rthstewart | In which Ruth almost but not quite outs herself

Been there, done that, got the turkey coma (and a search at 11:30 PM last night for a grocery store that was still open and had fresh turkeys to accommodate my swelling gust list. Yes, I cooked 2 turkeys this year as my list went from 7 to 15).

We have a tradition that everyone at the table must identify a book or movie that was moving, interesting, or memorable in some way. Two years ago at Thanksgiving, I went on and on about Roald Dahl and the Irregulars in Jennet Conant's book (and TQSiT was the result). Last year I blathered about the Kladstrup Wine and War book (which I used for Maenad of the Maquis)..

This year, it was gay giraffes, same sex paired albatrosses, and Biological Exuberance and that remarkable wikpedia entry. Apparently I was hilarious and articulate. But really my wine soaked guests had difficulty getting passed the "OMG GAY GIRAFFES?" We were very loud. Good thing the kids were watching Jurassic Park. I consider myself a pretty dull person in real life. It's pretty funny when the stories you tell about the fic you saw in a porn challenge involving Pepsi and Coke and John Major and QE2 are memorable enough that people remember them the following year.

Happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate it. If not, I hope you had a lovely day. I am grateful to all my imaginary friends.

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I checked with my Dad, who would have been 10 in 1942. He said, if you were lucky, your family might have a chicken. Probably served with roast potates and some other vegetables, bread sauce and gravy.(No cranberry sauce, this was unkown in England at the time.) He said his grandmother saved up sugar ration all year, managed to get hold of some currants or sultanas and made a Christmas cake. He doesn`t remember having Christmas pudding during the war. No candy of course. ( My Mum remembers getting chocolate from American soldiers who were camped on their front lawn the days before D-Day, but they lived in south England, whereas Dad was in the Midlands and so missed out.)
Dad also commented that if you knew a farmer who made his own butter or cheese, you might be lucky and get a bit extra from him. He said they ate a lot of rabbit. Apparently most people in the country or in villages kept rabbits. This might not be impossible even in suburban areas like Finchley or Cambridge. There might very well be a rabbit hutch at the bottom of the garden.
He mentioned that there was no beer in bottles. If you wanted to drink beer at home, you went to the pub with a jug, where they filled it up. And women, if they went to the pub, would sit in the snug.
Also, I don`t know how extensive the Russell grounds are, but some more aristocratic types might have herds of deer on their estates. I`m sure all four Pevensies could stalk and shoot deer with a bow. I bet Peter, Edmund and Eustace could snare rabbits and grouse and tickle trout too. Ironically what little I know about grouse shooting and poaching comes from ``Danny, Champion of the World`` by Roald Dahl!

Re coffe vs. tea. I think a lot of this is a class thing. The Pevensies seem to be upper middle-class or even gentry. They would be used to drinking coffee. But it would be unheard of for the lower classes to have coffee. Certainly my parents` families didn`t at this time. It was always tea. There`s also the issue of what time you ate meals. Lower classes probably ate their main meal of the day, around 1:00 p.m. then had a tea round 5-6. Upper classes ate the main meal later in the evening.

This sort of social history is fascinating, especially when you think it wasn`t all that long ago.

Can`t help on the church question--my parents` families seem to be non-church goers. Oh except not everybody would have been C of E or Catholic. There would have been Methodists or chapel folk too. Again possibly a class thing.

Hope this helps a bit.

ClaireI

Thank you so much, Clairel! And you checked with your Dad, which was so nice! I've found a lot of information, and I'm overthinking as I do have an easy deux ex leo in the form of the Pevensies now having access to an American family with access to the PX/Commissary. There's a sort of Christmas Carol thing forming in my head where all problems are solved with the arrival of the Christmas goose or turkey with the Americans, but the American food traditions, as the next entry shows, do not have this tradition of dried fruits soaked in spirits and set aflame. The closest is that thing known as the Fruit Cake which nowadays at least is the subject of scorn. Dried fruit and nuts barely held together with a batter and soaked in rum or brandy and packed in a tin. It was popular at one time but I can't imagine a fruit cake taking the role of the Christmas dessert -- though.... I should check the Joy of Cooking, the classic American cookbook that has been in print since the War. (I referenced it in the Tools of the Trade chapter in TQSiT). The classic Joy gives instructions on how to skin squirrels.

In my head, btw, I'm assuming they are COE. Though I admit that English class dynamics are not something Americans understand well at all. Thanks so much!

Yeah, I find the nuances fascinating and confusing as well, even when it extends to things like sports. According to my father, if you were upper class, you played rugby and lower class you played football/soccer. So at their boarding school Peter and Edmund would play rugby, tennis and row. Although as far as I can tell everyone played cricket!
ClaireI

This is one I'm never going to nail exactly. My British readers have been incredibly generous both in not criticizing my errors and in gently helping when they could. Though I seem to have lost theoretica, who was very helpful with the military side of things. And the hummingbirds.

In which Ruth almost but not quite outs herself

Christams food during the war

Re: Christams food during the war

Re: Class distinctions

Re: Class distinctions