Happy Christmas, Happy New Year

Greetings of the season to all from Pussycat and me. May 2015 be a very good year for you.

The Joy of Carols

 

Carols are one of the joys of this season and a time when many of us love to have ‘a good sing’ together, whether outdoors with candles or in a church. I’m a choir member at Christ Church Lavender Bay and practices for our annual Carol Service - on Sunday evening, December 21 - are keeping us all busy. Pictured are choristers Catherine, left, and Rosemary Neal.

Please join us at the Service to sing favourites such as Silent Night and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, and the lovely O Holy Night – Pavarotti made a good recording of this one.

Our choir will also be singing three special items, all unusual and creating a beautiful effect. The trio is: Benjamin Britten’s A Hymn to the Virgin, Mary’s Lullaby by John Rutter and The Shepherds’ Farewell, by Hector Berlioz, from his oratorio L’Enfance du Christ.
Where: Christ Church Lavender Bay, corner Lavender and Walker Streets, North Sydney (website: www.lavenderbay.anglican.asn.au)
When: Sunday, December 21, at 7.15pm.

After the Carol Service, refreshments will be served on the beautiful terrace of the church overlooking Sydney Harbour. Stay and enjoy one of Sydney’s great views, a mince pie or two, and you’ll also have a final musical surprise. 

As in past years, the choir items have been chosen by our talented Director of Music Chris Cartner, who leads all our practices, our singing in the services and plays the organ and piano brilliantly.
When I asked Chris to write a few lines about the choir items this year, he made time to email me these thoughts: ‘Christmas music is as wide-ranging and diverse as the feelings and thoughts that we all encounter at this time of year. This Christmas, within our carol service at Christ Church Lavender Bay, the choir will sing music which beautifully reflects the various aspects of the story.  From Gabriel’s Message (a simple and honest setting of a traditional carol) we will sing of the love for the infant as the shepherds depart (in a beautiful piece by Berlioz), as well as enjoying the warmth of contemporary composer John Rutter.  This, alongside music by Benjamin Britten and a very special ‘post-service’ offering will make up, for me, a carol service which expresses the many different sentiments which this extraordinary season brings.’

Please come along to our Christmas services:
Christmas Eve, December 24, a Family Communion at 6pm; and the ‘midnight’ Communion Service at 11pm.
Christmas Day, December 25, our big Communion Service at 9am. 

(see the website: www.lavenderbay.anglican.asn.au for details).  

The Meaning of Christmas
Christmas celebrates the love of God for human beings and his message of peace on Earth and goodwill to all mankind. Christians mark the birth of Jesus, the Son of God, born among us in human form as a baby. This is an event so exceptional as to be almost beyond our ability to grasp it: God loves us and came to be with us.

The Rev. Patrick Collins, our dedicated and much-valued minister at Christ Church Lavender Bay, wrote this for us about Christmas: ‘Christmas is that particular time of year to celebrate the coming of God in Christ on a mission of love. Love not just in taking flesh but in his saving sacrifice and compassion for each of us in providing the opportunity for forgiveness and adoption as the children of God. As we respond in thanksgiving and believing in him as our ‘new-born King”, the words “good news of great joy” become a reality for us and not just lyrics of a well-loved carol. Christmas is about love from before the beginning of time and stretching beyond eternity.’

Eyewitnesses and history
Jesus was born in Bethlehem and grew up in a human family in Nazareth. Then as a man, he embarked on the mission for which he was born. We are very fortunate in having the written testimony of eyewitnesses of the ministry of Jesus, found in the gospels and letters in the New Testament section of the Bible. The respected teacher and historian Bishop Paul Barnett has written extensively of the history of Jesus’ ministry and the beginning of the Christian church, and of the supporting written evidence of Roman historians Tacitus and Pliny the Younger, and Jewish historian Josephus.

