Enchanting Christmas Season

Caroline Graham Swann

There is a magic feel to the Christmas Season.  A special spirit that comes to life, music, tantalizing smells of  Christmas trees , spicy cookies baking, shopping for the perfect gifts, gatherings of loved ones for feasts and most important the open expression of good will and love.

All Christmas Seasons have different  memories for one. Spending time in England during Christmas is one filled with such enchantment for me.  Yes, it seems to be a fairy tale but all of the wonderful  things are true, I shall begin with “Once Upon a Time” in merry old England it was the beginning of the enchantment of Christmas and festivities were being celebrated.  It felt so grand to walk the streets of London, go to Harrods’s, the famous store and experience the luxury items so alluring with elegant displays. Harrods’s was a favorite store of Princess Diana and mine also.  The food floor is on the lower section  of the famous store and made one feel as if every nursery rhyme with illustrations of sugar plums, pies  and all food to be exact  had suddenly sprang off the pages to life.  I stood there in amazement as the assortment of my dream food as a child was actually before me.  Honestly, the pies that were heaped so high from the nursery rhyme, “Twelve and Twenty Black Birds Baked in a Pie,” the highest heaped pies I had ever seen.  All of the pies of every kind were so high it was hard to imagine how the baker had created such amazing delights. The pies of my dreams had come true.  The English Christmas cake which is much like the English wedding cake was a vision to behold. The cake is made of a very finely minced candied fruit, a spicy dark batter and laced with brandy,  The cake is then iced with marzipan and royal icing.   It is the most delicious cake, I have ever tasted.  Every section of the food hall was splendor, cheese from all over the world, same for bread, cookies, candy, smoked and fresh fish, meat pies, scones, crumpets, teas, oh my, just too many yummy fairy tale sights to mention.  The display of the huge smoked salmon garnished with capers defies description of the taste buds longing for  a bite. I could have stayed there for a week and not sampled all  of the exquisite fare.

Next was the splendor of the Christmas Hunt Ball, this magnificent occasion starts with a very late dinner, served about ten or eleven pm. I was a guest of Lady Edith Foxwell in her 15th century home in the Cots well Country and she served the dinner around a huge round table appointed with the finest china, crystal and beautiful antique linen. Eggs in aspic were served first,  lobster bisque, standing rib roast with Yorkshire pudding, special roasted potatoes as only the British can achieved the crusty brown buttery crust by scraping boiled potatoes all over with fork before roasting and then a mincemeat pie laced with brandy and topped with crème Chantilly.  Elegant and delicious!

Next cam the drive to the Hunt Ball through the English country side, which is so much like our East Tennessee country side..  The size and  ancient architecture of the site for the ball was breathtaking with history and  beauty.  Upon entering the huge hall on the first floor, two enormous fireplaces were blazing with a cracking fire and the mantels were hung with all natural greens for Christmas.  I shall never forget the width of the entranced or the high ceilings and the aroma of the fire mixed with  the fresh scent of natural greens  creating the immediate feel of Christmas.

Winding stairs with  small steps led to the ball rooms, three to be exact with each ball room having a different type of  music.  The walls were so thick, it was impossible to suspect music was playing on another floor.  One could imagine the history of Hunt Balls from ancient times.

Pure splendor and elegance reigned  with Ladies dressed in the most beautiful gowns,  jewelry with long family history worn generation after generation  and the ladies were Ladies with the title Lady this and Lady that  and were escorted  by Lord, Duke, Prince or Sir this or that. World leaders danced with beautiful refined women. Yes, World Leaders with whom one had the most  interesting  and  charming conversation.

This fairy tale also has the meeting of  a Price Charming  that asked me to dance ,  We danced as if one else existed,   I treasure this memory, it will always live in my heart.  Amazing thing about this meeting is that I had not seen Prince Charming in thirty something years and during the birth of Prince George  I was  watching Fox News and a report about the famous birth came on and all of a sudden I heard the voice of Prince Charming.  Surprised, amazed and excited, I got online and found him once again.   We are great friends and  remember the enchantment of that very special enchanted Christmas Ball.