Boxing Day Brightening.It's Not Over Yet

Thought it was all over? All these weeks or months of preparation and you think the big day is gone and past? Well, surprise, surprise those 12 days of Christmas that all the songs are about start now - the day after.

Little Christmas counts the days not of the winter season but the Christmas season and it goes until January 6th. If you're a Christmas lover, and I am, that's a big YAY.

Little Christmas

Little Christmas is also called Women's Christmas (traditionally, a day when women could put their feet up and men did all the work at home). It's also referred to as Old Christmas or Green Christmas. Irish tradition is called Nollaig na mBan. The 6th of January is also known more widely as the Feast of the Epiphany, and when the house is blessed. Celebrated after the conclusion of the twelve days of Christmastide, the traditional end of the Christmas season.

The Reason

How this occurred is with the change of the calendar way back in time. The Gregorian Calendar replaced the Julian Calendar because it had too many leap years which caused extra days all over the place. This resulted in time not being aligned with the solar year which life evolved around once upon a time. To neaten and tidy the months the new calendar made Easter and the Spring Equinox then aligned on March 21st. The liturgical significance didn't replace the former date, it actually combined the two events symbolically.

The new calendar started in 1582 and was used primarily by Roman Catholic countries and over the next 200 years it was adopted by the English Empire and North American colonies. Imagine that, with no technology, literally the news and functions of states and communities, took that long to implement change (probably close to the expected amount of time for an indie to promote and sell on amazon despite the technological advances. I just had to throw that in, has nothing to do with calendars but hey! since it's still the season there is plenty of time to buy books.)

Get this...time is more than a metaphor. The divergence was 11 days which made Christmas on the 25th, not the 6th of January (where they got the extra day from to make it 12 I have no idea but this is what the research says. In Old Europe some countries considered Christmas Eve or New Year's Day as Little Christmas.

How is Little Christmas typically celebrated? By taking the Christmas decorations down and yes, having another feast. So if you had to work or got stuck in your own workshop of sorts, or got snowed in, or missed your flight, DON'T WORRY! You still have time to give those gifts, every day in fact until the 6th of January and celebrate with a feast.

What's For Dinner

Just about anything included in a Little Christmas Feast! One of my favourites is French Canadian Tourtiere. My mother used to make a dozen of these at a time for the course of the winter.

The authentic french canadien tourtiere recipe is:

CRUST: 3 cups all-purpose flour , 2 sticks unsalted butter, sliced, frozen; 1 teaspoon salt, 7 tablespoons ice-cold water, or as needed , 2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

SEASONING BLEND (the ultimate): 2 teaspoons salt , 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper , 1 teaspoon dried thyme , ½ teaspoon dried sage , ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon , ½ teaspoon ground ginger , ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg , ¼ teaspoon ground allspice , ¼ teaspoon ground mustard , ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves , 1 pinch cayenne pepper.

FILLING: 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon butter , 1 large onion, finely chopped , 1 pinch salt , ½ cup finely diced celery , 4 cloves garlic, crushed; 1 pound ground pork , 1.5 pound ground beef , 1 cup potato cooking water (from potato side dish), plus more as needed.

EGG WASH: 1 large egg , 1 tablespoon water

The Steps Are The Success To A Tourtiere

To make the crust: Place flour, frozen butter, and salt into the bowl of a food processor or regular bowl. Pulse on and off until butter breaks down to pea size, about 30 seconds. Stir together cold water and vinegar; drizzle over flour mixture. Pulse on and off or hand stir with fork, until mixture is crumbly and holds together when pinched, about 10 seconds. Drizzle in more cold water if mixture is too dry.

Press together until it forms a ball, or flatten and roll, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour.

Make the spice blend: Mix together salt, black pepper, thyme, sage, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, mustard, clove, and cayenne in a small bowl; set aside.

Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add chopped onion and a pinch of salt. Cook and stir until onions turn golden, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir celery, garlic, and spice blend into the skillet with onions. Stir until onion mixture is evenly coated with spices, about 30 seconds.

Add ground pork, ground beef, and about 3/4 cup potato cooking water to the skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until meat is brown and tender and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 45 minutes. Turn off heat, and let cool to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Divide chilled dough into 2 pieces, one just slightly larger than the other. Roll the larger piece out on a lightly floured work surface into a 12-inch circle. Place in a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate. Roll top crust out into an 11-inch circle; set aside.

Fill bottom crust with meat mixture; smooth out the surface. Whisk together egg and water in a small bowl to make an egg wash. Brush egg wash over the edges of the bottom crust. Cover with top crust; press lightly around the edges to seal. Trim excess dough and crimp the edges. Cut small slits in the top crust to allow steam to escape. Brush entire surface of pie with egg wash.

Bake in the preheated oven until crust is well browned, about 1 hour. Let cool to almost room temperature before serving.

Serve with Ketchup or Beef Gravy.

Optional: a half cup of mashed potatoes can be blended into the meat mix but not required. The dish is supposed to be only a rich blend of meat and seasoning.

Then put up your feet and read a book :)

My Novel Small Tales and Visits to Heaven XI. Moved to #12, 909 in rank of Spirits and Spirit Guide novels (hey, it's better than # bagazilllion. There are actually 22M books on Amazon, half of that, 12M are ebooks, so that is movement.) Available worldwide on Amazon in Paperback.

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Merry Christmas