unwholesome food

Today's #shareadvent is 'Carry out a family tradition or start a new one.' Each Christmas we gather new traditions. Maybe this year's is a Christmas tea with Granny Warmth at our home.

'every year at Compton Bobbin the German and Sussex customs were made to play their appointed parts. Thus the Christmas Tree, Christmas stockings and other activities of Santa Claus, and the exchange through the post of endless cards and calenders (German); the mistletoe and holly decorations, the turkeys, the boar's head, and a succession of carol singers and mummers (Sussex Roman Catholic); and the unlimited opportunity to over-eat on every sort of unwholesome food washed down with honest beer, which forms the groundwork for both schools of thought, combined to provide the ingredients of Lady Bobbin's Christmas Pudding.' Nancy Mitford Christmas Pudding

christmascake

What are your Christmas traditions?

The month of November

Last day of the holidays and Warmth had the day off. A day of chores and beginning the paint choosing for the newly plastered front room. Will it be Lamp Room Gray, French Gray, Elephant's Breath or Old White?
A lovely afternoon/evening with Warmth's brother and wife. starting off with drinks in the Young Vic bar and then a carb fest of burgers, chips and mac cheese, the vegetables being onion rings, courgette fries and a slice of pickle at Byron Burger.
A very wet Sunday with a mooch at We Make London Fair and resting before returning back to school. What a lovely relaxing week it's been.
Back to school and Friday night supper with Mama and Papa Warmth who've just come back from some time in France.
Then off to my parents for a family weekend to say goodbye to Pops who is now in Palestine with EAPPI. A weekend of food. Arriving in time for tea and rock cakes, a Chinese takeaway, a delicious breakfast whilst Pops opened his Christmas gifts, then a glorious walk along the beach in Deal before home for roast pork, the choice of three puddings and a huge cheese board. Then a tearful au revoir.
Meeting up with my dear old colleagues at our favourite restaurant for chat, Early Years news and friendship. A very lovely belated birthday gift of vouchers for Anthropologie meant that I could buy the measuring cups I've been drooling over for the last month. So glad I resisted the other times.
Meeting up with a dear university friend at Tate Britain for the Pre-Raphaelite exhibition. How funny to read this as the opening line of my book on the train in.
'There is a certain room in the Tate Gallery which, in these unregenerate days is more a passage-way towards the French pictures...'
'He now observed that it was mostly hung with large with large and unpleasant works of the 'Every picture tells a story' school, interspersed with some rather inferior examples of pre-Raphaelitism...' Nancy Mitford Christmas Pudding
A very lovely Friday night in with mother and then a very cold, wet, grey mis Saturday beginning the Christmas shopping.
Lunch with Mama and Papa Warmth.
Suddenly feeling it getting much colder...

Reading The other side of truth by Beverley Ngaioo for the English course I'm on through school. A little troubling reading about refugees and trying to get into a country just as dad was flying to Israel and then onto Palestine in the midst of everything. Making a long waited for start on the first of my Christmas books - Christmas Pudding by Nancy Mitford. No baking, apart from the ubiquitous banana bread, I'm all ready for December baking though.

Why not make the most of being a girl?

Reviewing this Christmas with mum and we remembered the lovely sale shopping trips we used to have. We had them for many years, pre Warmth, when the time inbetween Christmas and New Year can sometimes seem slow. This quote sprung to mind, although Polly was a great deal younger than me when Aunt Sadie said this to her.

'...but since you have the whole of your life before you as a married woman why not make the most of being a girl? You'll never be one again.' Nancy Mitford Love in a Cold Cimate

Diorissimo 1956

This was one of my favourite images from the Rene Graus Dior Ilustrations exhibition. It felt appropriate in this post seeing that Nancy Mitford was a great admirer and wearer of Dior's 'New Look.'

Blossom

So the blossom has finally arrived and I can post this. I've been waiting. I think you've been waiting too. 'every tree appeared to be entirely covered with a waving mass of pink or mauve tissue paper.' Nancy Mitford The Pursuit of Love I like to walk under blossom trees. To look up and see blue sky and the twinkling gold gem of sunlight glistening through. There are certain streets where I know the blossom will be. I stalk them waiting for the first glimpse. I want masses of blossom. Maybe more than one tree. Just in case I can't get my fix some blossom inspiration so it can pervade the whole of life. A clutch for when a coat is still needed but one wants to feel spring like. Welcome to our cherry blossom flat. Where blossom is everywhere. Even the mundane like the door mat. A wall of blossom in the bedroom, or the bathroom. To gaze at contemplate. A lifting of spirits. For days when there's no blossom. Or perhaps I should resist these and stop searching for more images. Store the picture of blossom in my memory. Is blossom so special because it's temporary? We can't catch it. Keep it for ourselves. It needs to stay on the trees. And then stay in our minds until spring time comes once more.

