How To | Wassail Well

In our January issue we met some Wassailers and were inspired to give it a go ourselves. The idea behind Wassailing is to bless the trees for the coming year and see off evil spirits that may diminish its crop. But mostly it’s just to have a bit of bonkers British fun in dank January. Here’s how to Wassail well. 

For your Wassail, you will need:

A slice of toast (soaked in cider if you like)

Ribbons in Wassailish colours (green, white and red, generally, but do Wassail as you wish)

Some suitable music. If you happen to be friends with a folk band, that is excellent but a playlist on Spotify will do equally well

A saucepan and wooden spoon

Mulled cider or apple juice (recipes below)

A firepit if you have one

How to Wassail:

1. Get your Wassailing music on while you make your Wassailing mulled cider or apple juice. 

2. Once it’s simmering nicely, head outside with your ribbons and tie them to your intended tree. The point of a Wassail is to thank the trees and to ensure a good harvest for next year by seeing off evil spirits from them. 

3. Ban your saucepan with a wooden spoon around the tree to ‘wake up’ the tree and drive evil spirits away. 

4. Light a fire if you like (a candle in a jar will do) and get your warmed cider out. Pour everyone a cup, then pour one on the roots of the tree, and also soak a piece of toast in some of the cider and place it carefully in the tree’s branches. The idea is that birds will take pieces of the Wassailed toast, be well fed and then hang about in the tree, ridding it of insects during the coming year. 

5. Once warmed and cheered by cider, gather together around the fire (or candle) and sing your Wassail songs. 

A song for your Wassail

This ‘Somerset Wassail’ is fairly easy to get the hang of. If you need help with the tune, try listening to The Wassail Song by John Kirkpatrick on Spotify.

1. Wassail and wassail all over the town
The cup it is white and the ale it is brown
The cup it is made of the good ashen tree
And so is the malt of the best barley

Chorus: For its your wassail and its our wassail
And its joy be to you and a jolly wassail

2. Oh master and missus, are you all within?
Pray open the door and let us come in
O master and missus a-sitting by the fire
Pray think on us poor travelers, a traveling in the mire

Chorus

3. Oh where is the maid with the silver-headed pin
To open the door and let us come in
Oh master and missus, it is our desire
A good loaf and cheese and a toast by the fire

Chorus

4. There was an old man and he had an old cow
And how for to keep her he didn't know how
He built up a barn for to keep his cow warm
And a drop or two of cider will do us no harm

Chorus

5. The girt dog of Langport he burnt his long tail
And this is the night we go singing wassail
O master and missus now we must be gone
God bless all in this house until we do come again

Make Wassail Spiced Cider

A bottle of cider (or apple juice if going non-boozy)

Slices of fruit (eg apples and oranges)

1 star anise

1 cinnamon stick

Brown sugar to taste

a few cloves

A small grating of nutmeg

Pile all the ingredients into a large pan or slow cooker and gently mull, then keep warm until you need it.

In our January issue we met some Wassailers and were inspired to give it a go ourselves. The idea behind Wassailing around Twelfth Night* is to bless the trees for the coming year and see off evil spirits that may diminish its crop. But mostly it’s just to have a bit of bonkers British fun in dank January. Here’s how to Wassail well.

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January | Things to Appreciate

A few things to see this month, and an outing idea to read, too

While the trees are still skeletal, leaving nothing but catkins and the odd seed head, and the skies big, it’s a great chance to spot birds and be able to see them in more detail, while they are unhidden by foliage.

Banish all thoughts of twitchers and musty mackintoshes; birdwatching is ‘having a moment’, so an outing that blows away the cobwebs is just the ticket.

Before you head out you’ll need a birdwatching kit. Think binoculars, a notebook and pencil, and a field guide – Collins Bird Guide is a good buy, or Birda is a free app for your phone. A phone camera is useful to snap any birds you want to identify later. Pack snacks and drinks, too – you don’t want to have to go off in search of a sarnie just as a wood warbler appears.

Finding your local RSPB reserve is a good place to start as they may have their own hides and knowledgeable staff, but you can plough your own furrow location-wise if you prefer. Don’t forget, 26–28 January is the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch (rspb.org.uk) so you’ll have an opportunity to bring birdwatching home and use your new skills from your kitchen window, too.

