What's a Self Sufficient Christmas

[Flo]

If you celebrate Christmas what do you consider to be a self sufficientish one?

[Green Aura]

What I consider an Ish Christmas and what we're doing are very different this year I'm afraid. Even though we're not big on Christmas, generally, it all seems a bit flat this year. Under more normal circumstances I would have grown more and made more.

I've knitted the gal a blanket (she's moving in the New Year). I've made the calamondin marmalade and will bake fresh walnut bread for our Christmas day breakfast. That's a new family tradition we've been doing for the last few years. Dinner's roast pork from a local farm (tofu "turkey" for the vegan) and we've got home grown spuds but all the other veg are from the veg box. I'm afraid that's pretty much it.

[Flo]

The work that went into the Christmas family gatherings when I was a youngster living on the farm are a memory of hard labour. Everything from the Christmas pudding to the Christmas cake and mince pies were home made. Fruit and veg had been preserved all through the summer and autumn. Jam had been made. Wood had been collected or bought in for the fires. Some food things were bought in but they were few enough. At least it wasn't mandatory to make the Christmas cards but a lot of the decorations were made - mainly I think to keep me out of the way, quiet and not saying I'm bored. I do remember that the holly was bought in by the uncle from the farm garden and I had the job of putting it over the family portraits. Oh and taking it down again.

When the children were small there was all the fun of Santa and stockings. But as we were broke most of the time there was nothing over the top and not the time to make, make do and mend with trying to scrape a living together. A lot of the Santa's stocking came from green shield stamps collected over the year when the husband did a lot of travelling for work. We certainly didn't do the amount of cooking that happened on the farm but then the family didn't involve half a dozen uncles/aunts plus their partners and children.

Then the children grew up, left home, got married. So Christmas wound down to very little. With the family spread around the UK and a lot of trips not being possible, it's not been much of a festival this year. The distant grandson (long way to Switzerland for one who is ten going on 11) has money - it's going towards his heart's desire which is an iPad to keep up with his friends (not able to build one of those). Everyone else is over 21. I'm told the money for the great grand daughter aged 3 will buy new wellingtons. Can't make them either. And second hand shoes are not something I would investigate. The daughter requested new placemats for the family as theirs are shabby. Not sure I could do heatproof ones either.

So very little has been done that I could do. The allotment is down to kale, some early PSB and a few sprouts. There's some veg in the freezer. But what's in the cupboards will make a few decent meals. Next year - who knows.

[ina]

Not very Ish here.... but I've been given a lot towards the food - parcels full of Lebkuchen and "proper" Stollen from Germany, a goody bag from my employer (strangely enough, lebkuchen and stollen bites!!! - and mince pies...), plus 5kg of tatties also from the institute (they work on breeding them), some other food stuffs that I haven't investigated yet, plus onions and parsnip from a friend's garden, leek and beetroot from my own, a couple of venison burgers from another friend - so food wise I didn't really have to buy a lot! Apart from that, I don't really do Christmas anyway. Will be glad of the break; still working tomorrow until 12.