The inescapable holiday post

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It’s the time of year when countries that are, historically speaking, steeped in Christianity go slightly mad decorating, baking, eating, giving, getting, and spending more money than they can afford to do all of the above. Or at least the two I’ve lived in do.

In Britain, it’s also the time of year when wearing a hat modeled on a Christmas pudding is an almost reasonable thing to do.

What does a Christmas pudding look like? A dumpy, brown half-sphere, which the hat maker will have dressed up with a couple of holly leaves on the theory that they’ll make the hat look less brown and dumpy. We could argue about whether that works, but the greenery will at least signal that the hat’s a Christmas pudding, not some random brown half-sphere.

That last paragraph, in case you’re wondering, hints at why this is not a fashion blog.

Marginally relevant photo: This is not a Christmas pudding, it’s the Christmas shih tzu, tucked safe in his bed, visions of roast beef filling his head.

Wherever  you are, if you celebrate Christmas I wish you a merry brown hat. And if you celebrate something else at this time of year, I wish you a different kind of hat and a good holiday. And if–just to cover all possibilities–you don’t have a holiday right about now, one will come along eventually, so I wish you a good one of that.

I’ll be back with you just before the new year and as strange as ever. May all your holidays be decorated with bits of greenery.

41 thoughts on “The inescapable holiday post”

  6. And Scottish friends may be tucking into a clootie dumpling – not as rich and of a lighter texture. Both can be sliced and fried in butter, served with bacon and egg for breakfast. May you winter festivities be all that you wish for :-)

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    • Thanks, Christine. I celebrate Christmas, although always with reservations. It’s a long and complicated history that we have, Christmas and I. My partner, on the other hand, who has a longstanding cultural claim to Christmas, will celebrate absolutely anything. There are worse approaches to life.

      Withing you a happy one of whatever yourself, with greenery and a new year when we all pretend we get to start over. And thanks for the kind words.

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  9. Ah my husband loves a Christmas pudding. If we still lived in the UK I really could have bought him one of those hats!!
    Your dog lots rather like ours. Just cleaner!!!
    Wishing you and your family a lovely Christmas.

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    • I caught the dog at a good moment, although that was purely by accident. One corollary of having a low-slung dog seems to be efficient mud collection on walks. It must’ve been a dry day.

      I’m too late to wish you and yours a good Christmas. Will you settle for a good new year?

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    • By now, I might as well confess, I’ve forgotten what we were talking about, but my grandfather (I’m told; I never knew him) used to believe that if you eat two things together, they go together. So in that spirit, yes, it–whatever it is: eggs, whipped cream, ceramic cats, absolutely whatever–can be served with bacon.

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  11. I have a Christmas hat, pointy with a pompom, of similar design to Santa’s, but the main part is black instead of red, and the white fur round the rim has the motto, “Bah Humbug”. This year I wore it when goaded up the ladder to put the decorations up on the house. I’m learning to manage my abhorence of the season – enjoying it, to be honest, but don’t tell anyone. Have a merry English time of it, Ellen, wassailing and christingling, panto-ing and charaahhding (never charayding), and kissing under the mistletoe. Thank you for another year of educative journalism, warmth, good humour and sparkling wit.

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  14. This year I am celebrating Silliness for Christmas. I’m hoping this will help me avoid my usual festive sulking and snarkiness. You can’t snark when you’re giggling can you? I wish you a peaceful few days until we plunge into 2023 and start all over again.

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    • That doesn’t sound like a bad idea. I’ve realized this year–that Christmas does seem to be a season for wearing silly clothes: sweaters you couldn’t talk yourself into in the rest of the year; hats that are really just sequin collectors; that sort of thing. It’s not a bad idea for a holiday.

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  16. Pingback: Another year, another few bonsai pictures (2022) | Wibble

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