Stir Up Sunday in front of the fire

We are sat in front of our fire on a wet damp Sunday afternoon, watching the fire flicker and feeling my knees warm up gradually.  I'm loving having a fire, it instantly warms up the room and makes it feel so cosy.

In the kitchen our Christmas pudding is gently bubbling and steaming away, its been on the hob for three and a half hours and will steam for another four and a half.  Today is stir up Sunday, the traditional day for making the Christmas pudding.

 

Yesterday I mixed up all the ingredients in a large bowl and left it overnight and so today it was packed into a pudding basin and covered

 

 

Later on tonight at evensong, the collect or prayer for the day will be this one from the Book of Common Prayer:

 

Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people;

that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works,

may of thee be plenteously rewarded;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Stir up, we beseech thee, the pudding in the pot...

Yesterday was 'Stir up Sunday', the last Sunday before the season of Advent.   It is traditionally the day for making the Christmas pudding and at Hazel Cottage this year, we were no exception.  We followed Delia's traditional recipe and made sure that we both had a hand in stirring the pudding.  We didn't say the old rhyme "Stir up we beseech thee, the pudding in the pot, we'll get home afore ye and we'll eat the lot" although I was a little tempted. 

The day is called Stir up Sunday because the 1662 Book of Common Prayer has the following collect for the day:-

Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord,
the wills of thy faithful people;
that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works,
may of thee be plenteously rewarded;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

As I sat in church later that evening, listening to that old prayer being said, I thought of our pudding still simmering away back at home and felt rather happy.