The last Sunday before the new year is Stir Up Sunday.
This is the day on which many will prepare their traditional English Christmas Pudding.
The “stir up” comes from the first words of the traditional Collect at Mass of the Last Sunday of the Year.
Excita, [Stir up!] quaesumus. Dómine, tuórum fidélium voluntátes: ut, divíni óperis fructum propénsius exsequéntes; pietátis tuæ remédia maióra percípiant.
Also, because you stir up the ingredients for your Christmas pudding on Stir Up Sunday, and steam it, so that it has adequate time to set before the big day.
What are YOUR pudding plan?
Find a recipe, make a plan with the family, and make a pudding this year!
I, alas, am on the road. I won’t be able to make a pudding. *sigh*
In the meantime, here – once again this year – are images from a book I recall from my distant childhood, depicting “Max” preparing what I now – at long – last understand to be The Christmas Pudding! As a kid I had always wondered what he was making.
Any resemblance to hamsters – once on sidebars – is entirely intentional.
Yes, sometimes our best plans and efforts blow up in our faces.
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Yes, this just recently happened to me…
Because of your yearly posts for this traditional pudding, I have longed to be able to do this for yesrs and finally was able to have all the ingredients. Unfortunately my stove was fried yesterday. So, no puddin for me…. Unless I make it on the bbq…
Pudding will be made after all, on the old wood stove. Yay.
MrsMacD—Good for you! Where there is a will there is a way!!!!
Oh, I remember that cute hamster on the sidebar!
There is a beautiful persimmon tree that dangles fruit temptingly over one’s car in (one space of) the parking lot of The Happiest Place on Earth (no, not Disneyland, but the Huntington Library, where Art Museum, Research Library and Botanical Gardens are all joined in one location!). Apparently they disapprove of middle aged ladies in heels and her children jumping up and down on the hood of a pick up truck in an attempt to pilfer the fruit. Perhaps if we had a very large van…..or if we backed into the spot?….hmmm……Anyway our pudding stirring this year has been delayed until we can find a more available tree. I know of several on a road over to a certain coastal hamlet….The owner is only too happy to see the fruit enjoyed rather than have it splattered all over the ground in one big squishy mess.
(FULL DISCLOSURE: We did ask for permission and were denied it. They persimmons are available for purchase it in the restaurant for a fair price. I would gladly pay double to be able to pick them ourselves. There’s just so much joy in it!)
“What are YOUR pudding plan?”
As ever, I’ll start on Dec. 8th. I know people say this doesn’t give them enough time to age etc but it was what my mother always did (we kids always had 8th December off for the Holyday and her preparations were a special feature of that day, fondly remembered) and her mother before her, which is going back on a century now, and they always tasted great.
For the last couple of years I’ve used black treacle to give a darker colour, as my mother used to do, along with the Guinness and dark rum, and it has certainly done that. Very pleased with the results, as were the family. Or at least they were good enough to say so.
Nice to see Max again! I did a search, and he’s been appearing since about 2010, when Fr. Z first embarked on the Great Christmas Pudding Adventure…
https://wdtprs.com/2010/12/christmas-pudding-update/