This outing idea was featured on our Almanac Pages of our January issue, where each month we collate a few seasonal things to note and notice, plan and do. The nature table image above was taken by Alice Tatham of The Wildwood Moth who takes a photograph for our back cover each month, featuring things to appreciate in nature. She also runs workshops on seasonal photography and publishes seasonal journal stories from her home in Dorset.

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Sip one, purl one

A cockle-warming tankard of ale and gin, lifted with heady, woody spices and sweetened with sugar. It sounds like something out of a Charles Dickens story – and, indeed, it is.*

This mulled drink was popular in the nineteenth century, and it’s making a resurgence thanks in part to cocktail expert Tristan Stephenson. “Purl happens to be, in my eyes at least, one of the greatest warm winter pick-me-ups ever to grace a bar top,” he says. “Choice spices and herbs combine with malty beer, bitter wormword and the botanical aromatics of gin to form a delicious concoction similar to mulled wine.” Perfect for defrosting the extremities, and soothing the spirit, after a hard day’s sales shopping or a good winter walk.

Here is Tristan’s own recipe for a purl if you fancy making them to see in the new year. It’s from his book, The Curious Bartender’s Gin Palace (Hardie Grant).

For the Botanical Infusion:
150ml / 5 fl oz Plymouth Gin
3g crushed black pepper
3g bay leaves
3g sage
1g gentian root
1g wormwood
1g star anise
1g nutmeg
1g dried rosemary

For the cocktail (makes 700ml):
150ml of your botanical infusion
500ml or 2 cups brown ale
50g or 1/4 cup demerara sugar
50g or 1/4 cup caster sugar

Method

Macerate all the ingredients for the botanical infusion in a jam jar (or similar), leave for 2 weeks, then strain and reserve. You can speed this process up a little by pressurising the ingredients in a hand-held cream whipper, charged with a nitrous-oxide cartridge.
For the cocktail, build all the ingredients into a glass bottle or a large jar, allowing the sugar to dissolve. The cocktail can be enjoyed cold, straight from the fridge, or warmed up in its bottle. Adjust the sugar according to taste and feel free to play around with different styles of beer.

* In The Old Curiosity Shop he describes “a great pot, filled with some very fragrant compound, which sent forth a grateful steam, and was indeed choice purl, made after a particular recipe”.

A version of this blog was first published in November 2013.

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Recipe | Turmeric & Cumin Baked Cauliflower

Sunshine yellow and bejewelled with pomegranate, cauli gets its moment as star of the table.

Serves 4

1 whole cauliflower, leaves and stalk removed
½ tsp cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp garlic granules
2-3 tbsp olive oil

For the garnish:
200ml natural yogurt
3-4 tbsp pomegranate seeds
Small bunch coriander

1 Bring a large pan of water to the boil and place the cauliflower upside down inside. Boil for 5 mins. Drain and steam dry for 10–15 mins, then pat dry. Meanwhile, line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper and preheat the oven to 220C/Fan 200C/Gas 7.

2 Mix the cumin, turmeric, garlic granules and oil together in a small bowl. Place the cauliflower on the baking sheet (right way up) and brush all over with the mixture. Season and bake for 25–30 mins, or until the edges start to turn golden.

3 Transfer to a serving plate and drizzle over the yogurt, pomegranate seeds and coriander before serving.

This dish is from our ‘Spice Routes’ Gathering menu, which also includes Slow-Cooked Lamb, Spiced Rice with Saffron & Apricots, Honey & Harissa Roasted Carrots, Sumac Yoghurt and Fig & Custard Tart. All the recipes are in our January issue, which is in shops now.

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Nostalgia | Christmas Biscuit Tins

Look back with us on biscuits of yesteryear and win some pretty, festive tins, too!

The arrival of the Christmas Biscuit Tin (initial caps our own) heralded the start of the festive season for us. (That and the moment you noticed that your mum was stockpiling large boxes of Amaretti biscuits, or the massive tin of Quality Street got opened).

