Amongst the pondering and processing of the huge issues that are whirling around in my therapy hungover head, I've been disciplining myself to take a break and think about happy times too.
Recently I've been reminiscing about Christmas in the Falklands as a kid.
So, here we have it - my childhood Christmas.
Let's start with the weather. December is in the Falklands summer. Light nights and mornings. Great for going out and about carol singing – not shivering and being able to see the words is a definite plus. Great too for an early start on the big day! Oh how my parents loved that! Sometimes it’s beautifully warm and sunny - beach and bbq weather. Do you know that the Falklands have amazing white beaches? The sand is so fine that it squeaks underfoot. I've also seen sleet and hailstones on Christmas eve there too!
(Image BBC)
Food: The cake: In October, mum would bake the Christmas cake overnight in our peat burning Aga. It’s a beautiful smell to wake up to. The cake was then "fed" with brandy in a fortnightly ritual until it was iced. Other seasonal baking: mince pies, mutton sausage rolls, albatross/penguin egg meringues, empanadas (small savoury spicy pasties with raisins and olives in there too).
(Image Fine Dining Lovers) On the day: roast young spring lamb - just a couple of months old, the meat still white and slightly sticky. New potatoes straight from the garden. The annual challenge was to have those "Christmas spuds" ready. Mint sauce from the mint in the garden. Other veg from our garden too - either this year's or frozen from last season. Followed by pavlova made from the whites of eggs from our own hens, or from the whites of penguin eggs.
Penguin eggs taste slightly fishy – no surprise there. When they’re boiled the white is opaque.
(Image Donald Morrison)
Decorations. Not a huge event in our house. The cards were displayed on strings on the kitchen wall. We had a very scrawny artificial tree that slumped in the corner of the living room. Trees are a rarity in the Falklands, I don't remember anyone having a real Christmas tree in their house - what a waste of a good tree. There is a lovely ground covering shrub called Christmas Bush that has tiny white flowers. Sometimes we'd have some sprigs of that in a vase on the table.
Gifts. Mail ordered from the UK months in advance and delivered on the supply ship – fingers crossed in time for Christmas. Or bought locally in one of our few shops. Or hand made. Or hand me downs - I was never fussy about receiving second-hand toys and books. Company. Family and friends would come and visit, or we’d visit them. It seemed that house was usually full of amazing, seasonally happy people.🍻 Guests often included Royal Marines from the local barracks and perhaps some of the crew from HMS Endurance if she was nearby. Boxing day and it’s time to go to the racecourse for the Stanley horse races. 2 days of sports, including many horse races where the farm horses were raced on the flat over various distances. At night for the adults there were dances in the Town Hall with the prize giving for the day’s sports winners - only to be heard on the radio for kids. I’d sit imagining what was going on.
(Image FI Tourist Board)
Steer riding. 1st Sunday after Christmas in the paddock beside the butchery. Fairly dangerous and great entertainment. Young male cattle being raised for beef would be ridden by the bravest – or craziest. Points were awarded for duration of ride and performance.
(Image origin unknown)
Comments