A Merry Christmas 2012
We have Christmas carols, Christmas recipes, Christmas decorations, Christmas cards, Christmas gifts and all the Christmas traditions.
Everything you want this Christmas is right here.
Photograph Courtesy - thechristmasideas.blogspot.com
Contents at a Glance
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
To Everybody Throughout the World!
German: Fröhliche Weihnachten und ein glückliches/gutes Neues JahrDutch: Prettige kerstdagen en een gelukkig nieuwjaar
Danish: God jul og godt nytår
Finnish: Hyvää Joulua ja Onnellista Uutta Vuotta
French: Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année
Polish: Wesolych Swiat i Szczesliwego Nowego Roku
Portuguese: Boas Festas e um feliz Ano novo
Spanish: Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo
Swedish: God Jul och Gott Nytt År
Italian: Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo
Irish: Nollaig Shona Duit
The Twelve Days of Christmas
Day 1 True Love refers to GodDay 2 Turtle Doves refers to the Old and New Testaments
Day 3 French Hens refers to Faith, Hope and Charity, the Theological Virtues
Day 4 Calling Birds refers to the Four Gospels and/or the Four Evangelists
Day 5 Golden Rings refers to the first Five Books of the Old Testament, the "Pentateuch", which gives the history of man's fall from grace.
Day 6 Geese A-laying refers to the six days of Creation
Day 7 Swans A-swimming refers to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven sacraments
Day 8 Maids A-milking refers to the eight Beatitudes
Day 9 Ladies Dancing refers to the nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
Day 10 Lords A-leaping refers to the Ten Commandments
Day 11 Pipers Piping refers to the eleven Faithful Apostles
Day 12 Drummers drumming refers to the twelve points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed
Countdown to Christmas Day
The Santa Story
Santa Claus reflects an amalgamation of the Dutch Sinterklaas, the English Father Christmas, and the historical gift-giver Saint Nicholas.Santa Claus is said to bring gifts to the homes of good children during Christmas Eve on 24 December.
Santa Claus is generally depicted as a plump, jolly, white-bearded man wearing a red coat with white collar and cuffs, white-cuffed red trousers, and black leather belt and boots.
According to a tradition which dates back to the 1820s, Santa Claus lives at the North Pole with a large number of magical elves and flying reindeer.
Santa Claus is believed to keep a list of "good" and "naughty" children throughout the world, so as to deliver behaviour-appropriate presents on Christmas Eve. The elves make the toys in the workshop and the reindeer pull his sleigh to achieve this mammoth delivery.
Children express their gratitude to Santa by leaving supper. North American children traditionally leave Santa a glass of milk and a plate of cookies. Children in Britain and Australia sometimes leave sherry and sweet mince pies. Swedish children leave rice porridge and Irish children often leave Guinness or milk with Christmas pudding or sweet mince pies.
Most children throughout the world also leave a carrot for Santa's hard-working reindeer.
A Beautiful Christmas Tree
The Christmas tree is traditionally a decorated evergreen coniferous tree, real or artificial.The tradition of decorating a tree at Christmas started in Livonia and Germany in the 16th century.
The Christmas tree is decorated with lights, ornaments, garlands, tinsel, and candy canes. An angel or star is placed at the top of the tree, representing the host of angels or the Star of Bethlehem.
The Christmas tree became popular among European nobility in the early nineteenth century. Princess Henrietta introduced the Christmas tree to Vienna in 1816 and the Duchesse d'Oleans introduced it to France in 1840. Countess Wilhemine lit the first Christmas tree in Denmark in 1808 and told the story to Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen in 1865.
A Christmas tree was placed in the child Queen Victoria's bedroom each year.
The British tradition was copied in the United States in the mid 1850s and it quickly became quite common by the 1870s.
Christmas Recipes
What is your favourite Christmas food?What is Christmas without delicious, wicked food - those special treats that we generally only enjoy once a year.
Here is your four course Christmas Dinner Menu - Merry Christmas.
Christmas Dinner Menu
Macadamia Nut Soup
- Serves: 6
A decadent start to Christmas!