In The Simple Things’ office, each of us clearly recalled at least one Christmas Biscuits Tin of our childhood fondly: a tall, round affair that was decorated to look like a festive fairground carousel and was so heavily coveted by all the children of the family it had to be thrown away to avoid a mutiny over who could keep the empty tin; one with a Victorian Christmas family carolling in the snow that was an annual feature of a trip to a maiden aunt’s; another a tasteful National Trust shortbread tin that became the home for the family’s more delicate Christmas tree decorations. 

Each wove their way into a family tradition or memory. Some are still being pressed into service today. 

It didn’t much matter what was in your biscuits tin back then. It was the fact that they were ‘special’ that mattered. A cranberry shortbread or foil-wrapped mint chocolate cream was always welcome, don’t get us wrong, but even a workaday fig roll seemed a bit magic when it came out of the Christmas Biscuits Tin. Heck, you could pass off a pink wafer as exciting in December, and as we all know, they are nine parts air to one part biscuit. 

Now we’re (a bit more) grown-up, the biscuits themselves take on a much more significant role in the choosing of a Christmas Biscuits Tin. But if you’ve got a lovely tin lurking in the cupboard already there’s nothing nicer than making some yourself. 

Back in our December 2019 issue, in our feature Tins of Comfort and Joy, Louise Gorrod invited us to her annual festive biscuit exchange, with a few friends and a Christmas tipple. You can buy a back issue from our online store.

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The beginnings of board games

From Cluedo to Call of Cthulhu, we’ve the Mesoptamians to thank

If you’ve ever played Monopoly with an enthusiastic eight-year-old at Christmas you might have experienced the strange phenomenon by which two-and-a-half hours can seem like four-and-a-half centuries. So if you’d like to woo them away from an unending game with the lure of something that really has been going for four-and-a-half centuries, you might like to step down to the British Museum before Christmas.

The museum has on display a copy of the world’s oldest playable board game, known as The Game of Ur. “Er… what?” we hear you cry. Well, here’s the lowdown.

The game was uncovered in a tomb in a royal cemetery at Ur, southern Iraq and is thought to date from around 2,500BC, making it 4,500 years old… That’s about the length of time your great aunt likes to cook sprouts for, for context. The wood has long since decayed but the beautiful board is intricately decorated in shell, red limestone and lapis lazuli. It certainly knocks Cluedo into a cocked hat,

It’s a ‘race’ game (like Snakes and Ladders) but with a bit more skill and strategy involved, for two players.  It uses two sets of seven pieces similar to draught pieces, and the board consists of two ‘boxes’ with smaller boxes within, joined by a narrow bridge. You make your move by rolling two four-sided dice. The winner is the first person to move all their pieces through the board and off. It’s a lot more complex than that but there’s nothing more tedious than reading board game instructions un-anesthetised by half a bottle of sherry.

This year, The British Museum Shop has created a replica of the original game using ancient writings and archaeological evidence to piece together the rules. There’s also an advanced gameplay rules just in case you get too good at Ur, and even an Ur scarf, for anyone wanting to signal their approval but sit this particular ancient game out and head off for a bracing walk instead.

Now. Whose turn is it to go first?

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Recipe | Roasted Brussels sprouts with nuts, lemon & pomegranate

The most traditional of side dishes gets a vibrant makeover

The best sprout dishes balance any bitterness in the leaves – in this case with tangy lemon and pomegranate and earthy, toasted hazelnuts.

Serves 8
1kg Brussels sprouts, halved
Olive oil
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 handfuls hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
Seeds from 1 pomegranate

1 Preheat oven to 200C/Fan 180C/ 400F. Put the Brussels sprouts in a single layer in a roasting pan; toss with a couple of glugs of oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven until they soften and begin to turn a light golden brown – about 30 mins, but check and toss after 20.
2 Transfer the sprouts to a large bowl and toss through the lemon juice and zest. Scatter with the pomegranate seeds and hazelnuts. Season with salt, as needed, and serve.

Find more festive feasts in our December issue, which is on sale now.

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Kitchen disco | Songs to Swing Dance To

We could hardly stop tapping our feet after we finished reading all about the swing dancers in our December issue. So we’ve put together a playlist of songs that are great to swing dance to.

You can listen to our Swing Dance List here on Spotify, and meet the dancers from page 76 of the December issue, which is on sale now.

