Christmas on the Home Front

Tea and Christmas cake anyone?

I have had a very exciting couple of weeks at work (well, more exciting than normal!) which I wanted to share with you.

I am involved with the WW2 programme at work where we run an evacuee camp and get groups of school children to try out lots of different period activities whilst learning what life was like on the Home Front. I love running these days – dressing up and indulging in my love of this period of history. So, I decided to approach Mr Bossman and see if I could run a couple of weeks of Christmas on the Home Front as a special offer. He happily agreed to let me give it a try and I am proud to say it was a huge success.

Some of our props.

We decorated our WW2 building and shop with period decorations. I spent hours creating paper chains from facsimile WW2 newspapers and sourcing paper decorations and streamers of crepe paper. We found the tiniest tree in the world and added some red, white and blue bunting too. I even found a supply of old Christmas cards to stretch above the mirror. Some fresh greenery from around the site completed the decor.

I spent hours researching facts and figures. Being a bit nerdy I wanted everything to be perfectly accurate but in truth we could just give an flavour of the time. Hence we had some American supplies in the shop alongside ration guidance from earlier in the War. Petrol rationing facts didn’t quite match with the dates on the magazines – but overall it gave a good impression of life in that era. And I just had to get over it!

The children got the chance to look at some toys and to think about what they might find in their stockings. They cooked and tasted authentic WW2 recipes and learned about rations in the shop. They got to weigh out a weeks’ worth of sweet ration to take home with them although I suspect none of them managed to make them last a whole week! Hopefully alongside the fun we managed to get the children to appreciate some of the hardships suffered by people, we certainly had several very thoughtful comments from the children.

A visit to our authentic Anderson Shelter (also decorated for the season) and an exciting Beetle Drive game with an onion prize were also on the agenda.

To top off the fun for me, I got to spend some time away from my Land Girl dungarees and look a little more dressed up. Curled and pinned hair, a nice party dress and even some lippy (apparently those Americans down in the town have a little to spare!!) 

Looking back at Christmas.

Introducing Kristen - Christmas in Arizona!

I am so pleased to introduce you to Kristen, my first guest blogger - enjoy this visit to Christmas over the pond!