When Christmas is a hard time
Christmas isn’t easy for everyone, and there are people who feel neglected, hurt and lost, most especially at this time. My thoughts are with you if Christmas is a hard time for you.
Around this country there are many generous people ready to offer help to people who are less well off. One group I found on the internet is Magic Moments Foundation Australia, which cares for people across our major Australian cities. Their Grandies Gifting Program is for elderly residents in care who no longer have family for friends to support them. Their Basket Brigades Program sends gifts, food and even toys to needy families and the homeless. They are looking for volunteers; check them out online.

In Sydney, where I live, the Christmas meal hosted by the Exodus Foundation at suburban Ashfield has become an institution, with huge numbers of disadvantaged and homeless people being catered for. On his blogsite, Exodus founder the Rev Bill Crews writes, ‘On Christmas Day alone my team and I will feed almost 3,000 hungry people.’ At the Exodus Loaves and Fishes Free Restaurant, which has prepared and served about 365,000 meals, the numbers of guests at tables has gone up 25% on last year: indeed a very sobering statistic.   

 

Sweet treats, delicious gifts

If you love baking for a special occasion, why not make one or two of the delicious nibbles featured below to share with your family, or as a charming personal gift for friends. I made these in my kitchen with only the supervision of Pussycat! However, they would make an ideal ‘cooking project’ to share with children or grandchildren.

I’d like to say a big thank you to my friend, Home Economist Maureen Simpson (left) for allowing me to reproduce these recipes from her cookbook Australian Cuisine – I’m lucky enough to have a signed copy.  I met Maureen when she was cooking editor of Australian House & Garden magazine. She has written on food for the Sun Herald and had a regular timeslot on ABC radio to broadcast her recipes, tips and sound culinary advice.

Thank you, Maureen, for letting me use your recipes for White Christmas (see following) and Walnut Kipferl and to Sydney journalist Gwenda Edwards for allowing the use of Hazelnut Snowballs, which also appears in Australian Cuisine.

 

Walnut Kipferl

125g (40z) butter

¼ cup castor sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla essence

100g walnuts

1 ¼ cups plain flour

Icing sugar mixture

1 vanilla bean

 

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla essence until light and fluffy. Put walnuts into food processor and process until finely chopped, making sure that they don’t become oily by over chopping. Add to the creamed mixture with 1 cup of flour. Mix into a dough, then take small pieces and roll between palms of hands. If the mixture is too sticky, add the extra ¼ cup of flour. Form into little balls tapered at the ends. Place on greased trays and shape into crescents. Bake in a moderate oven for 20-25 minutes. Overcooking spoils the flavour, so watch them carefully during last 5 minutes. Remove from oven.

When cold, place on a sheet of paper and sift over a light drift of icing sugar, turn over and repeat on the other side. Be careful not to use too much icing sugar as it can melt during the hot weather forming a sticky icing. Pack kipferl into a jar with the vanilla bean and seal tightly. Makes about 3 dozen.

 

Two easy temptations

Hazelnut Snowballs

(pictured right)

 

250g (½ lb) butter

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

½ cup icing sugar mixture

¾ cup hazelnuts, finely chopped

2 cups plain flour

Additional icing sugar

Cream butter, vanilla and icing sugar.  Add nuts and flour. Mix together into a dough, then roll into small balls in palms of hands. Place onto lightly greased baking trays and press down lightly to flatten. Bake in a moderate oven for approximately 20 minutes. Remove from trays and cool, then store in an airtight container.

When ready to pack into airtight jars, toss biscuits lightly in icing sugar.

 

 

White Christmas  (pictured above left)

2 cups Rice Bubbles

1 cup desiccated coconut

1 cup powdered milk

1 cup icing sugar mixture

½ cup each raisins and glacé cherries, chopped

1 slice glacé pineapple, chopped

250g (½ lb) copha, melted

2 teaspoons vanilla essence

 

Mix Rice Bubbles, coconut, powdered milk and icing sugar in a bowl, add the chopped fruits and mix through. Melt copha over a low heat and pour into mixture. Add the vanilla, mix well. Press into a foil lined lamington tin. Chill, then cut into squares. Store in refrigerator.

My note: For the photograph, I cut these into quite large squares, but to serve I would prefer to cut them into smaller, bite-sized squares, as I find White Christmas quite rich.