December 2020 - Christmas

christmas

Table of Contents Baking at Christmas

Words and Illustrations by Jenni Tilson

Christmas Advertising

Words and Illustrations by Andy Edwards

Cheers to Family!

Words and Illustrations by Anna Stone

Gratitude and Closure

Words and Illustrations by Margarita Louka

Winter Solstice

Words and Illustrations by Rachel Middleton

Cover and Endpapers: Amy Perkins Editor: Anna Stone

By: Jenni Tilson

Baking at Christmas

Christmas is undoubtedly my favourite time of the year. There are many reasons for that, such as, I love the cold, I love the music and I love giving presents to everyone but the one thing I think I treasure more than anything is the baking I do every year with my mum.

Every year on Christmas Eve, the day becomes dedicated to the making of mince pies, sugar cookies and any other foods we decide to try and make!

This part of Christmas has always been my favourite as it started only with the mince pies at first and progressed from there. There have been times where we have tried to make our own pastries only for them to fall apart, times where we used the wrong pastry and ended up with bases made from puff pastry (which of course exploded everywhere) and a time where we left the mince brewing in a jar of alcohol (vodka) for an entire year as we forgot about it and needless to say created some very potent mince pies! Alongside that, we have made all sorts of cheesecakes, cookies, and cakes etc.

The results aside, the reason I love this day so much is just forgetting everything else that is going on for a while and just being in our kitchen, singing along to the songs on the radio and chatting about the year that’s gone by. In those moments, I just feel so warm and content and even though you can cook or bake together any time of the year, it just feels so different than any other time. I think after this eventful year of 2020 I will appreciate this day even more, because it will be the first time I will be home from university properly this year, and I have missed home more than ever. I think one final thing that I really REALLY love about

the baking on Christmas is the smell. Christmas is filled with smells in our house from the fresh pine tree in our conservatory, the logs on the fire and even the smell of all the wrapping paper can be distinctive but above all is the day we bake, and all you can smell all through the house is fresh cookies, melted chocolate and whatever alcohol we used in the mince pies that year. It’s a smell that makes everyone so hungry and flock to the kitchen to try out samples of what we are making, and then the joy of sharing that with everyone is a great feeling.

Illustration By: Jenni Tilson

Illustrations By: Andy Edwards

By: Andy Edwards

Christmas Advertising

The older I get and the more Christmases I encounter, the more I become aware that this time of year in the eyes of advertising, is the equivalent of having a commercial in a prime time slot in the ad break of a morally ambiguous reality show. Christmas is the main event for advertising, and what I find strange about it is just how aware we are of it. The public cannot seem to wait for John Lewis to hit us right in the feels with some festive nostalgia in order for us to buy whatever it is they are selling, which seems to be more ambiguous as the years go on. We have fully incorporated Christmas ads into part of the nostalgia, as much a part of Christmas as mulled wine. I as a nostalgic man, I am fully behind it. Despite the uncomfortable feeling, I have given in to a consumer capitalist structure. I have had far too many mulled wines to think of that.

Despite some people not wanting to admit it, a large part of what makes Christmas in these times is the commercialisation. The advertising market has completely changed the look and feel of Christmas - and I’m not talking about the fake rumour that Santa only wears red because of Coca Cola. For me, the approach of Christmas was signified by the big red Coke lorry appearing on the screen, and browsing through the massive Argos catalogue. This was just as much a part of Christmas for me as the traditional aspects of the holiday.

It also seems as though not only has advertising affected Christmas, but Christmas has also affected advertising. Perhaps it’s a side effect of the scramble to have the most heart-warming ad, but the creativity for these ads has shot through the roof, top brands bringing in world class directors such as Wes Anderson and Taika Waititi, John Lewis hiring

talented animators with unique styles, it is a rich tapestry of work that helps showcase and support the arts. It’s a kind of advertising that doesn’t seem sly and cold, it feels vibrant and feels like a contribution to the Christmas spirit albeit with the same motive of ‘Buy our stuff’ that lingers behind the curtain.

Strangely this year, there is controversy (a word I use lightly, as anyone with any decency can see it most definitely isn’t controversial) surrounding a particular advert for focussing on a black family. This just shows how a part of Christmas advertising has become, even the racists are invested, and they are probably some of the least jolly people I can think of.

By: Anna Stone

Cheers to Family!

Ahh Christmas time… What do you think of when you think of Christmas? Do you think of mistletoe and love? Do you think of presents?

Do you think of a special Christmas dinner, with Turkey or Goose (or some Asian cultures have KFC for Christmas)? Or are you someone who does not even think about Christmas, and are more of a Scrooge? (There’s nothing wrong with that, as long as you don’t force people to work for little pay over Christmas, like he does!)

Typically, Christmas is seen as a time when snow arrives, and the family snuggles up together around the fireplace, in their various, shocking Christmas jumpers (sometimes even matching, if you’re that kind of family!) A great big Christmas tree, standing tall above the presents that may lie beneath, ready to be opened on Christmas Day! This is obviously not always the case for every family, but what many Christmas films romanticise Christmas as. Some families who do have fireplaces, can fulfil all Christmas dreams, with their cup of hot chocolate and s’mores on the fire. Other families do not celebrate Christmas as much, but I think what most people can agree (unless you are a Scrooge, of course) is that Christmas is about family, in whichever form it takes. Whether that means having a KFC delivery, or a Christmas dinner that had lots of hard work put into it the night before. It could also include fun family games, like playing Monopoly, although that could also bring some arguments, depending on how competitive your family are and who wins… Or it could mean going to Church on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning, because after all, we only have Christmas because it is when we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

Whichever way, some families don’t get enough time together, so Christmas is the perfect time

to stop whatever work you were doing, and spend time in each other’s presence (as well as presents, but let’s stop these puns… It’s almost as bad as the jokes you find, wrapped up amongst the cheap gift and paper crown in a Christmas cracker!)

