Christmas is it too Early for you

I am a Christmas Nut and I readily admit it, as are most the rest of my family.

However, I for one hate the over-commercialism of Christmas and as one reader put it to me when is it too soon for Christmas.  

Traditionally when we were growing up you started your Christmas shopping about six to eight weeks before Christmas (on the food front always earlier in our family).

I recently referred to buying the Christmas magazines for recipe ideas and craft ideas as well as Christmas decorating ideas. They are so different from one year to another. I keep the magazines and use them for different things each year and so that I can  mix things up a bit. One of the underlying reasons for this is that I am a lot slower than I used to be in doing things and like to give myself as much time as I can to get things made and done. 

If however these days we were to wait until November to do our shopping,  in our shops most of the nicer things have gone by then and you end up with a limited choice, especially if your financial resources are limited and you can only go shopping for one particular time.  For lots of people that is a couple of days before Christmas depending on how Christmas Day falls. 

I make a lot of things for Christmas if at all possible, I make things which seem to go down well with family and friends.  However, having been in a position where there is little money about and this was mostly when the children were at home we started panning things out over months rather than weeks and having to dip into and rely on credit.  We ditched the credit cards so that we did not end up paying through the nose and all year for Christmas. We don't do that now but we are aware that there are lots of families who rely on this to provide any sort of Christmas for their family and we are not knocking that.  We each have our choices to make in life.  Children's expectations of what they want for Christmas have also changed.  We were happy with whatever was provided and grateful for whatever we received. However, I do feel that expectations should be managed and that common sense should prevail.  If the money is not there, there is not much you can really do about it.  When we were younger, we were always asked what we would like for Christmas to get a general feel of what we were interested in. However if something was beyond my parents' purse Dad would just gently turn us around and say "one day".  It neither disappointed nor made us give  up hope that one day we might be able to have something. However neither were we disappinted with what we received.

I do not go for many massive shops on things either - there was a time that  I did but not anymore. Gone are the days when I used to hit Sainsburys and Tescos a couple of days before Christmas.  Now things are done gradually a little at a time. I cherry pick the items and ingredients that I would like and do not do a big shop in any one store. I do not rely on the supermarkets preferring where I can to use the smaller independent trader such as the Veg shop over the road and freezing fresh veg myself. 

I certainly do not subscribe to the premium you have to pay in the shops for items that you want just before Christmas as I have found that many of the shops up the prices especially in the last two week run up to Christmas.  I tend to buy things ahead of when I know I will need them as well usually ingredients or supplies to do something with.  This is my way round of dealing with over-commercialism at Christmas. Christmas for me is about the family and a lot of the joy is in the planning, plotting, making and doing (and celebrating and eating good food with them),  spending time with them and being interested in them which mean so much more to me at the end of the day. I make things or cook things as presents as it is giving a part of me with time and effort into the present. I am perhaps odd in that I enjoy doing this. We also like to create memories. Our family are pretty strong on memories. Having an extended family and four grandchildren makes life interesting in any event. 

I have always from the end of August beginning of September, on the food front at least started collecting a few items per week for the Christmas store, things with long stop dates on. I also make things like pastry cases, freeze fresh veggies already prepared for the Christmas dinner.  Half the preparation is then done and the Chef gets time to socialise as well.  Being organised and sorting out the majority of the food in the three month run up for Christmas also helps the family budget and means that not all the money is going out in one fair swoop and then shocks the bank account.  This is the way my family have dealt with things for many years, but each family does their own thing.  This is my choice; I appreciate it may not be to everyone's liking but dealing with things in this way means that if there are any unexpected events or illness within the family that even if the Chef is not there, the rest of the family are going to eat a decent meal.  Tomorrow is not guaranteed, and so I tend to do things when I have the energy and where-with-all to do so.  The Turkey is perhaps our biggest extravagance and that will be ordered from the Butcher at the end of October/Beginning of November.  The Turkey is our one picadillo.

I already have Strawberries, Peaches, Asparagus, Blackberries, Plums, eggs. herb butters, ice cubes, bread sauce etc. in the freezer as well and I prepare a lot of preserves and bottle fruit, and make curds, chutneys and pickles amongst other things. I try and give myself a wide choice of ingredients in which to choose from for Christmas and anything that is left over after Christmas cooking is used in the months following taking us through to Spring and the new harvests. So there is no waste, just lots of planning. In the run up to Christmas there is a lot to do on the cooking front, and if I have the majority of my ingredients in-house by the beginning of December, anything I run out of will just be able to go and get quickly without having to wait in horrendous queues.  It also allows me time to decorate the Christmas cakes and make a few last minute cooked goodies as well. Because of the choice of food I have to hand, after Christmas the only things we have to buy are usually fresh veggies, perhaps some cream and some cheese.  Otherwise we survive out of the Pantry, freezers and whatever is in the fridge.  I try not to waste anything.

