As the countdown to Christmas begins, Dawn Williams delves into the Christmas spirit of times gone by old… and some Christmas drinks for good measure.
With another fantastically imaginative festive window on display here at Tanners in Shrewsbury, there’s no hiding from the fact that it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. The approaching hustle and bustle can be overwhelming with Yuletide music blasting on repeat, schmalzy Christmas TV ad campaigns and trying to shoehorn in mince pie meetups with friends and family. To avoid burnout this holiday season, why not take refuge with a glass of Glühwein and turn back the clock to a time when the telling of ghost stories was popular on Christmas Eve as families gathered together around the hearth and “mull” over some traditional drinks from Christmas Past?
Ghost stories became a Christmas staple in Victorian England and with the event of the printing press, these tales that had previously been shared to pass the time on long, cold winter nights huddled around a fire, could now be printed in published periodicals and the more expensive Christmas annuals. A certain Mr Dickens will be forever entwined with this time of year with his famous tale, published in December 1843, of the miserly Ebeneezer Scrooge being visited by Jacob Marley and three other spirits. At Tanners HQ we have our own links to this classic story as scenes were filmed in this very building in the 1984 film version starring George C. Scott and Scrooge’s headstone can still be visited at St. Chad’s churchyard.
As well as writing several spooky Christmas novellas, Dickens was also known for his love of punch and his signature recipe used both rum and cognac and dramatically involved lighting the punch and letting it burn for several minutes. He also wrote about the redeemed Scrooge inviting Bob Cratchit to be merry over a bowl of Smoking Bishop, a Victorian mulled wine punch. Recreate this by baking oranges studded with cloves and then squeezing them into a mixture of gently heated Ruby Port, red wine, sugar and spices. An alternative is Wassail, a hot mulled cider punch, traditionally drunk on twelfth night, ladled from a wassail bowl to carol singers. Why not take a well-deserved break from Christmas shopping and succumb to the tempting aromas of cinnamon and orange of our own warming mulled wine in A Taste of Tanners? Wyle Cop never smelt so good!
After discontinuing editing magazines and Christmas issues that regularly included tales of ghouls and spectres, Dickens left a void that other writers were keen to fill. M R James, a scholar at Kings College, Cambridgeshire, used to read aloud his own ghost stories to entertain a select group of colleagues on Christmas Eve. With a brandy in hand, they listened to the slowly escalating tales of unease and his link with Christmas would be established when the BBC adapted several of these stories to the small screen after his death. “Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come to You” starring Micheal Hordern is my favourite. He plays a retired academic who after blowing a whistle he finds on a remote Norfolk beach, encounters a very creepy apparition which is genuinely haunting. Why not watch one of his many adaptations with a brandy hot toddy? Simply mix three tablespoons of brandy to one tablespoon maple syrup or honey, pour hot water on apple slices and add cinnamon sticks to garnish and you’ll be transported back in time to the study of the Cambridge don.
Christmas present sees the tradition of fireside tales being replaced by televised annual ghost stories such as those adapted by Mark Gatiss from League of Gentlemen, Dracula and Sherlock fame. Speaking of Sherlock, Gatiss’s adaption of one of the detective’s creator’s stories was shown on BBC 2 last Christmas Eve. Lot No 249 is a gothic short story that was first published in 1892, inspired by Conan Doyle’s interests in both Egyptology and the supernatural. Why not try another traditional Christmas drink whilst watching this year’s adaptation (perhaps from behind a cushion)? Eggnog originated in medieval England from a “posset”, a hot, milky drink mixed with ale and spices used to help treat colds. More expensive ingredients such as eggs, sherry, brandy and figs were later added as the drink became popular among monks and the wealthy and was used to toast prosperity and good health. The Tom and Jerry eggnog cocktail is made with rum and brandy but use whatever spirit you prefer! Here at Tanners, there are plenty to choose from along with an additional selection of quality spirit miniatures (which also make a much-appreciated stocking filler).
Whatever you choose to read or watch this Christmas, I hope you make time to relax with a tipple of your choice (glass of Tanners LBV port for me, hint hint!) and if the candles begin to flicker and a fleeting chill can be felt on the back of your neck, perhaps you are not alone. Could it be the ghost of Christmas yet to come to show the error of your ways or perhaps an ethereal wassailer who has come to toast your good health? Let us embrace this night before Christmas with a raised glass and remember Scrooge’s sentiments when he uttered “I will honour Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year”.
Explore the selection of Spirits at Tanners this Christmas.