Ingredients
- 450g unsalted macadamia nuts roughly chopped
- 3 medium potatoes peeled and chopped
- 1 large leek white part only washed and sliced
- 1 brown onion peeled and chopped
- 1l (4 cups) chicken stock
- 300ml thick cream
Instructions
Preheat oven to 180°C.
Place 2 tablespoons of the nuts on a tray and roast until golden. Set aside.
Place potatoes, leek, onion and stock in a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes or until potato is soft.
Remove from the heat and set aside to cool slightly. Add the remaining macadamia nuts and blend in batches until smooth.
Stir in cream and season with salt and pepper. Serve chilled or hot, garnished with the roasted nuts.
Christmas Dinner Menu
Glazed Ham Recipe
- Serves: 12
Mmmm - the main course.
Add your vegetables or salad of choice to complete this delicious main.
Ingredients
- 8 kg cooked leg ham
- 375g jar ginger
- lemon and lime marmalade
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 3/4 cup pineapple juice
- Whole cloves to decorate
Instructions
Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced.
Cut through ham rind 8cm from shank. Run thumb underneath rind to separate from fat. Peel back and remove rind. Using a small sharp knife, score fat diagonally at 3cm intervals to form a diamond pattern. Press a clove into centre of each diamond. Wrap shank end in foil.
Place marmalade, sugar and pineapple juice in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring, for five minutes or until marmalade has melted. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer for five minutes or until slightly thickened. Remove from heat.
Place ham on a wire rack in a roasting pan. Add boiling water to pan until 2cm up sides of pan. Brush ham with 1/4 marmalade mixture. Bake, basting with remaining marmalade mixture every 20 minutes, for 1 hour 30 minutes or until ham is golden.
Be careful not to score the ham fat too deeply, otherwise fat will melt and spread during cooking.
Christmas Dinner Menu
Ice Cream Terrine
- Serves: 12
Delicious Dessert!
Ingredients
- 1 x 1.5 litre vanilla ice cream
- 3 x 100g packets multi-coloured glace cherries
- halved
- 2 x 100g packets blanched almonds
- 1 x 2 litre chocolate ice cream
- 1 cup (325 g) fruit mince
- Fresh raspberries to serve
- Icing sugar to dust
Instructions
Line bases and sides of two 11cm-deep, 10.5 x 21cm (base measurement) loaf pans with non-stick baking paper, allowing the two long sides to overhang.
Place the vanilla ice-cream in the fridge for 30 minutes to soften slightly. Transfer to a stainless-steel mixing bowl and fold in the cherries until combined.
Divide the ice-cream mixture among prepared pans and use the back of a spoon to smooth the surface. Tap firmly on the work surface to remove any air bubbles. Cover with foil and place in the freezer for 4-6 hours or until very firm.
Meanwhile, cook the almonds in a small non-stick frying pan over medium heat, tossing, for three to four minutes or until toasted. Set aside to cool slightly. Coarsely chop.
Place the chocolate ice-cream in the fridge for 30 minutes to soften slightly. Transfer to a stainless-steel mixing bowl. Fold in the fruit mince and almonds until well combined.
Spoon the chocolate ice-cream mixture over the vanilla ice-cream mixture in the pans and smooth the surface. Tap firmly on the work surface to remove any air bubbles. Cover with foil and place in the freezer for a further 10-12 hours or until very firm.
Remove ice-cream terrines from the freezer and turn onto serving platters.
Remove the baking paper and top the terrines with raspberries. Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately.
You can prepare this recipe to the end of step 5 up to 2 weeks ahead. Continue from step 6, 10 minutes before serving dessert.
Christmas Dinner Menu
Christmas Cake Recipe
- Serves: 20
A deliciously decadent Christmas Cake to finish off a festive gourmand experience.
Ingredients
- 600g sultanas
- 400g raisins
- 200g currants
- 100g glace cherries quartered
- 100g glace orange slices finely chopped
- 80g glace ginger finely chopped
- 290ml brandy
- 1 1/2 cups plain flour
- 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
- 2 teaspoons mixed spice
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 250g butter softened
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 4 eggs at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons orange marmalade
- pure icing sugar to serve
Instructions
Place dried fruit, glace fruit and 1 cup brandy in a large airtight container. Mix well. Cover and stand overnight or preferably for one week, stirring occasionally.
