Mum’s Christmas Pudding

A favourite Christmas eve memory,
from child to adulthood,
was the stirring in the large
cream bowl, the ingredients
of the Christmas pud.

Mum loved this moment,
all hands on the large wooden spoon.
She always had a giggle–
together the stiff pudding,
would blend, and
if the pudding didn’t jiggle,
we would pretend.

Last thing to do,
was find a coin,
this was a lucky tradition,
that could break a tooth or two,

small fingers would squash it
into the middle of the mixture,
ensuring that it would not go
missing, sometimes an extra
coin would be put in,
by a little trickster.

The pudding was then poured into
a glass bowl, and wrapped with brown
paper and string,
it was placed in a large pot of
boiling water and left until the timer
sent out its trill ring.

When the pudding was boiled,
into the fridge it went to wait
for in one sleep, it would be
Christmas day, and the pudding
would meet its fate.

When it was finally pudding time,
Mum would pour the brandy,
right over the cherry top,
strike a match and make a fire.
The pudding would light up.

With orange and blue flames,
it would be served,
accompanied by charades,
and other Christmas day games.

Need more Christmas reads? Check these beauties out!

• The Christmas Debate – Christmas Poetry
• Almost Christmas Morning – Christmas Eve Essay
• Man in the Shadows – Christmas Eve Fiction
• Jintishi Poem for Christmas – Christmas Poem (goes live Dec 17)
• Christmas Traditions – Personal Essay
• Consider Mrs. Claus – Christmas Poem

Justine A. Engelbrecht

+ postsBio

Justine is a Johannesburg based writer. She has a BA HONS TLI in Theory of Literature, and a BA CWR in Creative Writing. She has published a collection of poems 'Two Willows' on Amazon KDP, as well as the 'Adventures of Nala' for children and 'Studying Made Fun' a study guide for children. Justine has also published a short story 'Today is Tuesday' on ExquisiteDeathezine.com and various poems on Spillwords. She is the previous founding publishing editor of Brides Essence Magazine and TravelmagSA, and has worked on various digital and print publications during her career. Justine writes remotely from home, and is working on a fiction novel and a memoir, as well as poetry and flash fiction.

Find Justine's writings in her portfolio and Facebook.

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