Here’s your monthly dose of Facts, Food, Families and Friends
Facts about December
Christmas Jumper Day (7) is mainly celebrated in the UK. It’s an excellent excuse for digging out our old Christmas jumpers (or getting new ones!), getting in the festive mood and raising some funds.
If you want to get involved this year, here are a few suggestions for you:
- Donate to your favourite charity or to the Save The Children campaign
- Organize a Jumper Day Event for your work, school or any other groups you are involved with.
- Take photos of your festive jumper and share them on social media using the official hashtag for Christmas Jumper Day. #christmasjumperday23
Don’t miss out on Clitheroe Christmas Jumper Day (2), which will take place on Saturday 2nd, with lots of other festive fun going on, including an elf hunt, live music in various venues, and carols at the castle from 4 pm.
We generally spend more time indoors at this time of year, so the Festival of Winter Walks (20) is a great opportunity to wrap up warm, get outside, and explore the tranquillity and serenity of the winter with our families.
Celebrate the Winter Solstice (22) – congratulations, we’ve survived the shortest day! Open your curtains and think of the Spring to come. Spritz your home with Christmassy essential oils or light some festive wax melts. Lovely!
December dates for your diary!
- Clitheroe Christmas Jumper Day (2)
- Tree Dressing Day (4)
- First day of Hannukah (7)
- Christmas Jumper Day (7)
- National Roast Suckling Pig Day (18)
- Festival Of Winter Walks (20)
- Winter Solstice (22)
- Last day of Hannukah (22)
- Christmas Day (25)
- New Year’s Day/National Champagne Day (31)
Family & Friends
December Birthdays: Sagittarius- 22 November – 21 December
Symbol: The Archer
Planet: Jupiter
Element: Fire
Colour: Dark purple or blue
Characteristics: Adventurous, independent, strong-willed, generous, truthful, energetic.
December Birthstone: Blue zircon is known as one of the modern December birthstones, alongside blue topaz and tanzanite. The more traditional December birthstones are lapis lazuli and turquoise, all very cool gems!
December Birth Flowers: The December Birth Flowers are the pretty Narcissus, vibrant Poinsettia and the festive holly. Although technically not a flower, the dark green leaves and bright red holly berries are great additions to birthday bouquets.
December Food
We associate December with being indoors and sharing food with family and friends.
In sharp contrast to the easier salads and BBQs we share during the summer months, this month of comfort foods often takes a bit more preparation and cooking time. Take National Roast Suckling Pig Day on December 18th, which needs almost a whole day to roast.
And then there’s the Big One on 25th, which takes hours of preparation and just as many hours to recover! If you want, Don’t forget my Jewelled Stuffing recipe. It’s always popular at my house and can be made in advance.
I hope you have enjoyed my monthly recipe suggestions for 2023, to make it easier for you, I have collated them all into a month, by month recipe suggestion book and you can download it here.
Finally, I would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Audrey.