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More modern eccentrics…

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Tipple | Pomander Cocktail

Inspired by the clove-studded oranges traditionally used to decorate homes at Christmas – move over Bucks Fizz!

Serves 6

5 oranges or clementines
Cloves
Bottle of cava

1 Juice 4 of the oranges/clementines.

2 Cut the final orange/clementine into 6 segments and stud each one with 2 cloves. 3 Divide the juice between 6 glasses, add a clove-studded slice and top with cava.

This tipple idea is from our feature ‘How the Brunch Stole Christmas’ from our December issue, by Lottie Storey, with photography by Kym Grimshaw. It includes lots of ideas for a festive brunch with friends or family, including Parsnip Rosti with Fried Eggs & English muffins, Panettone French Toast with Bacon & Maple Syrup, Cinnamon & Cranberry Rolls and Mince Pie Breakfast Pots.

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Playlist | Eight days a week

Our latest playlist celebrates the days of the week. Take a listen on Spotify here.
You’ll find it in our January NOOK issue, on sale from 27 December.
For more seasonal listening, you might enjoy our Rest playlist or our Winter songs.
Have a browse of all our playlists here.

Competition | Win a Weekend in Whitstable worth up to £785

You and up to three guests could explore the delights of this charming town, courtesy of Whitstable Holiday Homes

With the winter weather hitting home, and a new year stretching before us, few things can be more uplifting than planning your next seaside staycation. If you’re searching for inspiration, Whitstable on the north Kent coast makes an excellent spot for a blissful break. Experience the serenity of this picturesque town as you take leisurely strolls along the beach, marvel at the candy-coloured beach huts and discover its unique charms.

Whether you’re after a romantic retreat or a fun adventure with the family, Whitstable Holiday Homes can help you find accommodation to suit. Take Sunset Cottage, for example – a beautiful property located on Whitstable’s West Beach. Its first-floor balcony provides guests with breathtaking sunsets, while the tasteful decor creates a cosy atmosphere. Guests can make the most of one king-size double room and one twin room, a living room, kitchen, family bathroom, downstairs cloakroom and courtyard garden. Not only does the cottage have direct beach access, it’s also just a short stroll from Whitstable’s high street and harbour.

With 28 stunning properties to pick from, you’ll be spoilt for choice, with options ranging from beachfront breaks to dog-friendly stays. Whitstable Holiday Homes’ owner Gail even offers personalised recommendations on the best places to visit, eat and drink. So whatever kind of getaway floats your boat, you’ll know you’re in good hands.

For more information on Sunset Cottage, visit whitstableholidayhomes.co.uk/sunset-cottage. You can also follow Whitstable Holiday Homes on Instagram @whitstableholidayhomes

How to enter

For your chance to win a two-night weekend stay (for up to four people and one dog) at Sunset Cottage, click the button below and answer the following question by the closing date of 13 February 2024.
Q: What is the name of the cottage you could win a weekend break at in Whitstable?

Terms and conditions: Competition closes at 11.59pm on 13 February 2024. One winner selected at random from all correct entries. Prize must be taken before 24 October 2024 and excludes school or Bank Holidays. Subject to availability. The winner is responsible for transport to and from Sunset Cottage. The winner cannot transfer the prize or swap for cash. The winner may be required to participate in publicity. Details of our full T&Cs are on p125 and online at icebergpress.co.uk/comprules.

Make | Painted Paper Stars

A great way to reuse wrapping or parcel paper that maybe isn’t in the best condition. Painting the paper makes them stand out, so choose any colours that take your fancy.

You will need:

Scissors
Recycled paper
Watercolour paints
Sponge
Needle and thread
Glue stick

How to make

1 Cut a strip of paper with a width around the size you’d like the decoration to be. Make the length 2–3 times as long as the width.

2 Paint the paper with watercolours using a sponge. Pick two or three shades and create an abstract pattern – it doesn’t matter if it’s messy as the folds will hide any imperfections. Allow to dry.

3 At one end, fold over a strip around 2cm wide. Turn the paper and fold again, creating a concertina effect. (A bit of advice for making a concertina is to double the length of the first fold, then fold it back towards you halfway.)

4 Fold the paper in half and cut the unfolded edge to a point.

5 Using a needle and thread, sew the middle fold together and secure. Then glue the ends together, open out the star and glue the two other two ends.

