Traditionally, the last Sunday before Advent is known as Stir Up Sunday because it is the day to don your apron and make your Christmas pudding.
Don’t worry that Stir Up Sunday has passed – it is not too late to make your Christmas pudding. I would urge you to make this a truly family activity. They are so easy to make and a really wonderful activity to do with children. Our Stir Up Sunday has developed a twist in recent years and that is that as we add ingredient to our Christmas Pudding we tell a little bit of the Christmas Story. Most children learn about the Christmas story at this time of year so even if you aren’t a particularly religious family it’s still quite a nice activity to share together.
Here’s how I do it:
To make the Christmas Pudding you will need:
225g/8oz golden caster sugar
225g/8oz vegetarian suet
340g/12oz sultanas
340g/12oz raisins
225g/8oz currants
110g/4oz candied peel, chopped
110g/4oz plain flour
110g/4oz fresh white breadcrumbs
1 lemon, zest only
5 eggs, beaten
1 level tsp ground cinnamon
1 level tsp mixed spice
1 level tsp nutmeg
150ml/5fl oz milk (This used to be brandy pre kids so I’ll let you decide which you prefer!)
You will also need a large mixing bowl, a wooden spoon and pudding basins / glass dishes to cook the puddings in.
And now for the story…
Long, long ago about two thousands years ago in fact there lived a young woman and her name was Mary. She lived in a town called Nazareth. She was engaged to a carpenter called Joseph. One day, quite expectantly, an Angel came to visit her. The angel told Mary that she shouldn’t be afraid because she brought great news that Mary would have a baby who would be God’s son.
First, we add the sugar to the bowl to remind us of the good news that the angel brought to Mary.
At that time, a man called Caesar Augustus decided he wanted to know who was living in the Roman World and so he ordered everyone to go back to the town they were from in order to be counted. Joseph was from Bethlehem and so even though Mary was going to have a baby they had to travel all the way to Bethlehem. They didn’t have cars 2000 years ago so they had to travel on a donkey.
Show your children what the suet looks like. If you have ever visited a farm and fed animals you may want to take a moment to reminisce about this. The suet reminds me of the feed you can give to animals and so as we add the suet to reminds us of the journey to Bethlehem on a donkey.
When Mary and Joseph finally reached Bethlehem they must have been absolutely exhausted and very hungry after all that travelling! They visited lots of inns to find a place to stay but because of everyone travelling to be counted they were all full. Eventually one kind inn keeper let Mary and Joseph stay in his stable.
The breadcrumbs look a little bit like sawdust and remind us that Mary and Joseph stayed in a stable.
Whilst Mary and Joseph were staying in the stable, the time came for their baby to be born. The wrapped his in cloth and they laid him in a manger (which is like a trough were animals eat from). They called their baby boy Jesus.
Next we add in all the sweet fruits to celebrate the birth of Jesus. (This includes the candied peel)
Some shepherds were looking after their sheep in the hills above Bethlehem. Suddenly a huge crowd of angels appeared and started singing to them. They told the shepherds that an extremely special baby had been born and that they should go straight away to visit him. The shepherds were extremely surprised and left straight away taking their finest lamb as a gift for the baby.
Shepherds were seen to be social outcasts. Because they were looking after their sheep, there were unable to attend the synagogue and so were seen as unclean! It is quite poignant to the story that those who were most disliked were the first to receive the message that God’s son had been born.
When I tell the story I say that the flour is the most unexciting item in my food cupboard and yet it is vital to the Christmas pudding much like the shepherds were vital to the Christmas story. The children say we add the flour because its white and fluffy like a sheep. (You can choose how theological you’d like to be!)
In the East there were some wisemen who had spotted a very special star in the sky. They knew that this star meant that a very special king had been born. The wisemen assumed that the king would be born in a palace so they visited King Herod. King Herod was extremely jealous and so he told the wisemen that when they found the baby, they should return and tell him so he too could worship him. King Herod actually wasn’t very nice and wanted to kill the baby Jesus. Eventually, after following the star, they found the baby Jesus and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Next we add the spices to remind us of the exotic gifts brought by the kings.
(This is also a lovely time to explore the spices and have a good sniff!)
If you want to end the story there, you can add the eggs and milk as a sign of the new baby which has been born. Eggs are often a symbol of new life and milk is given to a baby.
Alternatively you can carry on with the story…
After the wisemen had visited Jesus, an angel came to them in a dream and warned them that King Herod was not a kind person and so they decided to go back to their home another way. Likewise, an angel visited Joseph and told him that he must take Mary and Jesus to somewhere safe and so they escaped into Egypt. King Herod did not know that they had escaped and so he had all the babies across the land killed.
Here we break the eggs into the pudding and add the lemon zest to remember the distruction caused by Herod.
We finally add the milk to remember that Jesus had safely escaped.
Once all the ingredients are in the bowl it needs a really good stir. As everyone has a stir, it is really important to make a Christmas wish!
Once it has had a really good stir, you need to pop it into a pudding basin.
To make it easier to remove once cooked, lay strips of baking paper across the bowl so they look like a star sticking out over the rim of the bowl so once the pudding is cooked you can hold onto the strips to pull it out. You also need to cover the top of the pudding with baking paper.
Tie a string around the bowl to keep the baking paper lid on and add a little handle so it is easy to remove from the pan once cooked.
Now you need to steam the Christmas pudding for about 5-6 hours. Put the basin in a large pan on inverted saucers on the base. Pour in boiling water to come a third of the way up the sides of the pudding bowls. Cover and steam.
When you want to serve it you can pop it in the microwave for about 6 mins (depending on your microwave) make sure its piping hot before you serve!
Tired But Crafty Mummy 