Lightly grease a 9cm deep, 20cm (base) square cake pan. Line base and sides with brown paper and baking paper.
Preheat oven to 150°C.
Sift flours and spices into a bowl.
Using electric beaters, cream butter and sugar in a large bowl until pale and creamy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add marmalade and 1 tablespoon flour mixture and beat until well combined. Using a large metal spoon, fold remaining flour mixture into butter mixture.
Add fruit mixture to butter mixture and stir until combined. Press into pan. Smooth surface. Tap base of pan on workbench to settle fruit and remove air bubbles.
Cover cake with 3 layers brown paper.
Bake for 3 to 3 1/2 hours or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Drizzle remaining 2 tablespoons brandy over cake while still hot.
Wrap cake pan in a clean tea towel and allow to cool completely. Remove cake from pan and dust with icing sugar.
Serve.
If time permits, begin this one week ahead. You can make this cake up to 4 weeks ahead. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and foil and store in an airtight container.
Baking tips: Lightly grease cake pan. Line base and sides with double layer brown paper, then double layer baking paper, allowing a 6cm overhang at all sides. Position oven rack just below centre so cake sits in centre of oven.
Christmas Dinner Menu
Eggnog Recipe Recipe
- Serves: 6
Just when everybody thinks they have had enough Christmas cheer for one year, there is the Eggnog!
Ingredients
- 1/2 (110g) cup caster sugar
- 2 cinnamon quills
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup (185ml) pure (thin) cream
- 3/4 cup 9185ml) milk
- 100ml each brandy
- rum and sherry
- Ground or freshly grated nutmeg
- to dust
Instructions
Place sugar and cinnamon quills in a saucepan with 1/2 cup (125ml) cold water. Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves. Simmer for 1 minute, then remove and cool.
Combine 100ml of the syrup in a blender with eggs, cream, milk and alcohol.
Refrigerate until icy cold.
Pour into cocktail glasses serve dusted with nutmeg.
Christmas Greeting Cards
Keep A Tradition Alive With A Handwritten Christmas Cards This Year
The first commercial Christmas cards were commissioned by Sir Henry Cole in London in 1843, featuring an illustration by John Callcott Horsley. Two batches totaling 2050 cards were printed and sold that year for a shilling each.
In 1875 Louis Prang became the first printer to offer cards in America.
The advent of the postcard spelled the end for elaborate Victorian-style cards, but cards with envelopes had returned by the 1920s.
The production of Christmas cards was a profitable business for many stationery manufacturers throughout the 20th century as the design of cards continually evolved with changing tastes and printing techniques. The World Wars brought cards with patriotic themes. Idiosyncratic "studio cards" with cartoon illustrations and sometimes risque humor caught on in the 1950s. Nostalgic, sentimental, and religious images have continued in popularity and in the 21st century, reproductions of Victorian and Edwardian cards are easy to obtain.
The estimated number of cards received by American households dropped from 29 in 1987 to 20 in 2004. Email and telephones allow for more frequent contact and are easier for generations raised without handwritten letters.
If you wish to keep a tradition alive and treat friends to your handwritten Christmas thoughts and wishes, we have a lovely selection of Christmas cards for you to choose from.
Christmas For Her
Christmas gifts for "Her" are probably the trickiest. You probably think she has everything and therefore can't possibly think of what she might like or even better, what she might really adore. We hope we have taken the guesswork out of your dilemma with the following "to die for" gifts - there isn't a "Her" in the world who wouldn't love these. Maybe you are the "Her" and would absolutely love something here, so go on, surrepticiously direct your Christmas givers to these beautiful gift ideas. Merry Christmas. Big Things Come in Small Boxes - A Diamond Ring For Her?
Merry Christmas Pearls?
"Bling" Earrings for Christmas?
Jimmy Choos to Dance Christmas Night Away?