6 Sew a second piece of thread and tie in a knot to create a loop to hang the decoration wherever you like – on the tree or in a window works well.

From Festive by Francesca Stone (Pop Press). Photography: Francesca Stone

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Recipe | Root Veg, Marmite & Cheddar Pie

A veggie centrepiece to knock their socks off. This moreish main course uses seasonal root veg in a comforting cheese sauce with a Marmitey twist.

Serves 3-4

You will need

250g King Edwards potatoes
200g celeriac, peeled weight
200g carrots, peeled weight
250g parsnips, peeled weight
325g pack ready-rolled all-butter puff pastry
1 egg, beaten

For the sauce:
30g butter
2 tbsp plain flour
350ml whole milk
100g cheddar, grated
1-2 tsp Marmite (depending on if your guests are lovers or haters)

1 Peel the potatoes, celeriac, carrots and parsnips and cut into 1cm cubes. Put in a pan of cold, salted water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 mins, drain and steam-dry in a colander.

2 Meanwhile, make the sauce. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a low heat. Add the flour and give everything a gentle stir for a couple of minutes so the flour has a chance to cook. Next, gradually add the milk, stirring as you do, to make a thick sauce. Let it bubble for a minute, then stir in the cheddar and Marmite, some more salt and a turn of pepper. Gently stir in the root veg. Tip the mixture into a heatproof bowl and leave it to cool – and it’s important that the filling is cooled, otherwise it will melt the pastry.

3 Preheat the oven to 210C/Fan 190C/Gas 6-7. Cut two circles out of the puff pastry sheet – one around 18cm in diameter and the other a couple of centimetres bigger. Place the smaller pastry circle on a lined baking sheet. Pile the cooled filling in the middle in a dome shape, leaving a little bare rim of pastry around the outside.

4 Place the larger pastry circle on top of the filling and use a little water to glue the top sheet to the pastry border on the bottom sheet. Press the seams together with a fork, score a spiral shape in the top of the pastry, but don’t cut right through, and poke a little steam hole in the top. Brush the pie with beaten egg and bake for 25-30 mins, or until golden brown and crisp

This root veg pie is just one of the recipe from our December Veg Patch Pantry, in which Kathy Slack serves up ideas for growing, harvesting and eating with the seasons. This month’s pages also have recipes for Cumin Roast Root Veg Salad, Celeriac Gnocchi with Hazelnuts & Parmesan, Root Veg Gratin and a Root Veg Remoulade. Photography is by Kirstie Young.

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December | Things to Appreciate

A few things to see this month, and a folk tale to read, too

December’s evergreens bring a feeling of hope in an otherwise frozen landscape. It’s no wonder stories have been written around the evergreens for centuries.

Legend has it that evergreens don’t lose their leaves as a reward for their kindness one winter, long ago. Folklore tells that as the birds flew south for winter, one bird broke her wing. With snow falling, she asked the trees for help. The birch, oak and willow refused, however, the spruce offered to let her shelter on its warmest branch, the pine offered to protect her from the north wind, and the juniper offered berries to eat. By spring, she’d healed and rejoined her friends. Having heard what happened, the Frost King told the north wind it must never touch one leaf of the spruce, pine or juniper trees, but should strip the oaks, beeches and willows bare for their unkindness. And that is what happens each winter to this day.

This folk tale was featured on our Almanac Pages, where each month we collate a few seasonal things to note and notice, plan and do. The nature table image above was taken by Alice Tatham of The Wildwood Moth who takes a photograph for our back cover each month, featuring things to appreciate in nature. She also runs workshops on seasonal photography and publishes seasonal journal stories from her home in Dorset.

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Win | A Stay at The Dreaming worth over £1,400

Enter to win a wellness stay for two at Wales’ most magical retreat

We have one three-day midweek or weekend retreat for two to be won at The Dreaming, a beautiful Welsh retreat, where connecting with nature and finding a little peace as well as some learning and fun is all top of the agenda.

