Sunday 20 November 2011

Stir Up Sunday

Today is traditonally known as 'Stir Up Sunday' - the day on which we make our Christmas pudding. Everyone in the family stirs the pudding and makes a wish. It's a nice tradition and makes the house smell amazing!

As soon as the cat stops sitting on my recipe book (she likes to sit on whatever object she thinks is most likely to get the attention that she thinks should be given to her) I'm going to go and dig out dried fruit, oranges, brandy and spices, along with a few less interesting ingredients, and start to think about my wish. Since I don't believe in supernaturally-granted wishes, my wishes are usually more like resolutions; things that I want to achieve for myself and my family.

This year, my wishes are about taking care of myself. Crystal from Living with Gastroparesis has recently been discussing the idea of living with a chronic illness being a full-time job. I've been quite struck by this thought and have been trying to approach my medical care in the same way that I would approach a job; planning and preparing and making sure that things get done on time and as well as possible. I used to approach it in a slightly haphazard (and resentful) way, wishing that I could just be 'normal' some of the time. I know that's an unhelpful way to think about my medical care, and that I deserve the very best care I can give myself. I'll write more next week about the changes I'm making - lots of lists and systems!

Back to the present, and the baking plans: I have a very cute apron that I usually forget to wear (thankfully I'm not a messy baker, except when I use icing/confectioner's sugar), but I'm going to wear it today. Baking in my beautiful rainbow-coloured kitchen makes me so happy!





This post was written as part of NHBPM - 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J

2 comments:

  1. I love your kitchen! It is so lovely, bright and colourful. Mine is tiny, dark and impractical and drives me nuts!

    We have a similar tradition - me and my sister always go home to my parents house to make Christmas cake, and now we take our other halves too. We used to do it with mum at half term when we were little to keep us out of mischeif, but it's so much tradition now I couldn't imagine chrismtas without a wish, stirring up the cake! I even used to come home from Uni in yorkshire for a day to do it :o) THe day varies as it's hard to get us all in one place, but we always do it. Hope you enjoy making yours today!

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  2. Thanks Helen! I love our kitchen too - I'm an absolute sucker for anything bright or rainbow-coloured, so the kitchen makes me smile every time I'm in there. We have a little table at one end so I can sit to do some tasks, which makes life easier. The table is currently a work in progress, but I'll take some photos once it's 'company ready'!

    I hope that you manage to get your family together. I agree that it's difficult - my mum is in Sussex, along with two of my brothers. The other two brothers are both in London, but one in the north, one west and me in south-east, so we could hardly be further apart! Richard's family are all in the North West. I suppose we could have invited friends to join us for stirring and wishing, but it was nice just the two of us.

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