Pudding Moments

Growing up in Canada, pudding was something very specific.  It started with grabbing from the pantry a small cardboard box featuring the Jell-O logo and containing a plastic pouch of powder.  After a whisk with milk in a small, stainless steel bowl and a couple of hours in the fridge, my siblings and I would indulge in the thick, gooey sweet stuff that our mum spooned out into little bowls.

Fast forward to being a young wanderlust-filled adult living in the UK, discovering that ‘pudding’ meant all desserts … not just the whisked up contents of a cardboard box.  It was one of the many subtle but significant cultural differences I navigated through when I first moved here, like making sure to say ‘trousers’ when talking about pants.

I was brought up on dessert (or pudding) being the reward for finishing a meal.  I was a very slow eater as a child, so often that chocolate biscuit or bowl of pudding felt well earned.

Brings to mind the time I was doing cover work in a school in Edinburgh and spotted on the lunch menu that the day’s pudding was going to be ‘Angel Delight’ … I’d never heard of it before and the name sounded magically delicious.  I looked forward to rewarding myself with that tasty treat after finishing my slightly soggy tuna cucumber sandwich.  I’m not going to lie guys … I was pretty disappointed with the reality – it was my first and last encounter with that bizarre concoction.)

And here we are in December 2017, at the end of a year that has – for many reasons – felt like hard work.  It’s been a constant barrage of horrendous headlines and sickening stories from all corners – political, environmental, economic, and cultural.  Partisan gaps are becoming chasms.  Warfare, displacement and border fury are rampant.  The seeds sown through austerity measures are cultivating deepening issues of poverty and deprivation.  Despite a global groundswell demanding an end to sexual aggression and assault, it is still happening.  And the omnipresence of handheld access to everything online is pushing us further and further into isolation from each other.

We need some sweet stuff.  We work hard to digest what we face day to day. We’ve earned dessert.

So over the next few weeks of journeying through the festive season and transitioning into a new year, be sure to find some time to enjoy some pudding – whatever that means to you.

If it is curling up under a duvet with a giant tin of Celebrations, go for it.

If it is roasting a 78 pound turkey with six tonnes of potatoes and a vat of gravy to feed multitudes of family and friends which appears to be stressful but actually brings you huge joy, do it.

If it is baking your grandmother’s Xmas cake recipe for the first time since she passed away, relish it.

If it is congratulating yourself for making it outside because most days it feels too overwhelming to do so, you are amazing.

If it is deciding to get in touch with a friend or family member you’ve not contacted in ages, go you.

If it is volunteering to serve lunch at a shelter or donating money / food / clothing to one of the countless worthy organisations in our midst, you rock.

If it is remembering to take mini moments to close your eyes and just breathe amid frenetic family gatherings, feel proud.

Love and light and big wishes for many more pudding moments in 2018!

Rose x