You’ll stay in the Dawn Room, have free roam of the property’s 47 acres (including ancient woodland), enjoy the two natural plunge pools for wild bathing, take part in specialist retreat sessions, workshops and natural crafting sessions and, most importantly, experience a cleansing rest from the busyness of everyday life. All meals and refreshments are included, so you’ll have nothing to do but throw yourself into the experience. 

A very special place

The Dreaming is nestled in a beautiful location, deep in the heart of the Nant Caethon Valley in Wales. This wonderful retreat offers a place where you can connect with your inner self as well as the landscape and immerse yourself in a community like no other. 

Experience, rest, explore

No two days at The Dreaming are the same and you’re invited to make your experience here what you will. That might mean forest bathing and foraging, wild swimming and wandering, learning a new craft, observing rituals or nourishing your body with delicious and nutritious food.

How to enter

For a chance to win a wellness retreat at The Dreaming, just click the button below to enter the prize draw by the closing date of 5pm on 7 January 2024.

Terms & Conditions

The competition closes at 5pm on 7 January 2024. One winner will be selected at random from all correct entries received and notified soon after. The prize draw is open to all UK residents aged over the age of 18 years. Subject to availability. The winner cannot transfer the prize or swap it for cash. Details of the full terms and conditions can be found at visitwales.com/simplethings.

Bake | Gingerbread Mince Pies

With the crumbliest of pastry, these are ideal for impromptu callers, or just a quiet five minutes alone. Ginger just adds a little surprise to a Christmas classic.

Makes 12

200g butter, diced and chilled (plus extra to grease)
300g plain flour
75g golden caster sugar
1 tbsp ground ginger
Gingerbread mince pies
1 egg, beaten

For the filling:
3 pieces of stem ginger, chopped
250g mincemeat

To make

1 Preheat the oven to 200C/Fan 180C/Gas 6. Meanwhile, grease a 12-hole cupcake tin with butter.

2 Make the filling by mixing the stem ginger and the mincemeat. Set aside.

3 In a large bowl, add the butter and flour and, using the tips of your fingers, rub together until you have a fine breadcrumb consistency.

4 Add the sugar, ginger and a pinch of salt, and combine as much as possible. Roll a walnut-sized amount of pastry into a ball, flatten and push into each cupcake hole. Generously fill the pies with the mincemeat mixture, then top the pies by rolling smaller balls, flattening them and covering the mincemeat, or cut out shapes to top your pies if you’d prefer.

5 Glaze with the beaten egg and bake for 10-12 mins, or until the pastry is golden. Allow to cool in the tin for 5 mins before transferring to a wire rack. Enjoy them hot or cold. Cook’s note: If you’ve had enough ginger for one Christmas, you can leave it out of the dough or replace it with the same quantity of cinnamon. You could also mix the mincemeat with 2 tbsp of chopped morello cherries or nuts.

You’ll find more recipes using ginger in our feature Sugar and Spice in our December issue. It includes ideas for a Gingerbread House, Stem Ginger Shortbread, Chocolate, Orange and Ginger Babka, and a Cider, Rum and Ginger Beer Cocktail.

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Christmas: Choosing the tree

If you have a real tree, choosing ‘the one’ and is always a bit of a Christmas milestone

It’s the same every year, but then that’s the point: selecting the tree is one of the Yuletide rituals that we inherit, faithfully re-enact, then pass on, safe in the knowledge that while all around us changes, Christmas is as it ever was.

No matter whether you’re after a spruce, pine or fir, digging it up yourself or buying it at the garden centre, there’s that special moment when you’ve got it untangled from its cobwebby wrapping, chopped the top off because it was too tall for the room, and positioned it in the stand, all ready for embellishment.

There you are, surrounded by boxes of baubles from the loft. You’ve tested the lights still work; now Christmas can begin. It’s time to make magic in the corner of your living room.

How to choose a real tree

David Ware is from Edible Culture, a ‘peat, pesticide and single-use-plasticfree’ nursery in Kent that specialises in loal Christmas trees. Here, he offers his best advice for choosing a real tree…

• Always ask if your tree is locally sourced; it will show your supplier that you care.

• Consider your type of tree. Firs are known for holding onto their needles, and their stronger smell.

• Generally, spruces require a little bit more attention in that they need more water. The blue spruce is a delightful exception to this rule and is known for keeping its needles. It gets its name from its beautiful blue-grey hue (an effect created by the wax on its needles).

