Fun Monday # 40 Holiday Traditions

Fun Monday this week falls on 5th November which is Bonfire Night here in the UK.
Bonfire Night is also known as Fireworks Night or Guy Fawkes Night and, it is a British tradition dating back to the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 which aimed to blow up the Houses of Parliament and King James I.

'Remember, remember the fifth of November, gunpowder, treason and plot.
We see no reason why gunpowder treason should ever be forgot'.

Anyone brought up in the U.K will know this little rhyme. I hope if you are having a bonfire and fireworks you have fun. However, I also hope you stay safe and don't take any risks :)


This week Deborah The Humble Housewife, is looking for some holiday traditions that she can dish up over thanksgiving. Personally I look to her in the kitchen and I can't think of any recipe I do that would be half as good as Deborah's.

As most of you will know we do not have have a thanksgiving holiday so Christmas is our big celebration. When my girls were young (back in the 70/80's) we started a couple of Christmas Traditions that I will share. However, there is nothing unusual or exciting about them. Embee used to have an allotment that was about a five minute walk from our house. He always grew some Brussels sprouts and he would go and pick them early on Christmas morning. They were so fresh and tasted nothing like the strong shop bought ones.
The girls, and in particular Sam, hated them (and I was mean enough to say they HAD to eat a couple~ thought I would get that in before I got the awful mother comment~ I will probably still get it anyway!! What I didn't know was that some people are actually intolerant to sprouts and Sam thinks that she is one of those people, so I do feel bad about making her eat them. Sadly we no longer have the allotment or a proper kitchen garden so this tradition has been dropped.

Part of the tradition included cooking sufficient sprouts to have leftovers to make 'Bubble and Squeak' to go with the cold turkey, ham, salad and pickles on Boxing day. This is something Embee really loves so is something I do try to continue each year. I never use a recipe and you can vary what goes into the dish, as in, substitute sprouts for cabbage. It's easy when you are clearing up on Christmas day to mash any left over potatoes and sprouts in readiness (also tastes good with chopped bacon). On boxing day this mixture can then be heated (a few fried onions mixed in gives extra flavour~optional). Use some oil or butter and heat on medium heat add ingredients and press into a patty and brown, flipping and browning both sides. I don't have any photos of this dish. However I did find a proper recipe (which is a variation on what I do) here. This is probably not the healthiest of meals but once a year is OK!!

In readiness for this meal the other family tradition we used to follow was to play tennis on Boxing Day morning, that way I at least felt we were getting some exercise. We have been known to sweep frost from the court to play~ mad family that we were back then!
For the past 10 years or so we have substituted the tennis for a walk and we always go to the same place on Boxing Day Blaise Castle Estate. I have posted about it before and some of you will remember it as being where I walk my niece's dog. We call it the 'Dingley Dell' and there are some interesting legends connected with this area of Bristol, such as, The Giant Goram I know this bears no relation to the topic but as usual I'm getting carried away.

I found this Christmas photo from a few years ago....... and we are playing a traditional game. What do you think we were doing!?!?!

I think I've wittered on about nothing for long enough so head over to Deborah and see everyone else's family traditions.

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November 5th 2006: Animal farm