My Gran's Christmas Cupboard

My mum always started a Christmas box in October. Each week she would extra of staple food, sugar, tea, flour etc and as it got nearer Christmas she wouldn't have to buy those things and the money was used to buy the special edible treats instead.

I don't remember my grandparents but at Christmas there was always a bottle of Emva Cream Sherry in the sideboard at our house along with a bottle of Warninck's Advocaat.
Newberry Fruits, orange and lemon slices, Tunisian dates and nuts to crack.
Black Magic chocolates for Mum but we were allowed some too.

It’s a good idea to slowly build up a Christmas food stash, I may start one soon, dates and nuts, a box of luxury biccies, and mince pies, which I may have to sample early to make sure they’re any good.☺️

In my family, we enjoyed a box of dates with stones in them - lovely and sticky

I don’t remember a single treat my grandmother ever gave me, she wasn’t a nice woman. She gave me two foam covered coat hangers once for Christmas. But my mother bought all sorts of lovely things, all the sweet treats mentioned!

Turkish delight , fruit cake in a tin , Tunis cake . Yes to orange & lemon slices , sugar mice from my grandmother.
Cracking nuts around the fire and my legs getting mottled due to the heat !

I loved Batgers Chinese Figs! In an octagonal red and black box.
Sadly I don’t think you can get them any more…

My mum used to hide Christmas food treats all over the place as we four naughty kids would have been highly tempted! I always remember the tins of Ye Olde York Ham we only got at Christmas. Happy days 😊

Casdon

We had homemade peppermint creams, fudge and rum balls (rum flavouring not actual rum) keepcalmandcavachon, but we were only allowed to admire the marzipan fruits!

Homemade peppermint creams - oh wow, yummy.

My mum spent an afternoon in early December making marzipan fruits with her five GCs. Strange looking fruit some were but put proudly on the table on Christmas Day

A sip of Advocaat or Babycham from my gran’s ‘cocktail cabinet’ (just a cupboard really), and a cherry on a glass cocktail stick. The special glasses, drinks and cocktail sticks mysteriously disappeared after each Christmas and didn’t see the light of day for a year. I asked for the cocktail sticks after she died forty years ago and still have them. Happy days!

I remember those wonderful treats so well we only really had them at Christmas. My parents struggled money wise they went into debt to give us treats at Christmas. It was such a special time and all the goodies were appreciated.
My gran always had a table full of fruit cakes and mince pies she had made in her tiny kitchen. When we all arrived we would get a cuppa and cake it was lovely in front of her coal fire.

We had homemade peppermint creams, fudge and rum balls (rum flavouring not actual rum) keepcalmandcavachon, but we were only allowed to admire the marzipan fruits!

Shelflife, I'm sure you will love those cosy times as much as they do, what about starting a few Nanny Shelflife Christmas traditions? Those homemade Christmas sweets of Casdon,s childhood sound lovely x

Homemade sweets! How lovely Casdon. Marzipan too and those orange and lemon slices, dates and toffee in a tray with a hammer and all proudly displayed on the sideboard surrounding a huge fruit bowl. And nuts oh so many nuts!

Sadly I never had Grandparents, however my mum was the most amazing loving GM to my children. Now it's my turn! I hope I am creating lovely warm memories for my GC. Memories they will remember with a cosy glow when I am gone !

My nana hoarded marzipan fruits which were very realistic, and Newberry Fruits. I think she must have had a couple every day in January, I can’t remember them being opened when we were there. She made her own sweets for us, feeding her favourites would have been as she put it like feeding a donkey strawberries.