In our house, Stir Up Sunday is a hotly anticipated date in the run up to Christmas – the last Sunday before Advent and the day traditionally reserved for making Christmas puddings. The name comes from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, which includes the line “Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people”. As this year it coincided with Storm Bert hitting the UK and even I didn’t want to go out for a walk, I took advantage of the bad weather to make not just my pudding, but also my Christmas cake and mincemeat. The kitchen was a hive of activity and the whole house was full of the aroma of cinnamon, nutmeg and mixed spice.

My big mixing bowl only comes out of the cupboard on Stir Up Sunday. Those who are around have a stir and make a wish, but as my children have grown up, I also offer the opportunity of a virtual stir as well! The recipe makes enough for two medium puddings and one small vegan one (mixture removed before the eggs are added, and apple sauce substituted instead), and I remembered to pop a coin in each one, just before they were covered and steamed. (It’s usually just 5p, but this year I didn’t have any in my purse, so it jumped up to 20p – a lovely surprise for the lucky recipients!)

I took on the responsibility of making the pudding as a teenager, and have continued to do so every year since. Prior to that we would have a shop bought one, although my mum would always make a Christmas cake and I still use the same cake recipe now – one from the 1960s Marguerite Pattern ‘Cookery in Colour’ cook book that was one of her wedding presents.

I borrowed it years ago and then never gave it back as I love browsing the retro recipes and photos. The rather fancily decorated Christmas cake is in the top right of the picture below, although I always leave ours plain because some of us are not that keen on icing and others don’t like marzipan – but we are all in agreement that we like the cake itself!

(While taking the photo, I was intrigued by the tipsy cake and so had to check out the recipe. It turned out to be a sherry soaked Victoria sandwich, decorated with cream. I may have to give it a try one day, just for novelty value.)

But back to the Christmas cake. As a child, I was always tasked with sifting through the dried fruit to pick out any stalks. I have always been a perfectionist and having been given this important job, I was so worried about anyone finding a stalk and thinking that I hadn’t done it properly, that I would examine each individual currant, raisin and sultana to ensure nothing was missed. By the time I had taken on the role of Christmas pudding maker, the amount of dried fruit to be checked was significantly increased, and then when I added home made mincemeat to the repertoire, it became such an enormous undertaking that I would have to start looking for stalks well ahead of time, as my own children were less obliging than I was!

It was quite a revelation when, in more recent years, I came across other people who didn’t do this and thought it was a bit strange. Who knew that there were people out there who just weigh the fruit and put it straight in the mixing bowl! It seemed just as strange to me! Stalk checking has remained a habit that I haven’t been able to shake off, although the days of close examination have now passed. I have been trying to make the job speedier because I found that it was overshadowing my enjoyment of the actual making process, and this year was possibly the speediest yet, but I can’t help but worry a little bit as to what the finished result might be and whether there will be criticism heading my way.

So, with the main elements all prepared, for me Christmas properly starts the following week on the first Sunday of Advent, when we celebrate with a special family breakfast. This is something which we adopted after my daughter experienced an Advent breakfast with her German exchange family seven years ago. It was one of the highlights of her stay in Berlin and she was very keen that we incorporate it into our own Christmas traditions. We have fully embraced it! It is a wonderful way to start the festive season and it’s something that we all look forward to. On the menu this year was a veggie fry up, home made waffles with a berry compote and, retaining a nod to its inception, a selection of Lidl’s finest German lebkuchen, all washed down with bucks fizz! We also exchange small presents (because that’s also what they did in Berlin!), and most importantly light the first candle in the Advent wreath.

Our breakfast offers the chance to mark the beginning of the Advent period in a special way, and I am looking forward to the countdown to Christmas.