31st December – New Year’s Eve

Happy New Year!

The final blog! My project has come to an end.

This blog began on this notable date exactly one year ago and am amazed that I have managed to keep it all up. I know my blogs have not always been written as swiftly as they should and I am a little disappointed in the lack of customs and traditions I was able to do on some of these dates. But in all, I am proud of this little project and feel that not only have I learned some valuable things from doing this but I have also really enjoyed the journey.

I therefore wanted to celebrate New Year’s Eve in a really good way.

Back in August I actually visited a travel agent and inquired as to the cost of celebrating NYE in New York’s Times Square. I thought it would be a real ‘Wow?’ moment and be a wonderful way to end the year. It would have been a ‘Wow!’ moment, a ‘wow’ in my bank account! It was hugely expensive to travel for three nights to NYC over the New Year’s Eve period – the three night stay would cost more for my boyfriend and I than I paid to spend two whole weeks traveling to New York, Las Vegas and Hollywood!

I then looked in to celebrating Hogmanay in Edinburgh. Again, the cost was large but the limited availability in hotels was the main problem there.

London it is then, I thought to myself! I would stand on the banks of the Thames and watch the beautiful fireworks display that is always shown on television in the UK. I decided to look in to a nice hotel for the few days for the boyfriend and I and I soon discovered that for the first time ever, the fireworks in London would be a ticketed event!  Further research showed that tickets sold out within a few hours back in October! I went on to Ebay to see if any tickets were selling cheap and was amazed that they were going for hundreds of pounds!

Right, with my three main options vanishing in front of my eyes, I had to look at celebrating my final notable date a little closer to home.

My sister always works on New Year’s Eve as she trebles her hourly rate and actually ends up having a decent night anyway, as people are in good spirits. My best friends are always keen for a party so I checked with them both. One had her family staying over from Holland and the other was eager to do something but wasn’t sure what.

We quickly did some research in our city to see what was available on NYE and we made our plans; dinner and drinks and my house followed by a night of prohibition styled champagne drinking and dancing. Fab!

Not New York, Edinburgh or London…..but Cambridge!

It is traditional according to http://www.projectbritiain.com to celebrate the exit of an old year by drinking champagne, toasting the new year with shouts of ‘Happy New Year!’. That is exactly what we did.

I also discovered that ‘In Yorkshire, people say ‘Black rabbits, black rabbits, black rabbits’ in the closing seconds of the old year. Then they say ‘White rabbits, white rabbits, white rabbits’, as their first utterance of the New Year. This is supposed to bring good luck. I did just this, muttering to myself as the final ‘dongs’ of Big Ben were played over the speakers in our little cocktail nightclub.

http://www.ibtimes.com/new-years-eve-traditions-around-world-2015-how-they-celebrate-spain-russia-ireland-1770242

This website told me that there are quite a few bizarre customs for welcoming in a new year, around the world.

Rather than going for throwing furniture out of the windows (South Africa!), banging loaves of bread on doors and walls to chase the bad luck out of a house and to invite good spirits in (Ireland), eating 12 grapes just before the clock chimes midnight- this custom often sparks a contest of who can cram the grapes into their mouth fastest (Spain) I decided to go with a Russian tradition of writing a wish for the upcoming year on a piece of paper, then to burn the paper and place the ashes in a glass of champagne, which  then needs to be consumed.

A bit weird, I know but I chose two wishes; one for me and one for my sister. I burned the paper and sprinkled the ashes in my champagne. Done.

What a ridiculous custom Russia! But, I did it.

I also left silver coins outside the back door, which symbolises bringing in wealth for the new year. I just hoped my chickens wouldn’t try to eat the coins the next day before I could bring them in!

