By Eithne Cullen
Welcome to December’s Thoughtful Tuesday page.
We’re coming to the end of the year with Christmas and all that just round the corner. We also come to the last extra on the theme of (R)Evolution.
Of course, what people love about Christmas is its timelessness and its traditions. However, these traditions often evolve and change as generations grow and bring their own versions of evolution and, sometimes, revolution. In the pieces I’ve chosen for today’s page, we can see a mixture of traditions held onto and those that change.
Our first piece is from Amber, who reflects on melding traditions – creating a new take on Christmas for her and her partner.
Traditions Old And New
I always hated Christmas. It’s a time for family, and I never really had one. Growing up, it was always just me and my mum. My mum tried her best to make it special, even when we had nowhere stable to live; even when every part of our lives had to be rationed. My Christmases looked nothing like the ones we saw in films, but I felt the weight of my mum’s yearning for them to be that way, warm-hued with a sprinkling of fairy dust. I’d adapted to live with the slimmest of pickings and the excess of Christmas seemed vulgar. The holidays felt like an affront to the abject poverty and kinlessness I faced.
In adult life, I remained staunchly against celebrating Christmas in any kind of traditional way. Each year, I booked myself into a hotel and swam against the undercurrent of big feelings that the day brought up for me. My sweet mum, who tried for so long to make our Christmases magical, understood that what I needed was calm, not chaos and we had found a way to make it work for us. Instead of a roast dinner, we ordered room service, enjoying picky bits and Prosecco, not pigs in blankets.
Recognising and honouring my needs over the holidays was part of something bigger for me and it’s how I’ve maintained my health and wellbeing for a number of years. In that time, I met and settled down with my partner and this Christmas will be our first in our new home together. We have a puppy, so there’ll be no more hotel stays and swims (at least not over the holidays) and I’ve now got the family I never had. And his family really have taken me in; embracing me in a way I never expected. It’s a gift, all of it.
My partner is Jewish, so we now celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas, with a Christmas tree (something I didn’t have for many years) and menorah. The autumn and winter months are a busy time for us, with the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana, and the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur, followed by birthdays (and Bar and Bat Mitzvahs) in the run-up to Christmas and Hanukkah. For a girl that’s spent most of her life writing off winter, it’s become a celebratory time – and, yes, it’s now filled with big family dinners.
I finally feel ready to embrace the holiday spirit, because I have people in my life to share it with. It can be painful when I think about the family I didn’t have and I’m still grieving for that loss. But I’m grateful for the family I’ve made. I never inherited any Christmas traditions, but I’m happy to make those, too. Our traditions will be an amalgam of our two cultures, and they will be richer for it, I think.
© Amber Hall, 2025
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My childhood Christmas featured many of the staples of what we come to think of as the ‘proper’ way to celebrate. I do, I admit, fall back on tradition from childhood (like the food and baking) and the tree, presents and dinner with all the trimmings. We have our own traditions, too, such as the decoration my son made in infants, which has had its place at the top of the tree for many years.
In this poem, I remember my mum’s Christmas pudding and the rituals around making it. I did continue to make a pudding like hers for many years, enjoying ‘Stirabout Sunday’ as an adult as well. However, the last few years, I haven’t made it. Tastes change and our new go-to treat is the mincemeat flapjack my husband makes.
Christmas Pudding
She knew the recipe,
kept it in her head
knew the measures
balanced out the quantities –
she was overseer
barking out commands:
a bottle of ale
carrots, apples, nutmeg…
grate little nails and thumbs;
peel, cherries and nutmeg
lemons and oranges
currants, raisins and sultanas
flour and powdered spice
use a metal spoon
eggs in a bowl
ready to pour into
the mixture – rich and shiny
cover with a towel and leave
a few days, till you stir
the stiff, thick mix
again and make a wish.
Tie a string handle for the
steamer and cook
for hours, till steam
fills nostrils, skin and clothes
creeps from the kitchen
up the stairs and hall
then wait till Christmas day.
© Eithne Cullen, 2017
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Our Editor, Madeleine, has kept up one of the traditions from her childhood. Here’s her piece about her special Christmas biscuits.
