Have you got enough Christmas Carbs?

I got an email from a colleague in the states and in the middle of this business email she commented on the fact that they had just celebrated Thanksgiving and threw in the sentence... "My favorite traditional thanksgiving food is mashed potatoes!"

I thought, what a mental thing to say! But you know it was quite encouraging to know that I am not the only one who is obsessed with food; especially Carbohydrates!!!

Two words - Bread Sauce. (Or is it one word -- Breadsauce? Anyway...) It's my favourite traditional Christmas food! There! I have said it.

I love bread sauce and lots of it; all over my Christmas dinner. My husband is more a gravy man. Personally I can't see the joy of ruining a perfectly good dinner with gravy. He has a similar opinion on bread sauce though...

But it is typical of my obsession with food to associate the smells and tastes of Christmas fare with the season itself. The ham on the boil, the cinnamon scent of mulled wine, the clove scent of breadsauce, a slight whiff of Guinness off the pudding (and a strong whiff of Guiness off my Dad)!

I assciate these smells with the love and joy of being with my family. I love love LOVE Christmas and buying and wrapping gifts for me is as much fun as getting them. HONESTLY!


But I wonder on the first Christmas what the smells were?

The musty small of animals? The yeuchy smell of their waste? The stale smell of straw? The numerous body odours from two people who had travelled a long way, one of whom giving birth? Was it cold? Was it wet? Was it draughty?

It's not exactly chestnuts roasting on an open fire is it?!

But love, joy, family and gifts -- they we all there.
The love of God; God Himself coming to earth. The joy of the angels as they sang their Gloria, This new little family must have been amazed as the visitors kept arriving from all over the place. Did they realise that his arrival meant that we could all be part of God's family?
And what a gift? God definitely invented the concept of giving.
Giving his Son, who gave His life.
Amazing!

I've completely lost the carbs link but does it matter?