I also decided to invent a little custom of my own for New Year. I decided to write a little card to a few important people in my life and write how much that person means to me. I wanted to wish them  superb 2015 and thank them for being such a special person to me in 2014. I sent the letters and felt that this is a tradition I wish to do every year.

a card for my sister

My friend and her boyfriend arrived for the drinks and food before the party, bringing with them plenty of festive cheer and a a new friend; a girl from Portugal who is staying with them at the moment. (My best friend is Portuguese herself). Whilst explaining some of the bizarre traditions I have had to celebrate this year, I mentioned the burning the paper in the champagne glass and the Portuguese girls told me that in Portugal it is traditional and lucky to wear blue underwear on New Year’s Eve! I didn’t know that one and by some stroke of very good luck, I happened to buy some new underwear that day and guess what colour it happened to be!?

And so with blue knickers on, dressed up to the nines, a little giggly on champagne (seasoned with ash papers) I partied the night away with my friends. It was a really fun evening and we all had a super time.

The New Year’s Eve celebrations at my house with my best friends

I have also decided to uphold a further New Year custom; to set myself some resolutions. It was Samuel Pepys who wrote in 1661 ‘I have newly taken a solemn oath about abstaining from plays and wine, which I am resolved to keep…’ and although I enjoy both plays and wine I will not be setting myself the target of abstaining from them in 2015. Instead my New Year’s Resolution is to continue blogging. To set myself a new challenge.

My project ‘The Good, The Bad and The Diary’ has began….follow my new blog on wordpress.

And now the ‘Thank You’s’: Thank you very much to my friends and family who have celebrated these notable dates with me. Those of you that have put up with some bizarre behaviour and weird traditions, whether it be having water thrown in your face, paint splattered over you, a horn waking you up in the morning or by being whipped with leaves – I appreciate your efforts on this little journey with me. And thank you to you, the person that is actually reading my silly blog – if anyone actually is!

A new resolution: A new blog! Check out: The Good, The Bad and The Diary on WordPress.

26th December – Boxing Day

What is Boxing Day?

I have never actually asked myself this question before. I think I would always answer this question as ‘The day after Christmas’ but I wouldn’t really know why it is called Boxing Day nor why we have it as a notable date in the calendar.

Traditionally Boxing Day is a bank holiday, so it falls under the Christmas break and most people get another blissful day off; scoffing leftovers, watching movies and hanging out with the family. Some people watch Boxing Day football matches, some people (my Dad – in Australia) watch cricket matches.

I wanted to know why Boxing Day was called ‘Boxing Day’ – did people compete in boxing matches? No. They did not, it turns out.

(http://resources.woodlandsjunior.kent.sch.uk/customs/xmas/boxingday.html)

Woodlands website told me that Boxing Day is called Boxing Day as people would box up food and charitable items and give them to the poor. People gave money to other workers on this day and it was generally a day of charitable work and good deeds all involving boxes of some kind.

Now I found it a little difficult to find a box to fill up with food and gifts, but actually the thing I found most difficult was to find a ‘poor person’ to give the gift too! Instead, I opted to donate money to charity.

I found a suitable charity and gave literally all the money in my purse at the time.

For this blog, I have donated to more charities than I would usually donate to in a year. I am a fairly charitable person. If a friend is doing something for charity, I usually do sponsor them. I can’t resist children fundraising at school and often pop change in charity boxes. I am proud that this year I have done more. Charities that I have donated to include: The British Legion, Red Cross, Help for Heroes, Unicef, Children in Need, Cancer Research and NSPCC.

Boxing Day traditions also include shopping, winter sports like skiing and playing games with the family.

We did go skiing on this day and after on in the evening we shared a big family meal all together. It was a really enjoyable family day actually.

I also discovered that on Boxing Day it is lucky to hunt wrens – the only day it is lucky rather than unlucky. I have no idea what bird is what most of the time (with the exception of robins, pigeons and seagulls!) and so found this tradition very difficult to uphold.

With just one blog entry left to do – I am very close now to achieving my new years resolution of celebrating every notable date in 2014. It is quite sad actually, that my little project is coming to a close.

25th December – Christmas Day

Christmas Day! yay!

I love Christmas and always have done. I used to get so excited about Christmas as a child, I couldn’t sleep the night through and my sister and I would be awake at 2am shivering with excitement at the prospect of presents and the day ahead.