• Ask for the tree to be removed from its net to check it’s well balanced.

• Try to find a bare-rooted tree (one taken from the ground while still growing, roots intact), then you can pot it up yourself in peat-free compost. Once home, put it in a bucket of water straightaway in a sheltered spot, before potting up.

• Bring your tree into the house as late as possible. We always wait until Christmas Eve.

• However your tree was supplied, to help it last longer keep the compost moist by standing the pot on a saucer of water and topping it up regularly.

• Place the tree away from radiators.

• Ask if your supplier offers recycling facilities. If not, find out if and when your local authority collects. Some councils run schemes that turn your tree into chippings, which you can then use as mulch.

We interviewed David Ware in issue 90 of The Simple Things. You can order back issues from our online store.

More Christmas traditions…

From our December issue…

How To | Make a Living Advent Calendar

Turn your street into a winter wonderland with festive scenes and glittering lights peeking out of windows, and encourage a bit of seasonal neighbourliness, too

Living advent calendars have become increasingly popular, particularly since the pandemic, when many streets started their own WhatsApp groups, which then spawned various charity and community events. If you’ve not had the pleasure of visiting a living advent calendar before, here’s how it works…

What is a living advent calendar?

 A local community, usually a small village or a street (anything works as long as you have at least 24 willing households) gets together to plan an ‘advent calendar’. Households throw their hat in the ring and 24 are chosen to each decorate a window of their house. One window display is ‘opened’ each day in December until Christmas Eve, so visitors to the Advent Calendar can walk past and spot the pretty displays. The calendar usually remains up for the 12 days of Christmas so people can visit and view the whole thing over the festive period. 

How to get started

If you don’t have a street WhatsApp group, set one up so you can organise it from there. Ask for volunteers to take part. If you have more than 24, semi-detached properties, terraces or flats can perhaps share. More of that later! Once you have enough willing windows, allocate everyone a number from one to 24, so they know the date in December on which their window display has to be put up. 

How to decorate an advent window

You’ll need to make a large number to show which day you are (coloured cardboard is best for this) and stick that in one corner of your window. You can decorate a small window or your main one, depending on how ambitious you are, and either upstairs or downstairs. Ideally, everyone should pick a theme for their window and share them with the group in advance so you know you aren’t going to have any duplicates. 

Themes can be religious if you like, such as the three wise men travelling to Bethlehem, or shepherds on the hillside. Or they can simply be festive, perhaps a big fat robin or a Christmas pud. Of course, it’s fine to go off piste too - we’ve seen very Christmassy Star Wars characters bring a lot of festive joy to a street advent calendar, or you might like to picture a local icon.  Whatever you choose to do, keep the design simple so it’s clear what it is from a distance. 

One of the easiest methods is to make a large cardboard ‘collage’ piece and then attach it to the inside of the window, but you could use window paint if you wish, fake snow, or 3D soft sculpture if you’re a dab hand with a sewing machine. Knitted scenes can look truly amazing as long as the window is close enough to the pavement. Think about how you will illuminate it too, so it’s visible at night. You might just leave the light on in that room, or move a couple of lamps close to the window to give the scene a gentle glow. 

Can we share a window?

Sharing is really good fun. You and a neighbour could do two ‘teams’ of snowmen, one in each house’s window, having a snowball fight, with pom-pom snowballs strung up between the houses, flying at each other. If you’re in a block with several residences with windows close together, you could do a ‘cartoon strip’ style that tells a story, perhaps gold, frankincense and myrrh arriving at the crib. Or if you have one window above another you could have a reindeer waiting by a chimney pot and Santa down below, delivering gifts in the fireplace. Have a good look at your properties from the outside and inspiration will usually strike. And what more excuse do you need to get together with the neighbours for a glass or two of mulled wine on the driveway?

Choose a charity, if you wish

A living advent calendar is a great way to raise a few pounds for a local or much bigger charity that’s close to the heart of your community. Pop up a few posters in local shops and advertise it online, perhaps with a suggested small donation for visiting your advent calendar over the festive period, and then create a JustGiving page where people can donate. Or if you have somewhere where it’s easy for people to leave cash donations in envelopes, such as a church or pub on the road, you could do that, too. 

