The festive season is definitely upon us, and as per usual, the world I travel through does not seem particularly festive. Well, that is, if you discount the extra drivers on the road. Is it odd that extra vehicles on the road seems festive? However, I’ve decorated my house, hunted down Candy Canes, played Christmas movies, and the witchiness of the season has appeared all over my socials.
Carry-On | Netflix
I’ve been waiting to watch this movie ever since I saw the first trailer. Taron Egorton plays the totally in love but completely cruising through life Ethan Kopek with ease. And Jason Bateman is just brilliant as the traveller. I really enjoy movies and series with him in but I think he is particularly good at being the bad guy. As for this being a Christmas Movie, well, it is set on Christmas Eve, and there’s the usual workplace decoration and hats. Plus, the ridiculous amount of people trying to fly somewhere last minute for Christmas.
A mysterious traveler blackmails a young TSA agent into letting a dangerous package slip through security and onto a Christmas Day flight.
–Carry-On, IMDb–
But if I’m honest, it’s less Christmasy than Die Hard. Still, I’m probably gonna add it to the movies I watch at Christmas each year. Along with Wild Card, The Man Who Invented Christmas, The Grinch, and The Santa Clause (and an annoying amount of Hallmark type movies just to get even deeper in the Christmas spirit, I wonder if it would be possible to re-write Hansel and Gretel as a Hallmark movie).
The Candy Cane Hunt
It’s been rather difficult to get my hands on candy canes this year. Last year wasn’t so easy either. Most of the big supermarkets seem to have stopped selling them, and the littler stores don’t seem to have them either. But I finally remembered I’d seen them in a little Co-op on my way home from work and stopped in to grab some. Co-op and Home Bargains seem to be the only places to get them this year. And there’s none of the fancy flavoured ones (we had Jelly Belly ones one year). And yet only a couple of years ago, they were everywhere. One of the few Christmas traditions that may have begun in the church, with no witches involved at all.
In 1670, a choirmaster in Cologne Cathedral, Germany, handed out candy sticks with a symbolic shepherd’s crook to keep the children quiet during the Christmas services. And that’s probably how a lot of us still use them today. The kids are being too loud, racing around, excitement overwhelming them. “Why don’t you grab a candy cane off the tree each?” and then let the Christmas magic do its thing. They take ages to finish.
Then a German-Swedish immigrant, August Imgard, brought the tradition to America in 1847, hanging candy canes on his Christmas tree. And they’ve been popular ever since. Originally, candy canes lacked flavoring or stripes. Those glorious red stripes didn’t happen until the 1920s when a candy maker added the red for an extra festive touch.
While peppermint is the recognised flavour of modern candy canes, they do come in a wide variety, including bacon. But I can’t imagine stirring bacon flavour candy canes in my hot chocolate. Maybe the gravy, but not the hot chocolate.
I may have to get more creative next year, perhaps order some online well before Christmas. But I’m definitely not brave enough to attempt making them. I don’t think pulling candy is something you can do at home. Still, the important thing is I got some in the end. In the UK, we usually hang chocolates on the tree, but one kid is lactose intolerant, and candy canes seem like the logical alternative. Plus, that peppermint helps with digestion.
Gingerbread Houses
Another tradition attributed to the Germans in the 1800s, is the sweet sweet gingerbread house covered in more sweets and icing. Of course, Hansel & Gretel also originated in Germany in the 1800s. So, did the story inspire the tradition or did the tradition inspire the story?
A story where two small children, left in the woods to fend for themselves, find an edible house. And inside lives a witch, who, like them, is hungry. And she’s doing whatever she needs to do to feed herself. She’s half blind, and there’s no one to help her through the hard times. So, she puts Gretel to work whilst she feeds up Hansel. They’ve got a roof over their heads, a warm place to sleep, and food aplenty -unlike back home.
This witchy tradition continues, but instead of building an entire house of sweets (she probably used magic to hold it together, I don’t think royal icing would be sufficient for an actual house, and where was she getting all that sugar?); we build smaller ones. And some people use glue to hold it together, so always check before smashing and eating. These are the people who have forgotten the importance of the gingerbread house. It’s for enticing children in, not decoration.
And keeping them quiet whilst they smash it and eat it (we’re not trying to fatten them up for dinner, we’ve already had dinner by this point. A feast. And have retired to the sofa with the top button undone and Wallace & Gromit on the telly). Not everything has to be a perfect work of art. Sometimes you can just make it tacky and over the top, and it still looks good.
I mean, this year they’ve even foregone the gingerbread and just started making them out of cardboard or buying bird houses at the store and painting them like gingerbread houses. Just make the gingerbread, it’s not that hard! 350g plain flour, 1tsp ground ginger, 1tsp bicarb of soda, 100g of butter, 175g soft brown sugar, 1 egg, 4 tablespoons of golden syrup. Mix the flour, bicarb, and ginger in a bowl. Rub in the butter. Add the sugar and stir in the syrup and egg until you get a firm dough. Roll it out. Cut to shape. And bake at 190C for 10-15 minutes. But please be aware of where any children in your house might be. They should not be in the kitchen with you and most definitely not behind you when you’re opening the oven to put the gingerbread in.
Horror and Fantasy Author – Also writing as K.T. McQueen. Love Western Horror, cowboy boots, my cactus Collin, & my Demon Cat.
Moths – I hate moths, the way they flutter at your face!