This year, despite the stuttering start to our Christmas holiday in France, I awoke once again to a fluttering feeling in my tummy at the prospect of giving gifts to my family.

My boyfriend and I exchanged gifts in our room and when we went to the lounge we saw that Santa had left us gifts in our stockings!

We wished everyone Merry Christmas and then we had to organise our Christmas dinner! As we had recently departed from our nightmare before Christmas chalet with the awful Hostess Clare, we actually had no food ready for the big day!

Luckily a supermarket was found so we were not having beans on toast for the most important meal of the year. Despite it being a bit slap dash, we had a fairly traditional Christmas meal of poultry, potatoes and veg.

The best element of Christmas Day is the family time. It was what we were missing in our first chalet: the opportunity to sit around the table, as a family and play games with cups of tea and snacks.

We played a couple of games, laughed a lot, snacked a lot and it was a warm, cosy Christmas.

24th December – Christmas Eve

Obviously Christmas Eve is a notable date in my diary that I celebrate very year. I am aware of the obvious ways in which it is celebrated but this year I was keen to try a few new customs.

This year I was also in Chamonix, France and was pleased to discover that Christmas Eve is the important day of the Christmas period for French people and they celebrate by having a Noël dinner.

I learned this fact from an Australian.

Right. I’ve now reached the point where I cannot go further in writing this blog without adding more detail about my Christmas holiday.

I was in Chamonix. I was expecting to be able to celebrate these notable dates in a much more enthusiastic way. I envisaged discovering new customs, shopping for special ingredients, making special arrangements to uphold in our charming rented chalet covered in snow. I pictured myself making a noël log in the kitchen of the chalet, snuggling around a log fire with snow falling outside as my family ate it. I thought of chopping down a fir tree and decorating it with paper chains. I thought of carols on the CD player and egg nog and gifts and cosiness.

I thought wrong.

Our ski trip was a bit of a disaster.

Our beautiful five bedroom ski chalet was in fact a rather run down chalet. It was a bit cold, quite a bit worn out and more than a bit unwelcoming. You see, my father in law (mentioned in the Father’s Day blog), a notorious man known as Geeza was responsible for booking the chalet.

He assured our family he had done a good job. That the chalet was luxurious, charming and we had a private chef to cook our meals.
On arrival we were greeted by an Australian woman called Clare, who was in fact the owner of the chalet, our chef and very much lives in the house…all of the time.
Clare made our stay most uncomfortable and bizarre. She was married to Pascal, a French ski instructor who did not say much.

Our charming, cosy family holiday in the snow, soon became nothing more than an uncomfortable, awkward bed and breakfast stay in a hostel.

Every morning we breakfasted with Clare and Pascal in their dining room. You know that awful dining scene depicted in movies when all you hear is the scraping of cutlery on plates and long silences whilst people pretend to chew their food even though they swallowed it ages ago? That was us.

We did not realise the ‘chef’ would be Clare and that she never left the house. She wouldn’t allow us in the kitchen. We barely sat in their lounge in front of the log fire, because Pascal sat there staring in to the flames. It was a truly awful mistake.

After a day staying in the B&B, we started to notice how unkind Clare was. She seemed to enjoy criticising other people, took pleasure in our small mistakes (like the day we went skiing and forgot to take the ski poles with us) and was just the most ungracious hostess.

Our vision of Christmas Eve snuggled in front of the fire, making paper chains and eating mince pies whilst watching a Santa Claus movie was never going to happen. Clare and Pascal never left us alone to do our own thing. Soon the whole group of us were miserable and wanted to change accommodation.

Clare told us she would be making us noël dinner on Christmas Eve. She explained how it was tradition in France to have a big, family meal consisting of ham and noël log for supper. Clare said she would be there with us for e meal. She also would be with us for the whole of Christmas Day too.
We asked if her and Pascal had family or friends they visit for Christmas (hoping to get a few hours of privacy) but they said no.

We all became so miserable.

