Buy your Christmas food locally where possible, or purchase craft from a local market. Support local, small or family-owned businesses where you can. Support local bakeries for your fresh bread as this supports employment and tastes so much better than supermarket frozen offerings.
Make a homemade gift instead of buying one.
Give a relative an experience or a helping hand, such as mowing their lawn, as a gift). Give someone a voucher for an ‘experience’.
Thinking of getting a pet: adopt an animal from the shelter.
Give edible gifts – home made jams, chutneys and other preserves, infused spirits, cakes, biscuits/cookies or sweets/chocolates, even dried herb or tea blends.
Use solar-powered Christmas lights/decorations
Choose an environmentally friendly gift – e.g. a funky, natural, art project using natural or reclaimed materials and placed in an upcycled frame.
Give Plants or Seeds from your garden as gifts – see below
Make natural gifts – including lip balms, bath bombs, and scrubs using herbs and flowers
Beeswax can be turned into a wrap or used to make candles
Wrap gifts in an eco-green bag, old fabric or clothing cut up, newspaper or normal paper, old greeting cards, magazines or newspapers, or even fabric like a scarf from an old op shop.
Use reclaimed fabrics to make small gifts such as makeup bags or zippered pouches for people
Christmas cards have short lives and are wasteful of resources unless you make them yourself from your craft stash.
I love this idea of plantable Christmas cards: When the card is finished, plant it along with the seeds in the garden soil. The seeds grow, and the paper decomposes.
You can even D.I.Y and make these at home from the craft stash.
Sending Christmas E Cards
E-cards still consume power. Look for ones that will donate to charity with every E-card you send as a way of helping those less fortunate.
While Scandinavia observes the time-honoured rituals and traditions of Advent and selecting a live fir tree, Australian shoppers prepare for their Christmas experience by visiting Westfield shopping centres and erecting plastic Christmas trees.
Perhaps you call them malls or something else, but these concrete Westfield centres pay homage to Western greed and indulgence. They are places where every possible gift or want could be exchanged for money. But visiting these venues at Christmas is not just about purchasing gifts, it is also an endurance experience.
It is cut-throat and dog-eat-dog – believe me.
For instance, it is not uncommon to experience a minor verbal brawl over the last free car parking space at Westfield at Christmastime.
Once the Christmas shopping is complete, arms laden with bags brimming with gifts, Aussie consumers dodge and weave the line-up of vehicles circumnavigating the Westfield car parks, like participants in the old video game: ‘frogger.’
Woe betide any shopper arriving late to the shopping party (i.e. after 10 in the morning) as this automatically marshals you into a ‘hunt.’ To snag a spare car park after 10 am at Westfield is like winning the lottery. Any human carrying shopping bags in the car park precinct is stalked and followed in the desperate hope the ‘prey’ will vacate their car park and not just offload their gift cache and return to the shops for a second ‘run’ through the Christmas crowds.
Every man must fend for himself in this retail frenzy.
Thinking Outside the Box
I know of one homeowner who capitalised on Xmas, finding a silver lining in the chaos. Compensating for the proximity of his home to a Westfield shopping centre, he made a small fortune in tax-free cash, renting out his yard as an impromptu car park to desperate shoppers in the days leading up to and after Xmas.
Good on him. There has to be some compensation for tolerating the bastion of consumerism at your back door.
However, Westfield’s days seem to be limited – the pandemic has changed the consumer landscape forever.
Shopping online, or choosing to ‘click and collect’, saves most consumers time and stress. Modern youth embraces it – despite issues with delivery (tell me about it) and the fact that buying online produces more fossil fuels in transport and the manufacture of the necessary plastic packaging. This includes black plastic packaging, which can’t be recycled at all due to carbon black pigments.
So, I ask: what is the future for the behemoths of consumerism and the acres of asphalt that constitute the car parks?
Will the ‘Christmas Shopping phenomenon, the ruthless haggling over car park spots, and the bustling Westfield Xmas chaos relegate the concrete monoliths to a slow decay, unwanted and unable to adapt?
Is there still a place for the in-store shopping experience?
After four weeks of Advent preparation, church bells chime signifying the start of Julaften, the Christmas period throughout Scandinavia. With traditional origins stretching back to pagan times, the Scandinavian countries celebrate the evening of December 24 with a Christmas feast and gift-giving. Songs are sung whilst walking around the tree placed in the centre of the room.
A Summery Australian Christmas
Kids swimming in the pool
Over in Australia, Advent is non-existent and not celebrated. It’s summertime, it is hot and the school holidays are fast approaching. It’s a time to catch up with friends, take the kids swimming or to the beach, eat alfresco or hang out in an air-conditioned venue, such as a mall, while you shop for Christmas gifts. (We are big consumers – we love to shop).
