So, the food order arrived at 9am this morning. A la Margot Ledbetter. In a van. Christmas was delivered.

Every two months I ensure that we work our way through the freezer and fridge. With the fridge dying the other week, that wasn't a problem and the freezer was down to a bag of oven chips and my frozen lobster which was put in there a few months ago when I got the opportunity to buy one on offer.

So, I defrosted the lobster today for my tea. Normally, it's a treat that we would have if we go to a fish restaurant. But with lockdown and wfh we've not done that sort of traveling these past 3 years so a lobster on offer in Morrisons was a big treat.

I gave hubby a plate of nibbly things as is our Christmas tradition (his blue goat's cheese, goats gouda, tomato, olives, home made chutney, crab, figs, goats cheese filled peppers, dill pickles, roll mops ... you get the idea.

And for me, some mayo, the lobster and two slices of bread. I have to say, I think my plate, only half his, was more divine.

It's December, it's wet and miserable but with every bite it feels like a summer day, outside the Oyster Sheds in Whitstable.

Food really has a way to bring memories to life.

My first visit to a Christmas Market, in Germany, was in 2006 when I was in Munich for work.  

​Between 2012 and 2016 I visited Munich for work every December and spent most of my evenings wandering around Marienplatz and taking in the Christmas vibe whilst keeping myself warm drinking Glühwein.

​One year, I was so cold that it took me nearly an hour to defrost back in my hotel room.

In 2007, hubby and I went to Cologne and visited the 8 markets there.

German Christmas markets, also known as "Weihnachtsmarkt," have a long history dating back to the Middle Ages. These markets originated in the German-speaking regions of Europe and have since spread to other parts of the world.

The first recorded Christmas market was held in Dresden, Germany in 1434. These early markets were held in church squares and were a way for people to buy and sell goods, particularly food and handmade crafts, during the holiday season.

Over time, the Christmas market tradition spread throughout Germany and other parts of Europe, becoming an important part of the region's cultural and economic life. Today, German Christmas markets are known for their festive atmosphere, which includes the sale of traditional holiday foods, drinks, and gifts, as well as live music and other entertainment.

Every one of our nutcrackers and incense burners, that we get out at Christmas, have been bought at one of the Christmas Markets we have visited in either Germany or the UK

In the UK, Christmas Markets have started to become a regular feature with a Medieval one in Lincoln and the now famous Frankfurt German Market in Birmingham.

Last year I missed out on my Christmas Cheese order by a few days. 

So, when I was able to order early, this weekend, I was reminded of how my mum paid the milkman a pound extra each week so that at Christmas she had a 'hamper' delivered with special Christmas food.

​I think she would start around easter and it cost about £30 which, when the weekly shop was around £20 was a massive amount of money.

Although our milkman was Unigate, I found this ad from the period for Express Dairies which gives a taste of what you could save for.  We used to go for the cupboard food bundle as mum would put away a few pounds each week with the butcher, in order to pay for the meat at Christmas.

A Christmas biscuit selection box - one each of savoury cheese for biscuits and sweet biscuits. A packet of Cornish biscuits (I loved their texture). The classic McVitie's Tunis cake ... a joy to behold with its marzipan fruits on top (see the link for more on this 1970s delight) and some glace fruit.

There would be tins of soup ... Always Baxters... I still think of these as being posh because of that. Tinned vegetables;  including a tin of Heinz Russian salad, which was basically carrots, beans, peas and potatoes in salad cream .. in a tin!

A couple of packets of nuts would also be in there. Always KP. Always peanuts and a packet of either mixed nuts or cashews.

And for the tinned fruit ... tropical fruit cocktail. The same as a standard fruit cocktail, but with pineapple. And talking of pineapple, there would be that tin of crushed pineapple that no one knew what to do with and lived in the back of the cupboard until Christmas next year when mum would make us eat it for tea one day because you legally couldn't have two tins of it in the house or the world would end.

Pickles were always a big thing in the box. Piccalilli, which was so yellow with no forbidden food colours that it almost glowed in the dark. Those mini gherkins that were so hard, along with silver skin onions, rock hard olives and maraschino flavoured cherries because, at Christmas every woman would be whipping up a dry Martini for her husband and popping a maraschino cherry into her Cinzano Rousso and lemonade.

There would be a crate of soft drinks ... Always corona because 'every bubble has passed it fizzical'. I would be allocated one bottle of limeade and one bottle of cherryade to get through the festivities. There would be masses of lemonade because ... Well, you need something to add to your Cinzano. Although I strongly believe that mum and her friends had basically lemonade with a dash of Cinzano so it looked pink and smelt exotic.

If mum had a bit extra money, she would go for the top tier hamper which would also have two bottles of wine; always a choice between Blue Nun, Black Tower and Matteus Rose (do you like Demis Roussou?).

There would be an advent calendar (paper ... no chocolates in it in the 70s), some paper chain papers to make up and a card from the milk man.

It was such a big thing opening up the box. We'd all sit round and ooh and hah as each item was pulled out from the shredded wood and put into little groups on the carpet.