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So on Christmas Eve, the boyfriend and I decided to solve the problem – or The NightClare Before Christmas, as we were calling it.
We decided to not go skiing with the rest of the family, but instead we would take our laptops to the town of Chamonix, reside in a coffee shop with wifi and find better accommodation for the rest of the holiday.

We called ourselves the elves saving Christmas!

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We even did a little prayer asking for help!

Amazingly it worked! After around two hours of searching online, we had a response from a company offering us a five bedroom self catered chalet in Chamonix.

We had a quick discussion with the family, viewed the chalet (which was most pleasant) and paid the balance. We had the keys in our hands within the hour!

The happiness and relief we felt for getting away from the B &B and the miserable Clare and Pascal was euphoric! The boyfriend and I were so thrilled and we finally felt a sense of Christmas excitement.

We decided to spend the remaining couple of hours before the others got to the new chalet, shopping in Chamonix to make the new house feel festive.

This was how I began to celebrate this notable date appropriately.

I discovered it was tradition to decorate your home with holly branches and so as soon as I saw some holly for sale in a small French supermarket, I made sure I bought some.

Www.whychristmas.com also told me that:
‘In many european countries including Germany, Serbia and Slovakia, Christmas Eve is the day when the Christmas Tree is brought into the house and decorated.’

So the boyfriend cut the top off a medium sized tree and we decorated the branches.
In use town centre of Chamonix, there were people singing carols in the the town square and I made sure I joined them for a song.

We did go back to the NightClare Before Christmas. We had to. We had to collect our belongings.

By the time we got to her house she had prepared noël supper for us all. We didn’t mind. It was a decent meal and we explained how we had found different accommodation, closer to Pila (the place where the snow was better) as we wanted to ski as much as possible. A little dishonest of us, yes, we actually we only moving five minutes down the road from her.

I didn’t mind this lie. She actually was quite false in lots of what she said to us too. She told me I could go to midnight mass on Christmas Eve at the local church and that it started at 10.30pm. When we got to the church it was all locked up and empty. So no chance of following that custom for Christmas Eve for me.

Www.whychristmas.com also told me that
‘There were lots of superstitions in the UK that said girls could find out the initials, or even have visions, of the person they would marry on Christmas Eve! This was often done by cooking a special cake called a ‘dumb cake’. You were supposed to make the cake in silence and prick your initials into the top. When you went to bed, you left the cake by the fire hearth and your true love was supposed to coming in at midnight and prick his initials next to yours!

Other Christmas Eve superstitions included that farm and wild animals would kneel at midnight in honor of Jesus being born or that they could even talk!’

I was happy to not worry too much about these ridiculous customs. As far as I was concerned I had all I needed for a wonderful, traditional Christmas Eve: my family, a comfy sofa and everyone was finally happy.
We all gathered in our pyjamas on the sofas in our new chalet to watch an old family favourite film. The Christmas tree was lit, the stockings were hung and cups of tea were handed out.

The Christmas elves saved Christmas!

21st December – Winter Begins, The shortest day

Well we have had the beginning of summer and spring in this blog so far so naturally the beginning of winter must also be celebrated too.

Even Google knew this notable date was worth celebrating!

http://www.timeanddate.com told me ‘The December solstice is on either December 20, 21, 22 or 23. It is called Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, where it is the shortest day of the year.’

Well this year the date was the 21st December and so I found a few interesting customs to observe on this notable date in my diary.

First however, I must begin with what I did not do!

A couple of websites told me of different pagan ways to celebrate the notable date of the winter solstice. They mentioned sacrificing a goat and one website even told tale of how a an used to be sacrificed!

I did not sacrifice a man or a goat – not that day anyway.

Thank you http://www.huffingtonpost.com for those ideas!

I know that many druids celebrate the winter solstice by visiting Stonehenge and having a bit of a boogie, but as I was on route to France on this date,  visit to the stones was unachievable.

see you next time – guys.

Instead I found a winter solstice custom that I was determined to follow, as it involved food.