This ‘Vanilla Kiperl’ recipe comes from the collection I created from what I remember of my German Oma’s Christmas biscuits. Unlike me, though, she always made them at least a month before and kept them in tins. I’m recreating that tradition in a new way now – baking them with my daughters when they come home for Christmas, so the flavours and memories I grew up with become part of our own family rhythm.
Vanilla Kipferl
Ingredients
- 210 g butter
- 70 g sugar
- 100 g almonds, unpeeled, ground
- 250 g flour
- 1 pinch salt
- 50 g icing sugar
- 2 tbsp vanilla sugar
Method
Preparation time: approx. 45 min
Resting time: approx. 1 hour
Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the almonds, flour, and salt. It’s important to chill the dough for 30 minutes. Then shape into crescents and place on a greased baking sheet. Bake on the middle shelf of a preheated oven at 180°C until pale golden.
Mix the icing sugar and vanilla sugar and roll the hot crescents in it.
© Madeleine F White, 2025
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And here’s a poem, specially written for us for Christmas by Claire Buss:
Christmas Time
The shimmer and the shine of festivities
Gets lost amongst the endless lists of have-tos
So much so that it becomes a Herculean effort
To display some Christmas cheer
But to those who are wrapping in November
I say… I’m not thinking about that!
The text message to far-flung relatives
Who you haven’t seen in several years
No reconnecting, just present selecting
It feels shallow and seasonally empty
So to those rushing through family life
I say… shouldn’t we think about that?
The perfectionism displayed by the everyman
Is daunting to say the very least
How do I get decorations that look so pro
When my dusty attic box of Christmas props
Contains relics from decades ago
I say… it doesn’t have to be brand new!
It feels a little clinical, it feels a little cold
Expectations, high standards, a perfectly rehearsed show
Then a conversation in the back of the car
Mummy, does Santa dream? A question
The first of a hundred or so
I say… Oh my, oh yes, of course he does, I know him very well
Christmas magic begins to grow
The sparkle begins to shine
The hope and belief of a childish dream
Spreads out in festive warmth and glow
She believes, I believe, that certain little something
I say… Merry Christmas my loves, Merry Christmas
© Claire Buss, 2025
Connect with Claire on Instagram: @grasshopper2407
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My last two pieces are poems submitted by Gila Mielke, poems which take a look at a traditional tale of creation and ‘Original Sin’ with revolutionary insight.
A Day In The Garden Of Good And Evil
Her sprawled fingers
tuck into the soil.
He says:
“She claws, relentless
As a gold-digger…”
She milks
the yielding soil for moisture.
He says:
“Her refreshment
will draw me to labour…”
She looks into the shiny, waxy
surface of the red apple
And sees her own hungry lips.
He does the same,
But clenches his teeth in virile defence.
She laughs.
The serpent rises
from the mist.
Wraps around his body,
penetrating him
with ruby eyes.
He shuts his eyes
And feels for
his shattered rib.
Her tongue twists
Around the tight skin of the apple.
Her mouth, a plasma sheath
For his swollen seed of fertility.
He says:
“Her tongue is forked,
Her fruit malign.”
He says:
“Leave!”
She goes…
He says:
“Eve?”
© Gila Mielke, 2025
Next, this thoughtful and provocative piece:
Entrepreneur
God is a capitalist,
A self-made man.
© Gila Mielke, 2025
Connect with Gila on Instagram: @curatorskitchen
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It only remains for me to say: And Finally! That’s my page for the end of 2025. It’s been a great page for sharing writing from all sorts of writers on all sorts of themes. So I thank everyone for their contributions and sharing their thoughts and talents.
January will bring lots of new ideas, new challenges (including a workshop from me for the ‘From the Cauldron’ Short Story competition in January). And there’ll be a new theme: Choices. I’m expecting some great submissions!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.
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Issue 27, featuring eco-poet Sarah Westcott is coming out on 12 December. You will be able to find it in libraries and other outlets. Alternatively, all current and previous editions can be found on our magazines page here.
You can hear great new ideas, creative work and writing tips on Write On! Audio. Find us on all major podcast platforms, including Apple and Google Podcasts and Spotify. Type Pen to Print into your browser and look for our logo or find us on Spotify.
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