I spent a couple of hours this evening making Christmas Puddings. I soaked several pounds of dried fruit overnight in hot water with a little whiskey. The fruit plumped up con­sid­er­ably. I let it drain throughout the day.

The photo shows the puddings in their bowls just before I sealed them and put them into the oven for four hours of steaming. They’ll get another four or five hours tomorrow. When we’re ready to eat one, it’ll get another hour of steaming to heat it up. We decant it from the bowl, stick a sprig of holly in the top, heat a tablespoon of whiskey until it catches fire, and pour the flaming alcohol over the pudding. It’s served with Brandy Butter and cream.

There’s enough fruit for a Christmas Cake too, which I plan to make on Tuesday evening.

I also spent wrote about 30 Christmas cards this evening.