‘The Feast of Juul was a pre-Christian festival observed in Scandinavia at the time of the December solstice. Fires were lit to symbolize the heat, light and life-giving properties of the returning sun. A Yule or Juul log was brought in and burned on the hearth in honor of the Scandinavian god Thor.’ http://www.timeanddate.com

This is where we get the custom of Yule log cakes and also the association of buring logs on the fire as being a Christmas type thing to do.

I arrived in France (for a family skiing trip) and was pleased to know we were a short walk from the town centre of Chamonix. As we popped in to the town, I spotted a little French bakery. To my utter delight, they had to cutest yule logs on offer to buy.

I bought a chocolate yule log for a rather pricely sum of 22Euro. It looked delicious and I was so happy to find something suitable for celebrating this notable date properly.

Over coffee my family shared the yule log  which was a bit boozy with obviously some kind of brandy type frosting on it. Those cook type people who read my blog, can you tell me what the boozey taste was?

tres bien! My delicious Yule Log

In the evening, we curled up in front of a log fire and it did feel very much like the beginning of winter. Snow outside (although very little snow, I must admit) and a log fire – winter had begun.

I must admit however…..this notable date begins a very different story. This day was nt as blissful as I may of made it seem. Our winter wonderland skiing holiday actually turned in to a bit of a nightmare. My next blog will reveal all………

17th December – Hanukkah

Hanukkah is a Jewish festival, the festival of light. I love how many different festivals and notable dates all seem to celebrate the same things; light, the beginning of spring, being kind to loved ones etc. Like Diwali, this festival is about light and exchanging gifts. Although the story behind Hanukkah differs, obviously.

‘Hanukkah is a religious festival that is celebrated by the Jewish people across the world to commemorate the victory of Jewish army over the Greek soldiers and the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem’ http://www.hanukkahcelebrations.com

I began this notable date fully prepared. Conscious that I have not been celebrating a few notable dates as greatly as I would of liked, I did my research of this date early on and discovered in order to celebrate this date as traditionally as possible I would need t buy two things: a dreidel and a menorah. So I went on Ebay and found a small spinning top with Jewish symbols on (my dreidel) and even managed to find a small menorah suitable for my needs.

My dreidel arrived in the post after a couple of days but my menorah was taking much longer to arrive. Annoying.

I discovered that it is traditional to eat fried foods like doughnuts (foods cooked in oils to represent the jar of oil that lasted all those days). Doughnuts for breakfast? Yes sir!

I needed to do some Christmas shopping so I enjoyed heading in to town and parking my arse in a delightful patisserie for the morning. I could not find a doughnut shop, so as I walked in to the patisserie my first question to the waiter was ‘do you have doughnuts?!’ he must of thought I was a mad pregnant woman with severe cravings.

a notable date that involves doughnuts….hmmm maybe I should be Jewish?

I ordered my usual coffee and the most delicious vanilla cream doughnut. I had my dreidel with my in my handbag and I had to buy a few gifts for my friends as part of this notable date. Luckily enough, I would be seeing ‘my girls’ later that evening so I could exchange the gifts and also pre-warned them that it was another notable date to celebrate and therefore we would be doing ‘Hanukkah things’. Luckily, I have the best friends a girl could wish for and they have celebrated with me many times throughout this blog – so they knew what to expect.

Later that evening I arrived at the pub to meet my sister and one of our friends. We caught up on our news and then my sister gave me a Hanukkah gift!

watchers of the US sitcom ‘Friends’ will know all about the Holiday Armadillo!

She had done her research too! She bought me some ‘gelt’ (chocolate coins) and made me a funny ‘Happy Hanukkah’ card.

Well, I was delighted! Out whipped the dreidel and I explained the rules of the game as I too shared some gelt I had brought with me too.

Not many of us girls are massive chocolate coin lovers, but boy! as soon as we realised the game was basically a gambling game, we soon got competitive. It was such fun spinning the dreidel and scooping up the winnings – alas I didn’t do too well on the old ‘scooping up the winnings’ front.

