The Compliments of the Season

The Reverend Francis Kilvert, who kept a diary between January 1870 and March 1879, will probably be most remembered for his evocation of the life of a village clergyman, and of the changing seasons in the beautiful countryside of Wiltshire and the Welsh border, in mid-Victorian times.

In 1874, he recorded this following passage on the New Year’s Eve: “My mother and I sat up by the dining room fire to watch the Old Year out and the New Year in. Soon after eleven o’ clock the Chippenham bells began pealing and continued to ring at intervals till after midnight. The wind had veered into the South and brought the sound of the bells to us very distinct and sweet across the river, so that we plainly hear when they began and paused and all the change-ringing and the firing of the bells.”

I will never be tired of seeing the majestic sunrise every morning.

Unlike Reverend Kilvert, the New Year’s Eve never goes down well with me. During my teenage years, I had to put in an appearance at the parties, but managed to escape before the chimes rang out. As a teetotaller and a rather solitary figure by nature, it is always a traumatic affair to be among the people who will stay up late for a night of carousing. I usually retire to bed by eleven o’ clock after making sure all doors are locked, the curtains are drawn, the lights and telephones are switched off. Reverend Kilvert will be very disappointed in me if he knew that instead of the fireworks and bells, I would be listening to the talking books, especially unabridged editions, to muffle the noise of the Auld Lang Syne and the sirens from the ships at sea. This evening, I will be listening to Irene Nemirovsky’s All Our Worldly Goods read by my favourite narrator, the actress, Eleanor Bron.  

My favourite time is the unusually quiet days that lay between Christmas and New Year. The excitement, the protocols and the tearing haste of festive period and all the ripples of it are apt to subside after Christmas and Boxing Day. Whether one sits by the fire or goes out for a ritual morning walk, plays with the presents or eats the leftover, everything seems to me more harmonious and serene.

In the countryside, away from the madding crowd of the city, one remains unaware of the rhythms of life or passing days of the week. The days appear to be standing still as if for the benefit of the more ruminative nature of mankind. Truman Capote said the same thing about the life in Tangier when he wrote: "Tangier is a basin that holds you, a timeless place. The days slide by less noticed than foam in a waterfall."

The marvellous songs of the curlews are ringing through the sky in the silence of the dawn.

A deep peace enfolds me in the early morning. The only sign of humanity is the fire-lit windows as one walks past the houses and the cottages in the village. I would like to imagine that apart from a few evocative sights and sounds of modernity, I seem a thousand miles away from the metropolis, alone in a land of wind, water, curlews, sunrise and sunset.  

Philomena, my gorgeous Birman cat came to supervise the decoration. She is a sun-worshipper. She adores a quiet and peaceful morning while she waits for the sun to rise.  

A few of my favourite books about Christmas

I've always loved this Christmas story by Truman Capote. This 50th anniversary edition is beautifully illustrated by Beth Peck and it also contains an audiobook on CD.

It is also a time for contemplation and reflection for me to look back and think what a solidly interesting year 2019 has been. Christmas was absolutely delightful. I usually began by reading a few of my favourite books on Christmas. And I always think about a theme each year for my annual Christmas dinner party. The ideas and inspirations come to me from my reading.

 

I'm always adding my ideas on themes and inspirations for entertaining in this book came from Liberty.  

Before...

After...

The hearts come in different shapes and forms throughout the house.

And of course, the flowers are everywhere...

I went out to buy the Christmas tree with Gordon during Advent. We decorated it with lights, gaudy ornaments and the heavy heirlooms; vintage silver and gold balls made of glass from Laura Ashley that had to be delicately unwrapped and handled. As for the tree in the dining room, I wanted a lot of rustic touches and decorated its branches with dried hydrangeas, pine cones, red berries, mistletoe and heather. This year I did not listen to any Christmas music while I was busy with decorating and entertaining.

I've always loved the sound of classical guitar. Narciso Yepes is one of my all time favourite guitarists. There is an inexplicable emotion of yearning in the way he plays his music. I am drawn to this yearning for the ideal or something unattainable. I love his poetic renderings of Tarrega’s music so much that I played it in the background during the dinner party at Christmas.

The only music that I listen to during this holiday season is the classical guitar by this extraordinary musician, Narciso Yepes. His supreme artistry and the ethereal beauty of music from the classical guitar is a sheer revelation to me. I love his poetic renderings of Tarrega’s music so much that I played it in the background during the dinner party at Christmas. We were transported by this celestial music to a world of exotic climate, sand, seashore and the Mediterranean sea, the colour of sapphire. As much as I love Scotland, I do long for the hidden sun, Andalusian blue sky free from storm-wracked clouds and elemental madness of weather. 

Gifts from Laura Ashley for my faraway friends. They always tell me that something quintessentially British from Laura Ashley always reminds them of home.