Create a map of the Advent Calendar

This is especially useful if you’re a village or a very long street, and a great way to encourage charitable donations, if you include the charity’s details on the map. Get a neighbour who’s handy with some felt tips or a computer to draw a little map, showing where each of the windows are and their numbers. You can either leave them somewhere sheltered for people to pick up whenever they visit, or just put the map up online for folk to print off themselves and ask community groups to share it. 

Make an event of it

The calendar will be complete by Christmas Eve, and while it’s fun looking out for the new windows each day, you’ll find you get the most visitors once it’s complete, particularly on those slow days between Christmas and New Year when everyone is at home but also in dire need of a bit of fresh air. If you can gather enough volunteers, and particularly if you have a community hub like a hall or cafe on the road, you could throw a small Advent Calendar party. It’s a lovely thing to do on Christmas Eve and selling a few cups of mulled wine and gingerbread men or mince pies is another way to add to the charity pot, while making it into a bit of a day out for visitors to your area. It’s also a great chance for the neighbours to get together and for everyone to admire their handiwork. You could even introduce an element of competition and fun with a prize for the best and most unusual windows! 

Be inspired to find more free and reasonable festive outings with our feature, Finding The Fairytale for Free (ish) in our new December issue. 

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Sponsored Post | Make Festive Placemats with Guild Lane

Brighten up a festive table with simple themed place settings that are sure to become treasured keepsakes of memorable gatherings

Bring fun and festivities to any dinner table this season with this simple yet effective make. With a little imagination and easy crafting, you can create bespoke place mats on a budget that will have friends and family coming back for seconds. We also think they make pretty good gifts, too.

You will need:

Guild Lane Jubilee paint (we used Pillar Box Red and Bunting Green)

Guild Lane GILD Acrylic Gilding paint (we used GILD Gold)

Guild Lane Gilder’s mop brush

Cork mats

Craft stencils (ours are from stencilup.co.uk)

Sponge roller or stencil brush

Paint tray or kitchen towel

1 Position the stencil on your cork mat. Stencil Up stencils conveniently come with an adhesive backing to keep them in place and prevent the paint from bleeding.

2 Apply a small amount of the Jubilee paint to the roller brush, ensuring an even distribution. Remove any excess paint by rolling it over a piece of kitchen towel.

3 Roll the paint onto the stencil with gentle pressure, gradually building up the colour. When you’re ready, carefully peel away the stencil to reveal your design. To continue the patten, use the stencil registration marks for precise positioning.

4 Add a touch of gold! Use the handle end of the paint brush to add delicate dots, or the mop brush for creating some subtle sparkling edges and other golden enhancements.

Dress (your table) to impress!

With Guild Lane paints, the possibilities are endless thanks to their multi-surface versatility, built-in sealant, rich colours, durability, non-toxic formulations and their ease of use. Once you’ve created your place mats, carry on creating with Guild Lane’s extensive line of craft paints. You might like to try:

• Embellished stemware

• Stencilled table runners, napkins or coasters

• Beautiful painted baubles (either for table decorations or name place holders)

• Alternative themes for future dinner parties

  For more information visit the website guildlane.com or Instagram @guildlane

Pets | Could Your Pet Be a Therapist?

Volunteering opportunities for you and your four-legged friend

In our November issue, Rebecca Frank met horses, dogs, cats and other creatures who act as therapists for humans in need. Volunteering with your pet can be an enjoyable and rewarding experience for you and your furry friend, as well as to the recipient. All Pets As Therapy (PAT) animals are assessed first, but here are a few things to bear in mind if you’re considering it and some information on getting started.

Pets need to be friendly and calm, healthy and groomed.

Dogs and cats must be able to walk on a relaxed lead without excessive pulling.

Pets must accept being stroked and patted and enjoy being fussed over.

Barking, hissing and licking aren’t accepted.

Clients love to give pets a treat, so it’s important that they don’t snatch it, jump up or paw as there’s a risk of injury, particularly with elderly people.

Dogs must be at least nine months old and you must have known them for at least six months.

All animals must be fully vaccinated and have regular flea and worming treatments.

For more information and to apply, visit petsastherapy.org

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More from our November issue…

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