This is how you play a dreidel game for those who wish to play:

• Dreidel game: Break out your dreidels and get ready for some traditional Hanukkah fun. Notice the Hebrew letters on each side of the dreidel, which represent the words, “A great miracle happened there,” referring to the miracle of the oil. Start the dreidel game with the proper supplies, which include 10 or 15 coins (real or of chocolate) for each player. Place one coin in the center pot. Have the first player spin the dreidel. Look to see which side faces up, once the dreidel falls down. Instruct the player to either take a coin from the pot or give up a portion of his or her coins, based on the following code:
• Nun– “nothing”– nothing happens
• Gimel– “all”– take everything in the pot
• Hey– “half”– take half of the pot (round up if necessary)
• Shin– “put in” – put one coin in the pot

instructions courtesy of: http://www.punchbowl.com/p/5-hanukkah-traditions

 

dreidel game fun

After playing and losing at the dreidel game we went fr dinner. It was so wonderful to have a meal out with my best friends and exchange holiday gifts. I got some excellent presents from the girls and they seemed happy with the stuff I got them too.

After returning home, I thought to myself that I would keep my dreidel handy as it was a such a simple way to have some fun.

Sadly my menorah didn’t arrive until a week after Hanukkah, so I had to make my own menorah version using tealights. It did the job, but it wasn’t exactly as I would of liked.

my home made menorah

A week late! bad review score on Ebay form me then!

Hanukkah done! What a superb notable date to celebrate. I really enjoyed celebrating this festival of light. I will keep my dreidel and menorah for next year and may start the day off with doughnuts again!

http://www.whychristmas.com/customs/hanukkah.shtml was also a good website that gave me some Hanukkah info. I must reference it!

Only a few notable dates left in my year!

1st December – Holiday Scotland

So this was my final notable date that was just listed as ‘holiday’. I am glad this is the last one as I find it frustrating to not be able to discover why these countries have a random holiday and no real means of traditional customs to observe.

I could not take the day off work, sadly, and so I made sure the day was spent doing something pleasant.

It was the first day of December, so I opened my advent calendar and advent gift bag. An advent gift bag is an idea my sister came up with, which involves her buying twenty four little gifts and putting them in a large gift bag for the boyfriend and I to open each day of December.

She decided to do this last Christmas because she did not buy either the boyfriend or I gifts a few christmas’s back as she was made redundant. We were not too bothered, but my sister is generous and like an elephant she never forgets. She decided to make up for a lack of presents the year she couldn’t but gifts by buying extra and doing the advent bag for us both.

She enjoyed this gift giving spree so much she decided to do the same again this year! Bonus! So I was delighted on 1st December, to begin opening my advent bag. We got a DVD (The Wolf of Wall Street) so it was a good start.

After spending the day at work with some rather excitable children, I then drove to my mothers house. We spent a really nice evening getting a take away and then I drove Mum to my school music concert for an evenings worth of entertainment.

Now the school I work for is no average school. It is in fact a most notorious private prep school in the UK. It is actually related the best school in England for music, and so my mother was excited to be attending this concert. Her expectations were high when I told her there would not be a recorder in sight (or sound) and that in my school, we have a full orchestra, a wind ensemble, a chamber music group, symphonia, symponietta, senior choir and string quartet. She was thrilled.

The opening number was a little boy of ten years old playing a violin solo. He was amazing. I cannot remember the piece he played, only that it was breath taking, played from memory and the boy even did the professional violin head wobble as he played. My Mum was in tears before I knew it.

Watching so many gifted children perform to many proud parents is a wonderful way to spend the final holiday in my notable dates calendar. Spending time with my mum was the main point of the evening. I don’t spend much time alone with her just doing something together, and it was a truly good evening. I’m glad we did it together.

30th November – Saint Andrew’s Day/ First Sunday in Advent

Another double notable date day!

I struggled to accommodate St. Andrew’s Day customs in my Sunday, not living in Scotland I found some of the more traditional ideas difficult to uphold. I discovered through my old friend and blog lifeline Wikipedia, that Scottish foods are traditonally eaten on this day and that people may attend a good old Scottish Ceilidh.

