Jesus replaced with a Gregg's sausage roll.

Minced meat.

Oh, is that what they are!

I thought it was 'colly birds' meaning 'calling birds'
Though what calling birds are I have no idea.

Thank you Jen. Did they actually have meat in them? (Sausage meat perhaps?)

I used to think it was cauli birds ... as in birds made from cauliflower

On the third day of Christmas my true love sent to me 6 geese a-laying, 5 GO-OLD RINGS, 4 calling colly birds, 3 French hens, 2 turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree!

Anyone had a mince pie yet? Yes, on Bonfire Night, made by someone else and very delicious it was too, but not very large so I don't feel guilty.

The things I never knew about mince pies, I just poke a skewer in the middle to make a hole; did the Three Wise Men eat mince pies then? I expect they were great sustenance on their long journey, and they keep well too.

Eight maids a milking, seven swans a swimming. Must be nearly there, six geese a laying.....

I actually love Greggs sweet mince pies and ( in my very humblest of opinions) they are next best to home made .

They are geet lush as out warmed ever so slightly and served with a dollop of cream. I knock them around a bit and say " oh these old things...I baked them this afternoon from a secret recipe"

And what's best is they won't freeze. (Well the pastry does but soon thaws in the mouth.)

I SAID IT ALREADY!!!! Minced meat (chopped actually, with a sharp knife, Wikipedia says the mincer wasn't invented until the nineteenth century by a German revolutionist, Karl Friedrich Christian Ludwig Freiherr Drais von Sauerbronn. It is a wonder he could get his name onto the patent form.)

FIVE GOOOOOLD RINGS,
Four sausage rolls,
Three French hens....

NfK !!

Yes, I think they used to have minced mutton in them I think.

On the seventh day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Seven Swans a Swimming
Six Geese a Laying
Five Golden Rings
Four Calling Birds
Three French Hens
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

We don't actually have a Greggs near here. I'd have to go into Norwich and the parking is so expensive I never stop for food. Never been to Greggs.

Spices.

oh dear I'm a bit behind, carry on without me!

Lamb/mutton. Aha, that sounds right. Not pork then.

On the ninth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Nine drummers drumming
Eight maids a -milking
Seven Swans a Swimming
Six Geese a Laying
Five Golden Rings
Four Calling Birds
Three French Hens
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

Mince Pies were originally filled with meat. It was minced up with dried fruit and spices to hide any off-tasting bits. They were made in oval shapes to represent the manger.

Blackbirds were a common source of food when Twelve Days of Christmas was written, in Tudor times, Nfk.
Mince pies originally had beef or venison, as well as fruits, suet and spices.
Strangely enough, they could also be oval, to represent the manger, but don't tell any Christians!

Do you know that if you eat a mince pie every day from Christmas Day until twelfth night you will have good luck for the whole of the next year?
You will also have to start on a diet straight away.

From my book of Christmas customs.

Snap. trisher.

So you've never sampled the delights of a Greggs cheese pasty Nfkdumpling? You don't know what you've been missing .

Four and Twenty Blackbirds
Baked in a pie

My dinner's ready (love having a DH wot cooks!) Carry on girls.

Snap me too, please. Am I invisible?

Was it a Greggs meat and tatie pie Jalima ?