Books Bygone

Monday, December 12, 2011

Christmas is coming!

Christmas is coming,
The geese are getting fat.
Please put a penny in the old man's hat.
If you haven't got a penny, a half a penny will do.
If you haven't got a half a penny, then God Bless you.

The best I've been able to find regarding the origin of this nursery rhyme is this:
The music to Christmas is Coming was composed by Edith Nesbit Bland in the late nineteenth century. The author of the lyrics is unknown but the popularity of this traditional Christmas song is handed down from generation to generation in the form of a nursery rhyme. The words of Christmas is coming reflects the Christmas festival of celebration of being a time of plenty but that charity should be given to the less fortunate according to the giver's means!
Christmas is coming. My family and I will be enjoying more than our "fair" share of fine food and drink in the next few weeks. We are blessed. I'll be stopping in at the Piglet* today to pick up some things for others who are less fortunate. I'll drop them off at the county extension office.

~~
We call our local Piggly Wiggly the "Piglet." Some of the fellows who take our groceries out to the truck will say say good bye by saying, "Have a blessed day." Christine at the Dollar General says the same.

7 comments:

  1. I'm thinking ahead to Christmas. Christmas dinner will probably be just the two of us. I've spoken to the butcher at the local grocery to ask if they could cut a turkey in half, but the answer is probably "no". Even a relatively small - 5 pounds - chicken lasts us most of the week - and turkeys are mostly 10 pounds plus! So...what to do??

    A chicken? Not especially festive. A duck? I've done that before. Maybe. Geese? they're as big or bigger than turkeys. Ham? That's the next week for New Years.

    Or I could go totally nontraditional and have either a leg of lamb - which we have _rarely_ these days due to the price - or a beef rib roast...ditto on frequency...

    Or maybe turkey and do some massive packaging and freezing for later consumption. My experience so far has been that the turkey just doesn't freeze very well - at least the sliced turkey breast. It just isn't the same for sandwiches...texture is wrong. And turkey sandwiches are a favorite means of leftover turkey consumption - aside from the usual soup, curry etc.

    Suggestions???

    ReplyDelete
  2. "Suggestions???"

    Yes. Casseroles & Turkey gumbo.

    Get the smallest turkey you can find. Do it up right, enjoy Christmas dinner. Enjoy the sandwiches. I am in total agreement that the best part of a turkey dinner is the left over turkey sandwich.

    After you've picked it clean (sandwiches & casseroles), put the carcass in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Simmer a long time. Strain.

    Now you have turkey stock. Make turkey gumbo. Or freeze the stock to use as a soup base when the spring veggies start to come in.

    There are starving children in whoknowswhere who would think it a crime-- if they knew of such things-- to not make the most of your Christmas turkey.

    ReplyDelete
  3. >>There are starving children in whoknowswhere who would think it a crime-- if they knew of such things-- to not make the most of your Christmas turkey.>>

    Surely you jest! My DIL doesn't "do" turkey soup. I said something to the effect of "V doesn't make soup" and was strongly corrected - but for whatever reason, she doesn't do turkey soup. They also apparently don't like leftovers. I don't know how they live!

    In any case, the deal is that I come for Thanksgiving dinner and make gravy, and we get the carcass after they've cleaned it. This year, we not only had the soup, but had turkey curry, turkey "something" (I toss in a bunch of veggies - whatever I have available), turkey creme dinner (new Philadelphia product. Very good - $2.50 in the chain grocery stores, .99 in the 99 Cent stores) and many turkey salad sandwiches. I still have a bit of the turkey salad left - it's old enough now to be a doggie treat.

    And...as I said...they'd "cleaned" the meat off the carcass.

    Heh.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Are you serious? She doesn't "do" leftovers? Not even a skillet lunch of leftovers? Lord. My head is spinning.

    I'll never forget whining to my mother about there being nothing to eat, I'm hungry, etc. One day-- I guess when she thought I was old enough to understand-- she turned to me and told me that I didn't know what it was like to be hungry and without food. Stop complaining.

    She was born is far eastern Germany in 1936. She knew.

    I simply can't imagine not "doing" leftovers.

    ReplyDelete
  5. >>turkey creme dinner>>

    I should clarify...it's called Philadelphia Cooking Creme, and is cream cheese (plus other stuff, no doubt) and seasonings. They have about 2-4 different seasonings packages.

    Basically, you cook your meat and veggies, add the creme and when it's hot serve it over something - usually noodles or rice. I don't think I'd use it with potatoes. Makes a good sauce for leftover meats.

    ReplyDelete
  6. What about Turkey cutlets a-la Rachel Ray? This way you have your turkey and you have no leftovers to contend with. (I love left overs and I can recall my dear mother saying the very same thing about hunger to my former self.)

    ReplyDelete
  7. "Philadelphia Cooking Creme"

    Is this is the fridge section of the store?
    ~~
    "Turkey cutlets a-la Rachel Ray"

    And this would be...?

    ReplyDelete

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