I love a Ceilidh and think they are truly excellent fun. All the ceilidhs I have been to, people have enjoyed themselves and thrown themselves in to the dancing (literally in many cases!)

One of my favourite ceilidh stories comes from this blog! The Burns Night celebration I attended from my school earlier this year, saw my sister and I invited to an evening of Scottish dancing. Coming from a rather ‘posh’ school and it being my first year working at the establishment, I was a little anxious at how to behave in front of the other staff members, the parents and my boss! Imagine my horror at leaving for a loo break just as the music started to the ceilidh and to come back to the hall to discover my sister being swung about the dance floor by none other than the boss man himself!  It was so funny.

Another classic ceilidh moment was during a wedding many years ago. My sister and I were dancing away and we noticed at the same wedding, a school friend of my sisters was also there. Being a teenage boy we were quite surprised to see him (with no flicker of embarrassment) happily being whisked around the dance floor swinging partners and ‘stripping the willow’. His family were good sports and joined in the dancing with gusto. His father in particular. Whether it was the wedding wine or just the sheer thrill of dancing without inhibition, he swung his partner (in this case his teenage son) with such frivolity that he sent his son flying off through the dance floor. His son (my sister’s friend) crashed in to the DJ’s speakers head first, and laid in a crumpled heap on the floor. Slightly dazed, he jumped up, skipped over enthusiastically to his father and continued the dance! My sister and I could barely stand straight, we were laughing so hard. This was years ago now, but I still find myself smiling at the memory. I’m sure my sister will do too.

Sadly no ceilidh could be found on this day. Not that I would be up for it anyhow.

I spent the previous night celebrating Halloween still – remember the Murder Mystery dinner party I mentioned during my Halloween blog? Well it happened on November 29th and boy! it was a good party.

We ate, drank, unraveled a murder plot, drank, laughed, drank and drank some more! The night eventually turned in to an all nighter and I found myself still partying with my guests at 9am the next morning. It is safe to say, I was ruined for St. Andrew’s Day and could barely say the words ‘Ceilidh’ let alone dance at one. So instead the only thing I could do on St. Andrew’s Day to mark the date was to eat some greasy foods deep fried (as they do enjoy in Scotland!) and listen to some bagpipe music.

Some snaps of the night

Enough about other notable dates celebrated!

I also needed to mark the First Sunday of Advent on this day!

Luckily for me, I had prepared this day a little better and I bought myself an advent calendar the day before. It is a chocolate advent calendar – we always have a choccie one! But also my sister decided to up the ante of advent this year by giving the boyfriend and I an advent bag comprising of 24 little gifts, one to unwrap each day in the build up to Christmas!

24 little treasures

I lit a candle to mark the first day of advent as instructed by http://www.timeanddate.com and looked forward to opening the first of our advent treasures from the old sis!

November notable dates: DONE! Amazing to think I only have one more month to go of notable dates to celebrate. It’s been quite a journey and the finish line is in sight!

9th November – Remembrance Sunday

‘Poppies have become a symbol of our remembrance of those who lost their lives in wars and people wear them to show that they are remembering. A charity called the ‘Poppy Appeal’ was set up by the Royal British Legion to raise money for people whose lives have been affected by war.’ http://www.wikipedia.com

I’ve always loved ‘Poppy Day’ as I called it as a child. I think it is super to have such a gorgeous flower pinned to my clothes and I love the honourable men and women that sell the poppies outside supermarkets and in market squares.

What a smashing way to be remembered – by wearing a beautiful flower and so many people support the day. As they should.

Remembrance Sunday was spent for me, wearing my poppy pin and listening to one of my favourite pieces of spine chilling music ‘the Last Post’. I remember the first time I heard the gorgeous brass solo, and it still gives me shivers.