Cricket
Australians celebrate Christmas when December 25 arrives, but it is not always at home. A game of cricket at the beach is a popular Christmas day activity accompanied by meat on an outdoor barbeque. The beaches are crowded.
Christmas on the beach
Australian Christmas Food
Being multicultural in nature, you will find any and every type of cuisine in Australia, depending on the ethnic heritage. Despite the heat, most families keep to European traditions and more often than not, roast meat will be cooked, whilst salads, and increasingly Vegan dishes may feature on the table.
Ris a la Mande – Danish Creamed Rice Porridge
Having Scandinavian connections, our family honours Scandinavian traditions celebrating with Danish and Norwegian food as well as Aussie fare, including the Ris a la Mande Creamed Rice Porridge. Still we ALWAYS have a Pavlova on the table. This is essential!
Last Christmas, this fancy variation made an appearance.
In Norway, steamed, salted and dried ribs of mutton, or Pinnekjøt, is the traditional Christmas dish, while roast pork is on the menu in Denmark, along with an entree of smoked eel. Both the Danes and the Australians love sausages (on the Aussie barbeque), at Christmas, but the Danes go one better with a “Julemedister,” – a speciality Christmas sausage that puts the humble Aussie Xmas snag to shame.
Danish Christmas Sausage
Christmas Desserts
Home made Christmas Treats
Norwegian traditions prescribe seven kinds of Julekaker or Christmas pastries to be made in Jul. Gingerbread is a favourite, as are gingerbread houses decorated with lollies, whilst gingerbread cookies are even used for decorating windows and the Christmas tree as well.
My first gingerbread house.
Out in Australia, I also bake Shortbread for gifts and plenty to eat myself! Got to keep that Norwegian tradition alive in some way!
In both Scandinavian countries, eating rice porridge after the Christmas feast, with a single almond in it, is a widespread custom.
In Denmark, it’s called Ris ala mande and contains sugar, cream, and a dose of sweet sherry, sweeter than the Norwegian version of Risengrøt. Both may be served with warm cherry sauce, however, I prefer it hot or cold with an Australian twist – adding Golden syrup – a byproduct of sugar cane.
The person that finds the single whole almond in the rice porridge gets a special prize or gift. If you find you have the almond early on, you secretly hold it in your mouth until dessert’s end to hold the suspense!
Making Christmas treats
Making your own marzipan sweets and decorating them in individual ways is popular in Denmark. Marzipan is not something you’ll find in Australia. You have to know a Scandinavian friend to find any!
Christmas Drinks
Norwegian breweries release a traditional beer, as well as a Christmas soft (non-alcoholic) drink, known as Julebrus. You might find a Swedish version at your local Ikea store. And there is always some Aquavit – traditionally drunk after a heavy, fatty, meal, purportedly as an aid to digestion! Excuses!
An Aussie Christmas
Santa in Denmark
Glogg, a special mulled wine, is popular in Scandinavia. The only Glogg I found in Australia came from my local boutique tea shop who celebrated Scandinavian traditions by releasing a Glogg loose-leaf tea, mimicking the mulled wine flavours of cinnamon, cloves cardamom and orange.
Scandinavian Christmas traditions
According to Norwegian tradition, an elderly Nisse or elf with a long beard hangs out in the barn, on Christmas Eve, looking for porridge to eat (called grøt). Norwegians living on farms knew to put a bowl of porridge out in the barn, to keep the Nisse happy and prevent bad luck the following year. The Jule Nisse also brings gifts to the children but is gradually being replaced by Santa Claus.
Do we have Nisse in Australia? Sadly, no. But Santa and Jingle Bells on infinite repeat, is omnipresently heard. Does that count?
How do you celebrate Christmas?
Join the challenge and post about your holiday treats. Let’s link up and party!
Join host Sandy in the blogger party for Friendly Friday and visit bloggers joining us in celebrating this Christmas.
Jul or jol is the term used for the Christmas holiday season in Norway. Originally, “jul” (or “jol”) was the name of a month in the old Germanic calendar, corresponding roughly to the time from mid-December through mid-January, and the concept of “jul” as a period of time rather than a specific event, prevails in Norway.
Share the festivities by posting your favourite TREATS & TRADITIONS for the season later today and visiting our blogger Holiday party!
You are invited to post photos, essays, jokes, recipes … anything you’d like to share at our virtual holiday social.
Scandinavian Tradition of Jul
Whereas the start of “Jul” proper is a five-week event it consists of five phases: Advent, Julaften, Romjul, Nyttår, and Epiphany, which is the thirteenth, and final day of the season.
Day 12: Traditions (in Sweden)
Scandinavian Nisse Tradition
Once a mythological elf, in modern times, the bearded man, or elf, called “Jule Nisse,” sometimes makes an appearance in Norwegian homes, and if he does, he brings gifts. Classic songs have been written about the nisse, and nisse figurines are found in a wide variety of shapes and styles, used as decoration in the home.