This Christmas, if there’s one thing you can do, is to just enjoy it! Enjoy the time together.

Enjoy the laughter and joy that Christmas should bring. Enjoy the break from real life.

Enjoy it! This year has been a hard year, where families have been divided, lost or separated.

Use this Christmas as the perfect time to spend together as a family, cherishing all the happy, new memories you are going to make!

Illustration By: Anna Stone

Illustration By: Margarita Louka

By: Margarita Louka

Gratitude and Closure

If you had to pick one of the worst ways to start a new decade, a pandemic would be quite high up on the list; I’m sure we can all breathe a sigh of relief that 2020 is over.

However, this month instead of repeating this (very true) mantra, I chose to celebrate. It’s December! This should be a happy month filled with aspirations for the new year! I am especially excited this month because I am going to be seeing my family, which I haven’t seen since last Christmas! I know the moment I step in their house I will be struck by the lack of independence which comes with living with parents, but I will simultaneously relish the experience of relinquishing the responsibilities that come with living away from them. Seeing family was something I took for granted, but this pandemic made me realise that nothing is guaranteed. I’m sure separation from loved ones is something that went hand in hand with this pandemic for many people, and I am grateful that this has been eased.

Despite 2020 being a challenging year for everyone, it still struck me, and lifted my spirits, to see how life simply goes on. I started my MA, and I saw a lot of other friends turn to education as well, as the best solution during this pandemic. I also saw friends on Facebook getting engaged, which reminded me that even though this year has been all over the place, a lot of people still hit important milestones in 2020, so it is important to be grateful for the things that went right.

I hope that this year can improve us as a society - perhaps make us more compassionate, grateful, less busy and more environmentally conscious. The world needs time to heal from this, however I hope with the healing come

creative ways to rebuild our planet, job market and - most importantly - that we find ways to support and encourage each other. I hope 2021 is a positive reflection of all the learning we had to do as a society from 2020.

By: Rachel Middleton

Winter Solstice

Winter solstice is as you would have guessed, the opposite of summer solstice (for the Northern Hemisphere). As opposed to the summer’s longest day, it marks the shortest day of the year as the North Pole tilts the furthest away from the sun. The meaning of solstice is “sun standing” because for a few days the sun appears to rise and set from the very same place. These special days have been celebrated since the beginning of civilisation with the sun being a constant liability for our survival. The winter solstice is marked to celebrate that we survived the long cold darkness, and that from then on the days will lengthen, and light and warmth will return. Whether or not you have religious or cultural roots to the tradition, it is hard not to admire the system of the planet we live on that keeps life flowing with the dance of the earth and the sun.

In fairness, it’s also a nice thing to signify that we won’t have to go to work and come home in the dark for much longer. Many people are affected by the darkness, the reduced sunlight in autumn and winter can cause winter onset SAD - seasonal affective disorder, disrupting our body clocks, bringing down our serotonin levels, leading to feelings of depression.

Which is why a moment of relief and hope is something we look forward to.

Having festive delights, symbols of warmth and giving is a welcome feeling for many.

Being close by with others who are feeling the darkness of winter can generate feelings of hope and community which is truly needed in these moments. This is the time where we find sentiment in things that we would have ignored during the bright summer days, like

Illustration By: Rachel Middleton

candle light, warm clothes, music and people.

While many of us will not be able to physically be with the ones we would normally spend Christmas with, there is still the sentiment that we are all under the same sun, and that the darkness won’t be a burden for much longer.

The contrasts of dark and cold can make the opposites become more noticeable and important. While many will dread the winter and wish for it to be one season all of the time, there is something to be said for how these elements are there to remind us of what we have. The way our planet has a fine tuned nature that all life is dependant on, there’s no wonder that pre-modern people who celebrated solstice (and other natural spectacles) lived immersed in a sense of an enchanted world. They were aware of something larger than themselves,

something that made them both grateful and fearful of the natural forces that shape and nurture the environments we live in.

Perhaps with all of the rush of materialistic things we pass back and forth to one another, we have forgotten the simple sentiments that once meant more to us before we were swept up in the busy world. Hope and light may sound like some mushy old mantra we repeat every year. But they are the strongest wishes that we hold onto, when everything else is stripped away. When the world seems against us, hope is what we long for. When darkness comes over and we feel lost and alone, light is what we long for. The winter brings these things out into the open, and we know that these feelings are shared by everyone. And that is an encouraging thought.

Copyright © 2020 by Amy Perkins, Jenni Tilson, Andy Edwards, Margarita Louka, Rachel Middleton, and Anna Stone.

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This publication or any portion thereof may not be reproduced, copied, reprinted, reworked, redistributed, or used in any manner whatsoever without the explicit written permission of the copyright holders.