Fruit Cake

'Life she thought, is sometimes sad and often dull, but there are currants in the cake and here is one of them.' Nancy Mitford The Pursuit of Love

Nancy, thank you for being one of the currants in the cake of life.

I hope you enjoyed Nancy Mitford Week. I'll return to a scattering of thoughts from a variety of people and places next week.

Dressing for Tea

'I can't think of any occasion – a tea party even – without seeing an exact picture of how I shall look at it, down to shoes and stockings. I often wonder how social life –or life at all – can be pleasure to people who don't care about dress. I'd hardly get myself out of bed in the morning if I hadn't something pretty and rather new to put on, and never get myself to a party.' Nancy Mitford The Blessings
Albertine to Juliette after she'd missed the ball as her new dress wasn't ready. (I wouldn't miss a party for not having something to wear now that's just silly) How much time do you spend thinking about what to wear? I spend lots of time, probably too much time but I do enjoy it, especially when I'm going to a wedding – which I am tomorrow. Off to have my nails painted.

pretty dress

Keeping the house warm

'These loves were strong and painfully delicious; they occupied all our thoughts but I think we all realised they would be superceded in time by real people. They were to keep the house warm... for its eventual occupants.'

Nancy Mitford The Pursuit of Love

I think one of the reasons I enjoy reading novels is for the moment when you read something and it fits your life, clarified an experience, puts words where it had just been a feeling. This is one of those times.

Fireplace by Heals

Chocolate Cake

As I walked to work this morning I thought I could now post my Mitford quotation about blossom. However now I'm home - it's cold and I'd like tea and chocolate cake and so this quote seems more apt for my feelings.

'Unfortunately, it never seemed to be chocolate cake and silver teapot day when Lady Montdore came.'
Nancy Mitford Love in a Cold Climate
Newly married Fanny in Oxford. When are your silver teapot days?

Diamonds

Do you see your self as a woman who wears diamonds? I love this necklace but I love my diamond studs more. Quite probably as they're truly mine, and not in my imagination, but more for the story behind them.
I have the delight of having a twin sister, henceforward known as Twin. We had always teased my father that he could buy 'four for under £2000' (meaning four diamond studs for our four earlobes). When twin married 10 years ago my parents gave me an extra birthday gift which were diamond studs saying.
'So you know that we love you and are here for you as much as your sister, even though in the next few weeks we maybe focusing on her.'
And do you know the most wonderful thing of all is that I didn't need these beautiful earrings to know that.

I love this quotation - it makes me smile.
'A woman of my age needs diamonds near her face, to give it a sparkle.' Nancy Mitford Love in a Cold Climate

What diamond jewellery would you chose?

Friendship

'Friendship is something to be built up carefully, by people with leisure, it is an art, nature does not enter it.' Nancy Mitford The Pursuit of Love

I love the way this quote talks about carefulness and leisure - yes it does take care and time to build up friendships. I wonder where this blog will lead to as I tentatively dip my painted toenail into the vast ocean that's out there.

Dresses and Hats

'Do you think about dresses and hats all the time, even in church? I do too.'

Nancy Mitford Love in a Cold Climate

When re reading this novel this is one of the lines which I wait with anticipation for, and then savour. It rings so true to my life, thoughts and friendships. Having been fortunate to make some great girlfriends through church - one of the many things I love about our times together are those talking about dresses and other lovely things. Clothes are something I talk about with most of my female friends, and with friends at work too. So basically I must have a clothes conversation every day - eek what does that make me sound like? It is superficial but it leads into deeper, truer 'How are you really' conversations. What are your favourite conversations with friends?

Beautiful dresses from here and here.

Nancy Mitford Week

Through entering blog world I discovered through these wonderful writers that Penguin are republishing Nancy Mitford's novels. I'm not going to reveiw any of them, others have done that far more eloquently, but over the next few days I thought I'd share with you my favourite quotations from her novels.

Happy Friday.