Fjøsnisse, the one that eats porridge in the barn, a guardian of good/bad luck, seems to be dying out in the minds of Norwegian children. Television, globalisation and mass-marketing are gradually replacing him with Santa Claus.
“The American nisse is here to stay,” ethnologist Ann Helen Bolstad Sjelbred recently reported. Lots of children growing up in Norway today, she said, barely know who the barn nisse is, and expect the new nisse to bring them presents.
Meanwhile, the Norwegian towns of Drøbak, Røros, Longyearbyen and Egersund have each been claiming the Norwegian Nisse as their own. Local politicians in Drøbak, south of Oslo, even passed a resolution declaring that their town is his official home.
Later today I will compare this to an Australian Christmas posting for a joint Holiday blogger party, posting simultaneously around the world, at 8pm, Australia E.S.T. in conjunction with the Friendly Friday Blog Challenge. Join us then.
What happens when you want to eat Christmas food, you live in a tropical country, and it is 35 degrees (nearly 100 F), in the shade. What do you do?
Christmas Decorations
You organize a Christmas feast, in July, when it is actually wintertime.
I know all the citizens of the northern hemisphere might have a hard time comprehending things being so upside down here. It really is too hot to eat rich Christmas food in the summer months in Australia – which can be up to five months long!
You see come the month of December, I’m more focused on keeping cool and retreating to the ‘Pool room’ – (don’t worry Aussies will understand the reference); lying in air conditioned comfort and watching old home movies or reading a good book, or maybe writing a blog post or two.
The only appetite I have during that time is for salad greens, which is acceptable for me on December 25, but not the rest of the family. Surprisingly, they expect a bit more than rabbit food at Christmas time.
A growing tradition in Australia is to have Christmas in July gatherings, with friends and family and enjoy a mock Christmas meal of Roast meat, Yorkshire pudding, Christmas mince pies and plum puddings with custard.
Scandinavian Glogg
Since the sixteenth century, Glogg is a warm drink brewed at Christmas time in Nordic households to welcome and warm guests travelling in the cold December weather. The name can be translated to mean “glow,” and may be served fortified with alcohol, or non alcoholic. Either way Glogg incorporates a number of spices that resemble the aroma and flavour of a Christmas cake.
Traditionally, the ingredients in mulled wine include: cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, orange, and almonds all of which infuse hot fortified wine. However, other recipes have called for cherries and raisins, as well as brown sugar, honey, or maple syrup, and in place of red wine, local distilled spirits such as aquavit or vodka, whisky, bourbon, and even white wine. In the non alcoholic version, ginger provides an added warming element.
The Tea Centre
My Christmas in July celebration happily extends throughout July but not with the traditional Glogg but with a variety of Glogg Black tea from The Tea Centre.
The supplier offers this tea in both black and green tea blends, and it contains many of the ingredients found in mulled wine: cinnamon for a welcome immunity boost for the Aussie winter and Cardamon, which is known to be beneficial in reducing pain, headaches, nausea and inflammation.
Reminiscent of Nordic Christmas traditions and mulled wines — cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger recreate this special drink … also a touch of almond and orange peel bits.
For me, drinking this tea brought back those sumptious feelings of Scandinavian hygge. Danish Hygge is that cosy feeling you have when you are curled up in front of the fire, snuggling under a fleecy throw, candlelight dancing across the walls, with your closest loved ones. It is a feeling of being at ease, comfortable and relaxed.
Aromas of cinnamon and cloves permeated the air as the pot was brewing. If you’re thinking it is not so dissimilar to a cinnamon herbal tea, you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the additional flavours of orange peel, ginger and almond.
This tea would work really well with the Danish Spice cake recipe, I posted recently.
The Danish word Hygge cannot be translated to one word in English, but my description would be,’ a cosy and contented feeling of wellbeing one gets when spending quiet time indoors with family and friends.‘
Tea and cake or a nice glass of wine in the evenings, may help to promote hygge. When I think of hygge, I think of a wood fire, sitting with my family and my dogs, perhaps a cup of Royal Ritz Loose-leaf Tea from the Tea Centre or perhaps a glass of Shiraz/Port in the evening.
It might be summer in the North, but here in Australia, we welcome winter and that cosy feeling inside our homes that adds a touch of Danish ‘Hygge,’ with a Danish Spice cake reminiscent of warm drinks by a fire, and a relaxed atmosphere.
A Spice cake might also be a great compliment if you are planning a Christmas in July. Including cloves, cardamon and cinnamon, this recipe is packed full of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties, giving the immune system a mild boost.
