Merry Xmas!

Every year more than 400 million people celebrate Christmas around the globe, which makes it one of the biggest religious and commercial festivities in the world.

But have you ever wondered why Christmas is so often shortened to Xmas?

In fact, the practice dates back further than you might suspect, ans has nothing to do with devaluing the Christian festival, as many people believe. In reality, both Christ and Christmas have been abbreviated for at least 1,000 years. The word Christ appears in Medieval documents as both 'XP' and 'Xt' and can even be found in this form in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle from 1021. By why were those particular letters used?

To find out more, pick up your copy of Christmas Miscellany: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Christmas or What is Myrrh Anyway? time for the festive season. After all, there's only 16 days to go until Christmas! (Or should that be Xmas?)

Merry Xmas!

Every year more than 400 million people celebrate Christmas around the globe, which makes it one of the biggest religious and commercial festivities in the world.

But have you ever wondered why Christmas is so often shortened to Xmas?

In fact, the practice dates back further than you might suspect, ans has nothing to do with devaluing the Christian festival, as many people believe. In reality, both Christ and Christmas have been abbreviated for at least 1,000 years. The word Christ appears in Medieval documents as both 'XP' and 'Xt' and can even be found in this form in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle from 1021. By why were those particular letters used?

To find out more, pick up your copy of Christmas Miscellany: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Christmas or What is Myrrh Anyway? time for the festive season. After all, there's only 16 days to go until Christmas! (Or should that be Xmas?)

The Feast of St Nicholas

Yes, that's right, today is the feast day of St Nicholas - a.k.a. Santa Claus!

In many countries around the world St Nicholas is the main gift giver. In some places he arrives in the middle of November and moves about the countryside, visiting schools and homes to find out if children have been good or bad. In others he comes in the night and finds carrots and hay for his horse or donkey along with children's wish lists. Small treats are also left in shoes or stockings so the children will know if he has been by the lack thereof in the morning.

In some countries it is St Nicholas' day that is the prominent gift-giving day and not Christmas itself. Parties may be held on the evening of 5 December with shoes or stockings being left out for the saint to fill when he visits during the night.


Did you know...?

Santa has approximately 31 hours in which to deliver all his gifts on Christmas Eve, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, and assuming that he travels from east to west.

You can find out more about the origins of one of the world's most popular saints in What is Myrrh Anyway? and Christmas Miscellany - both available now!

You'd better be good, for goodness sake...

In the twenty-first century, we've got so used to the idea that Santa brings gifts to good little boys and girls, it is easy to forget that not so long ago bad little boys and girls were likewise punished.

In the wild heartlands of Europe, such legends are not so easily forgotten, and so it is that in countries such as Austria and Hungary, on December 5 communities remember Krampus*, a demonic anti-Santa who accompanies St. Nicholas during the Christmas season, warning and punishing bad children.

In the Alpine regions, traditionally young men dress up as the Krampus in the first two weeks of December, particularly on the evening of 5 December, and roam the streets frightening children and women with rusty chains and bells. In some rural areas the tradition goes so far as to include the birching of young girls!

Images of Krampus usually show him with a basket on his back used to carry away bad children and dump them into the pits of Hell.

So when the fat man with the bulging sack asks if you've been good or bad, you'd better have been good, for goodness sake...

You can also get hold of some very cool Krampus greetings cards and stickers, and the like, from Miss Monster here.

* The word Krampus originates from the Old High German word for claw (Krampen).

Pizza for Christmas

Fed up with the traditional turkey for Christmas or just wondering what to do with the leftovers the next day? Then why not make yourself a Christmas pizza this year?

Christmas Turkey Pizza

For the Dough3/4 cup lukewarm water
1 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

For the Sauce250ml whipping cream
4 tbsp. butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 strips crispy bacon, chopped

For the Toppings
1 lb. roast turkey or chicken
3-4 golden fingerling potatoes
1 small red onion
4 tbsp. whole cranberry sauce
1 sprig fresh rosemary

Preparation
1. Prepare dough – Mix all ingredients and let it rise until dough doubled in size, about 1 hour. Dust a pizza stone with flour. Roll out the dough to fit stone. Let rise for 20 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
3. Prepare sauce - melt butter over medium low heat. Add garlic and saute lightly - don’t burn the garlic! Stir in the cream and bring to a simmer and reduce heat. Add bacon and simmer until desired consistency is reached.
4. Spread sauce thinly on dough then arrange the remaining toppings as desired.
5. Bake in the center of the oven until the dough is golden at the edges, about 35 minutes. Remove, let sit for 5 minutes, then cut and serve.

And here's a recipe for a sweet Christmas pizza

Sweet Christmas Pizza

Ingredients
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 pound white almond bark divided
2 cups mini marshmallows
1 cup rice cereal
1 cup peanuts
16 ounces red maraschino cherries, quartered
3 tablespoons green cherries
1/3 cup coconut
1 teaspoon oil

Melt chocolate with 14 ounce almond bark in large saucepan on low heat, stir until smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in marshmallows, cereal and peanuts. Pour into greased 12 inch pizza pan. Top with cherries. Sprinkle with coconut. Melt remaining almond bark with oil over low heat. Stir until smooth. Drizzle over coconut. Chill. Store at room temperature.

And here's a Christmas pizza the Franklin family made earlier...

A White Christmas

With Christmas only a matter of weeks away now, you might want to start thinking about what you're going to feed all your guests this year. Well, why not make all their Christmases white with this simple recipe for a delicious festive treat from down under?

White Christmas

250g vegetable shortening
1 cup rice crispies
1 cup shredded coconut
¾ cup icing sugar
1 cup powdered milk
¾ cup toasted almond kernels
30g mixed peel
30g preserved ginger
30g glace apricots
30g glace pineapple
30g sultanas
50g glace cherries

Place the coconut, icing sugar, powered milk, mixed fruit, nuts, cherries (all chopped coarsely), and the rice crispies into a bowl and mix well.

Warm the vegetable shortening gently until melted and then pour over the ingredients. Mix well and place in a airtight container and set in the fridge.

Serve sliced into fingers.

Enjoy!


You'll find more recipes like this in What is Myrrh Anyway? and Christmas Miscellany - both available now!

Have yourself a very Dickens Christmas!

The Dickens Christmas Market is open now at Rochester Castle and runs until 15th December 2013. It will take place in the Castle grounds during the Dickensian Christmas Festival to create what may well be one of the largest 'authentic' German Style Christmas market in the UK. It will feature German-style Christmas chalets, a giant Christmas tree, bandstand, and carousel. The castle walls will be illuminated and the entire market will be decorated in festive tradition to ensure that visitors experience a truly spectacular Christmas atmosphere.

Charles Dickens is famous of course for practically creating the Christmas we know today in his festive classic A Christmas Carol, published on 17 December 1843, and which he completed in only six weeks! But A Christmas Carol wasn’t the only festive-themed story that Dickens penned. His other Christmas Books include The Chimes (1844), The Cricket on the Hearth (1845), The Battle of Life (1846) and The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain (1848).