Christmas this year was significant in that it is nine years since we last hosted Christmas – the first year we moved into our house in Bamford. We love Christmas in the village, it all kicks off a week or so before the big day with local carols in the pub (this year, with the welcome addition of Christmas pizza from the lovely people at Sunshine Pizza). Then, on Christmas Eve it seems like the whole village assembles on the Green, just outside our house, to sing more carols and listen to an open-air service. After that it’s straight up to the Anglers for drinks before wending our way back home to sleep soundly until Christmas morning. This year we were hosting Ben’s folks who arrived in time to take part in the Christmas Eve singsong.
Christmas Day brought much present opening, turkey cooking and eating, a walk around Bamford (disused railway line to dam wall and back through the fields from New Road) which tested Beck’s Christmas present wellies, along with games of Linkee and possibly the BEST MULLED WINE EVER (tip – add 100ml of sloe gin to a bottle of red wine along with mulling spices).
Boxing Day brought a dusting of snow which meant we had to go out for another bracing walk, this time around the top of Higger Tor. The wind was biting so we didn’t stay out for too long, but long enough to work up an appetite for Boxing Day ham and leftovers.
The days between Christmas and New Year were full of visiting other family and friends until the morning of Saturday 30th December rolled around and it was time to head down South to the North Cornwall coast and an Airbnb in Stratton near Bude with neighbours for New Year. On opening the curtains however, it seemed that the long awaited weatherbomb had struck! The snow was falling fast, sticking to the road and building up. We later learned that Buxton had around 7cm in total – I reckon it was well on the way to that when we pulled out of Bamford in our oh so unsuitable rear wheel drive, convertible Mazda MX5! Ben drove like a trojan though and managed to get us safely to the M1 with only few incidents of bum squeaky slip sliding!
The place in Stratton was perfect for our needs and we planned our New Year’s Eve extravaganza over prosecco and beers.
The plan for New Year’s Eve was to celebrate New Year around the world as it happened in different time zones, so that the day was one long celebration rather than just a few minutes around midnight, so that our neighbours two children could celebrate new year without having to stay up until midnight.
Thus, it came to pass that at 1pm on New Year’s Eve we gathered on Bude beach for Australian New Year. This consisted of a dip in Bude sea pool for Beck & Sarah (observed with open jaws by quite a crowd), BBQ on the beach cooked by Mark, followed by rum hot chocolates (not strictly Aussie, but necessary given that we didn’t have Aussie temperatures), a spot of rock pooling for the boys and photography duties for Ben, before we all had to run for the sake of dry feet as the tide came in unexpectedly quickly around our BBQ site! All round a solid start to the New Year’s Eve proceedings!
From Bude we took a break in celebrations until 4pm by which point we were all present and correct(ish!) back at the house. For our next midnight we travelled to China by way of spring rolls and prawn crackers, as well as decorative money purses and scratch cards in homage to the Chinese tradition of giving money at New Year. Unfortunately, this being Cornwall and not Derbyshire it wasn’t dark enough to use the sparklers we’d brought as a nod to Chinese fireworks so they were put on ice until later in the evening.
From China we headed to India for a 6.30pm New Year. This involved samosas, onions bhajis and poppadums, as well as the culturally inappropriate, but delicious, sweet chilli dip from the village shop which had EVERYTHING! We made a collage of henna hands and bindi’d up using stick on jewels from a Bollywood Ball we had been to earlier in the year. The festivities were accompanied by the brilliant Indian Twelve Days of Christmas: “On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me … a totally insufficient dow-ry. So far so awesome!
Our 8pm New Year was a slight fail as we were due to go to Muscat in Oman to fulfil Ben’s request that we drink Brown Bros Orange Muscat. However, we hadn’t been able to keep our hands off the golden nectar and had already neck(tar)ed it in the days previous. Instead we ate satsumas (which probably grow in Muscat…) and lit the sparklers from Chinese New Year. Must do better by the Arabic countries next time!!
At 9pm we headed to Istanbul for Turkish Delight and to throw salt on the doorstep – a Turkish tradition. Turkish music was provided courtesy of Sarah’s past beach holidays.
There was some debate over our next stop and whether it was indeed an hour behind Turkey in the New Year time stakes or whether, in fact, it also celebrated New Year at 9pm our time… But having started off down that road, we pushed on regardless, celebrating Greek New Year at 10pm GMT. Olives, pittas, humous and spicy feta dip so strong that it gave Ben the hiccups were our foods of choice and for our activity we placed a mossy stone outside which we would then all tread on in the morning for good luck. This being Cornwall and the landscape filled only with smooth, sea rounded pebbles, we had to improvise, laying some moss over said rounded pebble. I’m sure it had the same effect :o) We realised we should have brought paper plates for a spot of plate ‘smashing’!
At 11pm there was no debate, we were firmly in gay Paree for French cheeses, baguette and Kir Royale cocktails. We counted down to ‘midnight’ in French and, oh la la, Sarah even managed a feather boa and a routine of the Can Can!
Finally, as midnight approached we shoved Mark (the only tall, dark one amongst us) outside armed with brandy and coal from the earlier BBQ (see recycling eh?!) for first footing, a Celtic tradition from both Scotland and Cornwall. On the stroke of midnight he was allowed back in and Auld Lang Syne was heartily sung, along with copious prosecco toasts.
Having celebrated nine New Year’s Eves we didn’t last much beyond the stroke of midnight, but did however, manage to get up the next morning to wish everyone a Happy New Year from Vancouver at 8am on New Year’s Day. Next year we will make it a formal addition to the list with a New Year’s Day breakfast of pancakes, bacon and maple syrup!