A growing trend in Australia, a Christmas in July event, capitalises on the mild winters and is the perfect excuse to indulge in hearty Christmas dishes, Puddings and Mulled Wine. Foods that are harder to digest when the mercury passes 30 degress Celsius around December.
Spice Cake Recipe
Ingredients:
1/2 litre or 2 American cups Plain flour
3.5 deciliters or 1.5 cups Sugar
1 teaspoon each of ground Cloves and Cardamon
3 teaspoons ground Cinnamon
I/2 tablespoon Baking soda
1 Egg
350 ml or 1.5 cups of Kefir/cultured milk/yoghurt/sourcream
2 dessertspoons of Lingonberry or Cranberry jam
75 g or 2.5 oz Butter
Method:
Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees Celcius [180 degrees fan forced], or 390 Fahrenheit [360 fan forced].
Mix kefir and jam well in a bowl, electric whisk is always preferable.
Melt the butter, let cool a tiny bit.
Add melted butter and egg to the kefir and jam mix, mixing gently.
Mix together the dry ingredients and add to the wet ingredients until combined.
Pour cake mix into a greased Bundt tin or cake tin of your choice.
Bake for around 30-40 minutes. [Precise baking time will depend on the size of your dish, and on your oven. You know your oven best!]
Tips for measurement conversions:
American
1 cup = 8 fl oz = 2.4 dl = 24 cl = 240 ml
British
1 cup = 10 fl oz = 2.8 dl = 280 ml
Australian
dl – 1 deciliter = 6 (scant) tablespoons
Two more Spice cake recipes containing immuno-boosting cinnamon, cloves and cardamon can be found on this post at The Home by the Sea.
Ever tried to find a perfect Christmas or Birthday gift to span across various age groups. A gift to give a family of young and old? An educational and learning gift that challenges the mind and engages the receiver for more than 10 minutes?
Books are great but not everyone likes reading, or the same genre. Then there is edible gifts but choosing an appropriate food means you now have to factor in gluten free, dairy free, lactose free and vegan options. Too many families have food intolerances that must be considered. It is too hard.
Enter the 1000 piece Jigsaw Puzzle from Shannxi Toy Manufacturer.
Puzzles are excellent toys for fostering the development of logical thinking and intelligence. Puzzles are not only educational, but essential in children’s intellectual development as they promote spatial awareness and understanding of shape relationships. These three dimensional skills are especially important in creative pursuits, design or engineering careers.
Shannxi 1000 Piece Balloon Puzzle
I was kindly gifted a wonderful Jigsaw puzzle from Toy Manufacturer Shannxi Classical Trade Co. Their jigsaw puzzles are made of thickened paper, are strong and durable, and suitable for ages 7 – 107 years of age.
The puzzle in a box complete with separators for sorting the various styles of puzzle pieces. It defintiely helps to sort the light blue from the dark blue when it comes to placing sky tones.
As it happens, my neighbour is somewhat of an expert in jigsaw puzzles. At 91 years young, she is fit and sharp minded, something she attributes to her love of completing jigsaw puzzles.
Peg is the authority so here is what she thought of the puzzle:
Review of Shaanxi Hot Air Balloon Puzzle
Likes
Border is easy to figure out and complete
Two puzzles in one – the reverse side is printed as another puzzle
Template Mat included, is a great reference tool and can be used as a sorting mat
The puzzle is a lot of fun
Reverse side gives a clue for difficult areas of similar color
Puzzle box has separators to categorize and sort pieces – very useful and a great idea
Design will please most adults
Fosters patience and hand dexterity and great for those prone to arthritis in the hands
Puzzle can be completed by doing one section at a times due to dual printing on both sides
Constructed using high quality wood and paper pieces
Peg’s Dislikes
The blue sky was tricky and required perseverance to complete
The pieces were hard to retrieve once inserted in the puzzle. ie. if they are inserted in the wrong place and are changed. A small piece broke off from the printed underside of the puzzle piece when it was switched around.
The design could have benefited from some smaller balloons in the distance for higher visual interest.
My Recommendations
I am very happy to recommend this product for children and adults.
The puzzle is challenging enough to engage and adult and child for many hours.
It has the therapeutic advantage of being great practice for fine motor dexterity and hand control.
It is educational in the sense that it uses the mind to compute shapes and spatial relationships.
Delivery was timely and email communication with the company was without problem.
Shaanxi also have fully customized options and 3 D puzzles for your enjoyment.
If you are interested in purchasing a Jigsaw puzzle for Christmas or that special gift, Jason and the team will be happy to assist you with various delivery options to meet your personal needs.
Shaanxi Classical Grain Trade Co. +86 15829369901
We chat: +86 15829369901
Email: 982067068@qq.com
*I received no monetary incentive for this review.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/traditional-glogg-recipe-3510987-Step_1-5bae6d5c46e0fb00264b9dee.jpg)
Something to Ponder About 