one of the most popular forms of Christmas entertainment. Both survive to this day, but it is normally children who act out the Nativity story itself and not the adults anymore.

The physical form of the Christingle is an orange, tied with a red ribbon and stuck with a candle and cocktail sticks bearing fruit and nuts. It is a symbolic object particularly used in Christian Advent services, hence the name given to a particular type of religious service. The word Christingle actually means 'Christ Light'. Both the Christingles that are made and the Christingle services that take place in church, celebrate Jesus coming into the world, in his aspect as the Light of the World.

The first Christingle service was held in a castle in Germany, on Christmas Eve 1747, by a bishop of the Moravian Church known as Pastor John. He wanted to find some simple way of teaching people about the true meaning of Christmas. His solution was to prepare a simple symbol which would make the Christmas message seem fresh and alive to them. During the informal service, Pastor John gave each child present a lighted candle wrapped in a red ribbon. He then intoned a prayer.

You can find out more about the origins of the Nativity play and the Christingle in What is Myrrh Anyway? Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Christmas, published by Icon Books.

And if you think the idea of warm mince pies and mulled wine on a cold December day sounds like a good one, follow this link to a piece I posted last year that includes a recipe for the utterly delicious Bishop's wine.

Now that's what I call dedication!

Nicola Simons calculates that she's already munched her way through 600 mince pies this year - and she hasn't finished yet! But then Nicola, 25, is the bakery product developer for Sainsbury's and responsible for creating the supermarket's seasonal range.

"Part of my job involves tasting every product, including mince pies, Christmas cakes and puddings from all our competitors, as well as reviewing our own range," she explains.

And she estimates that while developing this year's mince pies, she has chomped her way through 17kg of pastry and 18kg of mincemeat - approximately 23 jars.

"I usually spend around 12 hours a week eating, but in the run-up to Christmas this can be up to 21 hours," she adds.

To read more about Nicola's extraordinary dedication to perfecting the perfect mince pie, click here. And if you want to know what mince pies should really taste like, you can find an original Medieval recipe in What is Myrrh Anyway? available now!

Have an Exceedingly Merry Christmas

If there's one person you should invite to stay with you and yours this Christmas, it's Mr Kipling.

Nothing signifies the start of the Christmas season quite like a mince pie and a glass of mulled wine, and last year Mr Kipling produced 60 million mince pies? That's enough to stretch from London to Greenland! (He must be a very busy man.)

But he doesn't only make mince pies, he makes exceedingly good Christmas Cake Slices as well, along with Cranberry and Orange Mini Classics, Christmas Pudding Slices, Winter Warmer Lattice Tarts and Festive Bakewells to boot!

Did you know...?

Over the three key Christmas months retailers sell around 60 packs of mince pies per minute - that’s six mince pies sold per person per year in the UK. A whopping 1,900 tonnes of mincemeat goes into Mr Kipling mince pies each year; that’s the equivalent weight of 317 full size elephants! In one mince pie season, Mr. Kipling uses 190 tonnes raisins, 300 tonnes sultanas and 2,184 tonnes pastry to create these popular festive sweet treats!

But the largest mince pie ever to be baked wasn't one of Mr K's. It weighed 1.02 tonnes and measured a huge 6.1m x 1.5m. It was baked in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire on 15 October 1932.

Free mince pie!

Drop by my Christmas Miscellany blog (the American companion blog to this one) and receive a mince pie, absolutely free!


And keep an eye on the Christmas Miscellany blog over the coming weeks as people the world over start to prepare for the big day.

Mulled wine and mince pies

Earlier this evening I enjoyed mulled wine and mince pies at a neighbour's house. Of course, the eating of the mince pies was, technically, against the law and there was no hare's liver in the mincemeat (see What is Myrrh Anyway? for more details) but nonetheless it was very nice too.

If you're looking to host a mulled wine party yourself before Christmas, you could do a lot worse than try out this simple festive recipe for the intriguingly titled Bishop's Wine.

Bishop’s Wine

1 bottle of red wine
1 orange stuck with cloves
1 cinnamon stick
The peel of 1 lemon
Sugar to taste

Place the clove stuck orange in a large pan; add the red wine and leave to steep for half a day. During this time the wine will take on the flavours of the orange and cloves. Then you need to add the other ingredients together and simply warm the whole lot through half an hour before serving.