K xxx

Hi! I'm Kristen from Whatever is Lovelier, and I'm your guest blogger for the day. Thanks to the magic of the internet, Karen and I have become blogging friends on opposite sides of the world. I enjoy seeing all the lovely photos she posts here on her blog, as well as those on Instagram. Karen always captures the beauty of Oxfordshire in her photos, which is so very different from where I live in the United States. She has graciously handed over the reigns today so that I can share with you my corner of the world and how we celebrate the holidays here in Chandler, Arizona. I hope you enjoy! Then be sure to head over to my blog to see Karen's post about Christmas in Oxfordshire. Arizona is in the southwestern part of the county, and our capital city, Phoenix, is a desert metropolis and the sixth largest city in America. Drive a few hours south and you will find yourself in Mexico, or drive a few hours north to find snow in our high country. Here in the city, we have an average high temperature of 19 degrees Celsius in the winter! I moved to Chandler, which is a suburb of Phoenix, a year ago and enjoy living and working in this multicultural city. My house is minutes from the historic downtown Chandler area, and I visited the weekend they lit their Christmas tree. You won't find snow here. Instead you will find rows of stately palm trees, dressed in twinkling lights. We also like to wrap our cactus in lights. Just be careful you don't prick yourself! One of the most unique sights you will see in Chandler during the holidays is the famous Tumbleweed Tree. That's right, the 'tree' you see above isn't really a tree at all. The Tumbleweed Tree starts as a metal frame that is covered by some 2,000 tumbleweeds, which are then spray painted white and decorated with lights and about 65 pounds of glitter! I was fascinated to hear that all the tumbleweeds were found right here in Chandler. I live in the wild, wild west! While wandering around the downtown area, I found this western wear shop. Sabas is the place to go if you are in the market for cowboy boots, hats, plaid shirts or other assorted country western items. We don't all dress like cowboys and cowgirls here, but the shop is fun to see decorated for the holidays. I love the covered wagon in the window! Here are photos of a few homes in my neighborhood decked out for the holidays. These are typical Arizona ranch style homes, with xeriscape landscaping. Xeriscaping is a way of landscaping that reduces the need for irrigation, essential for us desert dwellers. Most homes have rocks in their front yards instead of grass, accented with cactus and palm trees. I love the palm trees wrapped up in lights!  Luminaries are another common holiday decoration you will find here in Arizona. Luminaries are lanterns made out of paper bags filled with sand and lit with a candle, placed along a home's driveway or pathway to the door. The tradition of luminaries started when Catholic Spaniards introduced them to Mexico as a way to guide the spirit of Christ into their homes on Christmas Eve. In modern times, they are just a simple and lovely way to light up the desert during the holidays. Every winter, our local Desert Botanical Garden hosts a wonderful event called the Las Noches de las Luminaries where the gardens are lit each night with more than 8,000 luminaries.  Every family has their traditional holiday foods, enjoyed each holiday season. In my family, we have a roast Christmas Eve night and my mom makes the magic cookie bars that my sister and I look forward to the rest of the year. One food that almost everyone in Arizona enjoys during the holidays are Christmas tamales. Tamales are another tradition brought to Arizona across the border from mexico. these delicious treats are made of masa, a dough made of corn, which is filled with various toppings and then steamed in a corn husk. Most tamales are filled with either saesoned beef, chicken or pork, then various spicy (and I do mean spicy!) chili peppers are added in, as well as one token olice. Sometimes tamales are even sweet, filled with masa and pineapples. You can find tamales at the grocery store, but the real treat is finding someone who makes them by hand and is willing to share! Tamale recipes are passed down from one generation to the next, and are a very time consuming dish to make. They aren't something made in my family, so each year I go on a hunt to find someone who has made a batch and is willing to sell some. I have even bought them from a man out of the back of his truck! Nothing is better than a long day of holiday shopping then a dinner of tamales!   I hope you have enjoyed hearing about how we celebrate the holidays here in Chandler, Arizona. While there are so many holiday traditions that are universal, like the tree and caroling, it is also fun to look at the ways they are celebrated locally. I know that the readers of my blog will enjoy reading Karen's take on a typical Oxfordshire Christmas. Be sure to head over to my blog to see her post and photos! And thanks again, Karen, for trading places for the day!   xoxo, Kristen

Traditions?

At this time of year I am a sucker for magazines, even more than normal. The shiny covers, the promise of inspiration, the helpful guides to perfection! And every year I read with envy about all the beautiful traditions that people have, the tiny repeated history makers and it makes me feel a little, well, sad that I am clearly not creating traditions for my family to remember and pass on.

But then I asked the children what they thought and realised that actually we do have our own traditions. They just aren't.... … traditional!

BC (before children) my decorations went up on Christmas Eve. It wasn't a bah humbug decision, just that Christmas started once work had finished. Now they go up in time for DD's birthday on the 15th. We make an event of it with music and laughter and birthday celebrations. There's a 1970's card which goes up every year and my tacky 1970's mouse decoration has pride of place!

Christmas Eve is spent at home, a film and hot chocolate followed by the playing of a really rubbish Disney LP telling a dreadful story with dreadful sound effects. But we laugh!

Christmas Day itself follows a pattern, sadly that has had to change now Noels Christmas Present is no longer prime time viewing. But we still have salmon and scrambled eggs and sparkly wine! (Well I do!) Dinner is a joint venture as they all know my cooking shortcomings. And Christmas Day tea is now what the family lovingly refer to as 'orange food' - cheap easy cook party stuff from Iceland!!!

It's fun and it's relaxed and mostly stress free. And surely that's the best tradition of all?