Stone and cut the raisins in halves, but do not chop them wash, pick, and dry the currants, and mince the suet finely cut the candied peel into thin slices, and grate down the bread into fine crumbs. 45) thus the Cratchit children help Tiny Tim to the wash-house ' that he might hear the pudding singing in the copper' ( Christmas Books-A Christmas Carol, p. The 'copper' used to boil the pudding was used the rest of the year for the Cratchit family laundry ( Hearn, 2004, p. This was due to the fact that in Old English the word plum referred to prunes or raisins. The famous plum pudding that Mrs Cratchit makes to crown the Cratchit Christmas dinner was not made of plums, but raisins. Dickens tells of Master Peter Cratchit and the two younger Cratchits going to fetch their Christmas goose from the bakers ( Hearn, 2004, p. Bakers were forbidden to sell on Sundays and holidays but would open their shops on these days to the poor and bake their dinners for a small fee. Thus many, like the Cratchits, took their Christmas goose or turkey to the baker's shop. The homes of the poor were equipped with open fireplaces for heat and cooking but not with ovens.

It is sometimes called 'purple wine' and received the name 'Bishop' from its colour' ( Browne, 1907, as cited in Hearn, 2004, p. Sugar and spices (chiefly cloves, star anise, and cinnamon) are added according to taste. The liquor is heated or 'mulled' in a vessel with a long funnel, which could be pushed far down into the fire. ' The drink is made by pouring red wine, either hot or cold, upon ripe bitter oranges. Gordon Browne describes this Christmas punch: In his notes for the 1907 edition of A Christmas Carol E. Your browser does not support JavaScript!Ĭharles Dickens' great great grandson, Gerald Dickens, brings his spirited one-man show to video.Īt the end of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge proposes that he and Bob Cratchit will discuss all that Scrooge will do for Bob's family later that afternoon ' over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop' ( Christmas Books-A Christmas Carol, p. 'God bless us every one.' said Tiny Tim, the last of all ( Christmas Books, p. God bless us.' Which all the family re-echoed. These held the hot stuff from the jug, however, as well as golden goblets would have done and Bob served it out with beaming looks, while the chestnuts on the fire sputtered and cracked noisily. Two tumblers, and a custard-cup without a handle. The Cratchit family drew round the hearth, in what Bob Cratchit called a circle, meaning half a one and at Bob Cratchit's elbow stood the family display of glass.

The christmas carol by charles dickens