Our school celebrated Remembrance day at 11 O’Clock on the Monday morning in quite a spectacular way – I thought. The whole school (from the Headmaster to the cleaners) gathered on ‘front pitch’ outside the main school building and stood in silence. We waited for the official start time for the two minutes silence to begin. Somewhere in Cambridge we heard a gunshot to symbolise the start of the tribute. The children were fantastic and remained in absolute mute mode. Suddenly from an upstairs classroom came the ‘last post’ played beautifully on a French horm (I think).

It is hard not to get a little misty eyed during moments like that – so many people suffered during the wars and we are so lucky today to not be faced with what others endured. I think of my Grandparents and what they shouldered during those times. Although it seemed as gentler way of life back then, they did put up with some truly difficult situations.

I also think of a book I have read which is called Last Letters Home edited by Tamsin Day-Lewis. It was a booked that affected me so much and one I still pick up and read occasionally.

It hosts many moving letters from soldiers to their loved ones and I cannot read a single letter without being moved to tears. Please read it – it isn’t all sad stories, it’s full of happy endings and love.

And so, Remembrance Day was observed traditionally; with reflection, red poppies and reverence.

Wearing a poppy with pride

5th November – Bonfire Night

Remember, remember the fifth of November

Gunpowder, treason and plot!

I love Bonfire Night because of it’s British tradition. Who else would celebrate the notable date of when a rouge scalawag tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament and overthrow the King?! We do!

Obviously this tradition, I was well aware of and have celebrated every year in some form or another Working in a school it is a compulsory theme for learning for the beginning of November and I grew up knowing the story of Guy Fawkes.

One of my strongest memories however, of this night is that of danger and death. I remember being a little girl and hearing of how a small boy who attended my primary school was sadly hit by a car on Bonfire Night, and died. In my young mind it wasn’t a car that killed him tragically, but he was hit by a firework! I still have a feeling of darkness, danger and death on this night. I remember adults being sad at my school, I remember whispers of the boy’s tragic death and I remember feeling scared at the fact that we were talking at school about gunpowder, treason, burning bodies and death. It is amazing how mixed up things can get in the mind of a little one and how long you can carry those thoughts and memories for!

So on November 5th I ensured my family were present for some firework fun and traditional behavior.

Mum made toffee apples but they were very runny and glued your mouth shut once attempting to eat them. I made the traditional bonfire night cuisine of baked potatoes, sausages and beans. I must admit, I was surprised with the choice of food – I expected baked potatoes and chili con carne but apparently ‘bangers’ and beans are the most common foods to serve on the 5th November.

Bonfire Grub – the family were quite happy with their feast

I decorated the table with a shooting star balloon on which I scribed ‘Remember, remember the 5th of November’ and we set about scoffing.

I told my family of how we needed to eat up quick otherwise we may miss the local firework display in the village and also that I am sadly coming to the end of my notable dates in my diary. I cannot believe I have managed to celebrate each one and how quickly the year has passed.

After eating our simple (but tasty) meal we popped outside to watch the display. One word could sum up the mood after watching the display: dismal. I think from our position outside we saw one measly firework and it looked more like a house was on fire than any true spectacular show!

Instead, we came inside and the boyfriend made his own version of a Guy for our own mini bonfire.

Complete with sunglasses, a hook for a hand and a ripped pair of boxers this guy really was worth a penny.

We popped him outside and I tried to light him with a match on the material of the boxer shorts. The boyfriend soon lost interest and decided to do what all men seems to do when it comes to lighting a fire; put lighter fluid on it!

He doused the Guy in the white liquid – which I must admit looked rather gross on the boxer shorts! And then we all stepped back as the Guy was soon engulfed in bright, burning flames.

man Vs fire…..man get lighter fluid

We enjoyed the mini bonfire and then lit some sparklers to play with. Being the huge Harry Potter fan that I am I could not help shouting some spells at my sister and boyfriend. They were less enthusiastic as me, but that was probably because I cast a spell of immobility on them both! ha.

Expecto patronum!

Another pleasant evening in with the family involving food and fun and games in the garden. I will miss this blog when the notable dates are finished – I’ll never invite my family round for dinners again!