Although it is now more decades away than I care to admit too
often, there were four things I loved most about my childhood
Christmases in England:
1. the excitement of the Christmas gifts being put under the
Christmas tree, and then the family opening of the gifts on
Christmas morning;
2. the food; all the special sweets being put out Christmas Eve;
Christmas Lunch with the turkey, lots of roast potatoes, brandy
butter, and Christmas pudding being set alight at the table;
3. all the Christmas ornaments and decorations going up before
Christmas, and most especially putting up and especially the
Christmas tree ornaments being put on the tree; and,
4. the games we would play.
Food, though, did play a major part, and still does in English
homes today. So, really, it is no surprise that food even became
part of the Christmas ornament repertoire. Food, in one form or
another, became part of the decoration of Christmas time.
From my memory, edible Christmas ornaments were usually in the
form of chocolate with a silver or gold coloured wrapping that
sparkled on the tree. Chocolate coins were popular, sometimes
more than one in a brightly coloured string bag dangling
temptingly from the Christmas tree.
I must admit, any edible ornament on the tree became a prime
target, as I anxiously awaited the all clear from my parents to
start devouring whatever I wanted.
Later, though, a greater variety of edible Christmas ornaments
emerged, such as candy canes; then, as the popularity of edible
ornaments increased at Christmas, people started to use their
imagination to make their own, or the local baker would make
more elaborate ornaments for sale.
Cookies, or at least cookie dough, make a good base for
ornaments, as they are easy to cut into shape. You can use your
imagination on adding the colour, such as with Smarties or other
colourful sweets. Adding a frosting effect is not too difficult
either.
If you do make dough based ornaments to hang on the Christmas
tree, remember you will need to make a hole in the cookie before
it cools; that's the way the cookie doesn't crumble. Then when
they do cool, you can thread a decorative ribbon to hang them on
the Christmas tree.
The Christmas tea table is often adorned by the prime edible
ornament, the Christmas cake. The prettier it is, the better it
is for decoration once lunch is out of the way. Cake decoration
is only limited by your imagination. However, you can think of
other things that are less common to adorn the table as an
edible ornament. If you are skilful, you can create simple
models with ginger bread, moving up a level from the old
gingerbread man.
You will find lots of ideas online and in the stores, but if you
can come up with something original, that is even better. Just
let your imagination go and see what you come up with. At least,
if it does not look too good, you can just eat it before anyone
comments!
Relax, get in the Christmas spirit, and read Roy's new Christmas Story, for adults or children, about Santa Claus and a little girl living on the edge of a tropical rainforest.