Festive Nights?
Chanel Sunglasses for the Day After Christmas?
We Wish You A Very Merry Christmas
Christmas Blessings
Share Your Christmas Message Here
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StacyBirch May 2, 2012 @ 1:39 pm | delete
- Merry Christmas.
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Sylvestermouse
Apr 24, 2012 @ 9:14 pm | delete
- Christmas is a very special time of the year! Thanks for sharing the recipes and gift ideas.
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goo2eyes
Apr 9, 2012 @ 9:47 am | delete
- i hope i can make more lenses before christmas comes. nice gift ideas. thank you and blessings to all men (including women).
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Travelhouseuk
Mar 7, 2012 @ 3:24 pm | delete
- nice tips!
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TheLifestyleChanger
Mar 19, 2012 @ 8:16 am | delete
- Merry Christmas in advance!
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shishuworld
Feb 28, 2012 @ 5:23 am | delete
- There you go.. Your # 20 squidlike... you are doing a great job..
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TheLifestyleChanger
Feb 28, 2012 @ 5:40 am | delete
- Woohoo! Thank you so much Shishworld!
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Tipi
Feb 20, 2012 @ 10:23 pm | delete
- A #17 smile for you, Christmas 2012 will be merry!
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TheLifestyleChanger
Feb 20, 2012 @ 10:26 pm | delete
- Thank you very much - a very Merry early Christmas to you!
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Still Need More Christmas Ideas?
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
Bing Crosby
Ev'rywhere you go;
Take a look in the five-and-ten,
Glistening once again
With candy canes and silver lanes aglow.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas,
Toys in ev'ry store,
But the prettiest sight to see
Is the holly that will be
On your own front door.
A pair of hopalong boots
And a pistol that shoots
Is the wish of Barney and Ben;
Dolls that will talk
And will go for a walk
Is the hope of Janice and Jen;
And Mom and Dad can hardly wait
for school to start again.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas,
Ev'rywhere you go;
There's a tree in the Grand Hotel,
One in the park as well,
The sturdy kind that doesn't mind the snow.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas;
Soon the bells will start,
And the thing that will make them ring
Is the carol that you sing
Right within your heart
Merry Christmas Darling
Lea Michele - Glee
The Christmas rush is through
But I still have one wish to make
A special one for you
Merry Christmas darling
We're apart that's true
But I can dream and in my dreams
I'm Christmas-ing with you
Holidays are joyful
There's always something new
But every day's a holiday
When I'm near to you
The lights on my tree
I wish you could see
I wish it every day
Logs on the fire
Fill me with desire
To see you and to say
That I wish you Merry Christmas
Happy New Year, too
I've just one wish
On this Christmas Eve
I wish I were with you
Instrumental Interlude
Logs on the fire
Fill me with desire
To see you and to say
That I wish you Merry Christmas
Happy New Year, too
I've just one wish
On this Christmas Eve
I wish I were with you
I wish I were with you
(Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas - Darling)
Blog Posts from Google
- Controversy, too, is harvest of White House garden
- It was while she was serving dinner to her kids in 2008 and their dad was out campaigning for president, that Michelle Obama hatched a modest daydream: a vegetable garden on the White House grounds. She'd recently had a conversation with her children's ...
- And on that farm he had some mates
- It was Christmas Eve 2008 when the then resources minister Ian Macdonald ''put out the garbage'' - political slang for the release of a controversial decision when a government hopes no one will notice. In this case, Macdonald's December 24 media ...
- Boston production of 'Beauty and the Beast' will be a homecoming of sorts for ...
- ... in 2008, she moved to New York City, and has won roles in regional theater shows in New York, including Rosella in ?Sugar,? and roles in shows in Wisconsin, including Mrs. Finfer/Clara in ?It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas? and Linda in ...
- India likely to host Pakistan in Dec-Jan?
- According to sources within the BCCI, India could host Pakistan for three ODIs and one Twenty20 during the short span of time that the England cricket team goes home for Christmas and before it returns for the ODI leg of its tour.
This Happy Snowman page written by
TheLifestyleChanger
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