I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus
Dec. 24th, 2013 09:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ventaSo, Christmas-time. It's pretty traditional round here, as you may recall. We have little in the way of innovation. However, in the course of decorating the house this afternoon, the mother requested I do something that (within my memory) has never been done...
I put new crepe paper round the hoops that make up the mistletoe bough. I thought I'd written about putting up the mistletoe bough a few years ago, but a cursory search suggests not. It does not, by the way, involve any actual mistletoe. I've never encountered a kissing bough anywhere other than in our house, but Wikipedia assures me that it is A Thing.
Anyway, ours is made out of two hoops, wedged one through another to make a very approximate sphere. They are smaller than hula hoops. They are, in fact, potato-barrel hoops. Did you know potatoes came in barrels? No, neither did I. But apparently, at some stage in the twentieth century, new potatoes came in barrels. And the barrels were secured with hoops. And someone removed two, covered them in red crepe paper and declared them a kissing bough.
And in a sudden and radical manoeuvre, the mother decided that it was time to re-cover them. I'm not sure what prompted it, possibly they have finally reached a level of fadedness which means they are no longer deemed acceptable according to the Santa Brand Book. So, there I was, cutting red crepe paper into strips and wrapping it round potato-barrel hoops. It's surprisingly tricky to get it smooth - I'd got the hang of it by the end of the second hoop, but I'm not sure it's much of a transferable skill.
Wikipedia reckons you can put all sorts of mad things on your kissing bough. Ours has strings of baubles, two multi-pointed star thingies in the middle and some tinsel. It hangs above the stairs and has hung there every Christmas than I can remember.
Other things of note this year include the near-cancellation of Christmas when it was revealed the house had run out of glycerin just before the royal icing for the cakes was made. Sainsbury's were out, but Morrison's came good so by the time I reached home the cakes were safely iced.
During the year my parents have also demolished a small shed. It was made of fairly flimsy planks, which Dad planned to use as kindling. Until he realised that he really didn't need that much kindling. Accordingly, he has stacked them into small piles and lashed them together with string, like sort of flat-pack logs. They work remarkably well.
So, decorations up, log fire burning, turkey giblets on the stove making stock for gravy tomorrow. Several yards of Cumberland sausage linked, some turned into pigs-in-blankets, stuffing made up, a bit of advanced vegetable peeling done. That's Christmas eve round these parts :)
I put new crepe paper round the hoops that make up the mistletoe bough. I thought I'd written about putting up the mistletoe bough a few years ago, but a cursory search suggests not. It does not, by the way, involve any actual mistletoe. I've never encountered a kissing bough anywhere other than in our house, but Wikipedia assures me that it is A Thing.
Anyway, ours is made out of two hoops, wedged one through another to make a very approximate sphere. They are smaller than hula hoops. They are, in fact, potato-barrel hoops. Did you know potatoes came in barrels? No, neither did I. But apparently, at some stage in the twentieth century, new potatoes came in barrels. And the barrels were secured with hoops. And someone removed two, covered them in red crepe paper and declared them a kissing bough.
And in a sudden and radical manoeuvre, the mother decided that it was time to re-cover them. I'm not sure what prompted it, possibly they have finally reached a level of fadedness which means they are no longer deemed acceptable according to the Santa Brand Book. So, there I was, cutting red crepe paper into strips and wrapping it round potato-barrel hoops. It's surprisingly tricky to get it smooth - I'd got the hang of it by the end of the second hoop, but I'm not sure it's much of a transferable skill.
Wikipedia reckons you can put all sorts of mad things on your kissing bough. Ours has strings of baubles, two multi-pointed star thingies in the middle and some tinsel. It hangs above the stairs and has hung there every Christmas than I can remember.
Other things of note this year include the near-cancellation of Christmas when it was revealed the house had run out of glycerin just before the royal icing for the cakes was made. Sainsbury's were out, but Morrison's came good so by the time I reached home the cakes were safely iced.
During the year my parents have also demolished a small shed. It was made of fairly flimsy planks, which Dad planned to use as kindling. Until he realised that he really didn't need that much kindling. Accordingly, he has stacked them into small piles and lashed them together with string, like sort of flat-pack logs. They work remarkably well.
So, decorations up, log fire burning, turkey giblets on the stove making stock for gravy tomorrow. Several yards of Cumberland sausage linked, some turned into pigs-in-blankets, stuffing made up, a bit of advanced vegetable peeling done. That's Christmas eve round these parts :)
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Date: 2013-12-24 10:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-24 10:35 pm (UTC)