Time to make my 🎄puddings….

I live alone and usually go to one of the children for Dinner on Christmas day so don't make them any more. But when I did I always made them during the School Summer holidays just like my mum did. The kids always helped with the stirring and all grew up loving Chritmas pudding, very few enjoy the special Cakes and puddings these days.

I've made my cake and already fed it with brandy (with DH permission from his bottle).. I sadly not gone as far as making a pudding but got a Taste the Difference one from Sainsbury's which has had a good review on a tv programme.
My mum did all her own Christmas baking - cake, pudding and mince pies. I remember her puddings in a basin with a cloth top, tied with string and most importantly some sixpences added into the pudding mix.

I’m the only one who eats Christmas so I don’t make them anymore pudding but I shall buy myself a little one. I do miss the smell …

I've gone from making one large Christmas pudding to making six small ones. I've bought the ingredients this morning and will make them this weekend.

This conjured up a memory of my Mum. It was many, many years ago and she had all the ingredients spread out on the dining table to make the Christmas puddings. I had seen her do this so many time but on this occasion I was considered old enough to accurately 'weigh' things out - we didn't have any scales but Mum used a Tala measuring cone for everything. Oh the joy of placing a finger on the knot as she secured the string around each pudding basin!
I'm off to have a little weep now.

Only two of us out of 14 in the family like them, so I just make Delia’s light puddings these days, which a few more will eat. I still make a traditional cake and mincemeat for pies though - I look forward to it as an important part of the run up to Christmas.

I made mine (six of them) a couple of weeks ago, the kitchen smelt lovely, reminiscent of my Granny’s.

Enjoy the ritual, as that is how I look at my Christmas baking, pickling etc. 🎄

Next is Christmas cake hopefully before Monday, and then I shall assemble the mince pies (puff and shortcrust) and freeze them ready to be baked as and when but not before 1st December.