I recently mentioned to a friend that this beautiful book, Eden Revisited: A Garden in Northern Morocco (published in September 2019) by Italian writer and horticulturist, Umberto Pasti had been on my wish list. It was so thoughtful of my friend that he gave it to me as his Christmas gift. I've always been a great admirer of Pasti's writing and this book about his garden, Rohuna, in south of Tangier, is his labour of love.

While it's not a practical guidebook, it's one of the most evocative and poetic books about gardening that I have ever read. Pasti is a man of style whether it's to do with gardening or writing. The novelist, Martin Amis once said: "Style is just an expression of perception. It's not something poured on afterwards. It's inherent in how you perceive." One can clearly see that in Pasti's garden.   

I love vintage Denby's and Alfred Meakin's dishes. They are incredibly decorative. The modern tableware seems so plain, utilitarian and dull by comparison.

 

Preparation and finishing touches for Christmas dinner party

Smoked Salman, Salad and Homemade Bread for starter. Gordon took charge of all the cooking in the kitchen. May God bless him!

Fondant Potatoes

Roasted Mediterranean Vegetables 

Herb-and-Lemon Roasted Chicken 

I am thankful for sharing this special meal together with friends who have become families to me. Perhaps, this is the best Christmas gift.

I love these Mexican hand-blown glasses with cobalt blue rims. You can use it for cocktail or dessert.

German Preserved Fruit in Rum (Rumtopf) served with whipped cream for dessert. I had crème brûlée for my pudding.

 

 

On Boxing Day, Gordon and I watched our favourite film, Ingmar Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander (1982) the uncut TV version, released on DVD from Criterion Collection. I have always been an admirer of Bergman’s films and writing especially his autobiography, The Magic Lantern. The first time when I saw the film, I was transfixed by Bergman’s power of storytelling. It was both intellectual and emotional experience for me. In particular, I'll never forget his extensive use of sumptuous colour red in the first part of the film, which was set in a typical bourgeois household during Christmas Eve celebration, and the most lavishly decorated table for their festive feast. I added a deep crimson red bow tie in the decorative heart-shaped wreath in the dining room as my homage to Bergman.   



This year's decoration for Christmas is inspired by Bergman's masterpiece film, Fanny and Alexander. Bergman re-created his most beautiful childhood memories of celebrating Christmas Eve and the joy of Christmas in this film. Image credit: Criterion Collection (2004)



I was inspired by the way Bergman uses the sumptuous colour red in Fanny and Alexander. All the red colour here including the red bow in the centre of the decorative heart wreath is an act of homage to him. He said in his later life that he didn't celebrate Christmas.   

 

As we are on the brink of transition from the old to the new era, I wish I could be more optimistic about the state of the world and all that resolute jocularity is very trying, don’t you find, in the follies of the politics? I wish and pray that there will be less uncertainties and human anxieties in the New Year.

Our environment and our future will not be torn apart if people were less angry and less greedy (concentrating on the short-term gain at the long-term expense of the natural environment) and more kindly, civilised, tolerant and understanding. Above all, the importance of friendship at the time of uncertainties can be a thing of beauty, consolation and constancy which is much to be valued in our lives.

 

I recently found myself fascinated by a little obscure play by Hugh Whitemore, first staged in the West End in 1988 with a cast comprising John Gielgud, Ray McAnnally and Rosemary Harris about the friendship between the playwright, George Bernard Shaw, the keeper of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and a Benedictine nun, whom GBS refers to as "the enclosed nun with the unenclosed mind".

The Best of Friends, Hugh Whitemore's play about the friendship between George Bernard Shaw, Sydney Cockerell, and Dame Laurentia McLachlan. In 1991, it was filmed for television, under the direction by Alvin Rakoff, with Patrick McGoohan as Shaw, Sir John Gielgud and Dame Wendy Hiller. It is hard to imagine anything like this being produced today. The film is available online for viewing here

 

The play is based on their letters and writings that all three friends exchanged for over 25 years until Shaw’s death in 1950. In the original casting, Gielgud played the role as Sydney Cockerell, the museum curator. What rather marvellous about this play is the quiet lull of its prose and the leisurely intimacies of a bygone era in which the characters carried on unrepentantly civilised conversations.

Gielgud’s last words of wisdom in this play chime in with my own thoughts about friendship. It seems to me worth remembering as a parting thought before we embark on another New Year with hope and cautious optimism:  

“I declare friendship to be the most precious thing in life but it’s like the plant that withers if it is not heedfully fostered and tended. It is only by constant thought, by visits, by little services, by abundant sympathies at all times that friends can be kept. I implore my children to remember this so that the blessings that have been mine maybe theirs also.”  

Happy New Year!

Finally, I would like to sincerely thank you for your continued support and interest. I wish you a very happy, healthy and successful New Year.