Last year, despite many years of practice in the run up to Christmas I got things seriously wrong as I decided to empty out the freezers and the pantry at the same time and was not able to afford to fill it up, so things were a lot tighter than usual I was restricted with what I could and could not do. We still had a very good Christmas; the pair of us agreed not to buy each other a present and that our present to each other would be some nice food. Needless to say the lesson I learned was to make sure never to empty the pantry and the freezer at the same time and to do things as and when I could rather than waiting.  

A lot of food when buying in I check the long-stop dates on them.  Even now a lot of the tinned food and other items I have picked up are going through to September next year.  As long as you check the long-stop dates there should be no problem at all.

I do think the shops over egg the festival/celebrations especially when Easter eggs last year were on sale after Boxing Day.  However we have a choice whether we subscribe to that or not.  A lot of the time I tend to do my own thing and go "off piste"!  Doing things in my own inimitable way.  There are preserves and things to do in the colder months of January, February and March as well.

We are all different and I share what I do in the hope it will help others and give them an alternative way around things.  I am not perfect though and do get things wrong, but at the end of the day you make the best of what resources and funds you have and the things that go wrong rather than what you do not have. At the end of the day I consider that I am indeed blessed and very lucky. 

I wonder round the food stores before Christmas and see lots of lovely gateau, cakes, puddings etc. which are priced far too highly £12 to £16 was the going price last year for M & S. A lot of the time a "gateau" consists of a sponge base interleaved with fruit and cream and can be easily made at  home.  I would rather put my money into the fancy baking  moulds or cake tins and have a go myself.  At least then I can make  more than one and for a few years at that.  It is just the way I am built and the way I have been brought up. Looking at all the lovely decorated cakes and fancies also gives me ideas on how to decorate things.

Our family fell into the comfortable group but not comfortable enough to have brand new clothes (clothes were passed on between family relatives - the norm with a lot of families back then) and if we wanted something new it would either be knitted by my mum or Nan or they would sew clothes for us. My grandparents' had a large smallholding and grew most of the veggies and there were always plenty of apples, pears and plums and they kept pigs and chickens and they provided not only for themselves but the rest of the family as well.

I love Christmas as so many others of you do.  I also believe that making Christmas special and magical for children helps their imaginations and a little bit of fairy telling to a child often grabs their attention. My brother and I still remember the stories our Dad used to make up for us.

I do think that the shops over-exploit Christmas in many ways - well a lot of the larger ones. Remember where the shops are concerned there is no sentiment just finance - they are not interested that you have "mortgaged yourself to the hilt" so that little Johnny can have his new bike. They are just after the sale.  Saying that, not everything is black and white - there are grey areas too.  The shops do provide employment something that I believe will be badly affected with this Covid 19 Pandemic.  Even more reason to put away what you can a little and often whenever possible.  It can make all the difference.

I write about what I am doing, in case it interests you, or gives a spark of inspiration to try something a little different to actually have a go at something.  It will not be perfect the first time round, but the more you practice it the better you will get and hopefully you will enjoy the experience cooking and crafting is all about feeling your way.  I had some very bad experiences with a Needlework Teacher at school.  I was slow and did not keep up with the rest of the class, but my work was always neat and accurate.  Because I was not keeping up with the rest of the class, the Teacher often used to take my work home to catch me up; so there were bits I missed out on. She made me feel so inadequate that I gave up crafting, and it was only thanks to a friend that I actually started crafting again.  She always maintained that it was having a go that was important and that if I made a mistake then I had made a mistake.  The next time round though I would not make it.  I have found this piece of advice to be completely accurate. 

Remember your "normal" may well be someone else's Utopia or their dream.  Being prepared takes a little getting used to but in time becomes second nature, saves lots of pennies and provides lots of food - food that you cannot necessarily buy in the shops.

Do you feel like me that Christmas is over commercialised and if so, is there anything different that you do to make lives easier for yourself and your family.  Would love to hear from you and about the reasons why you do something the way you do and the ways that you do it.

Look forward to hearing from you all.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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