Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2025 i The Simple Things

Morning, what’s your first cuppa of the day? An English breakfast while making porridge with fruit, nuts, seeds and kefir for my partner, Thomas, and our son. Do you have a morning routine? I love swimming in our local pool, then it’s a large cappuccino once in the studio, and tackling admin before getting to design something new. Does this change before Christmas? Yes, we’re usually participating in pop-ups or selling online. We try to get out on blue-sky days – we’ve some lovely local walks in the pines in Sutton Heath or Rendlesham. Sounds wonderful. Fancy a cuppa? And any festive snack with that? A strong redbush tea and coconut milk, please. I’m partial to some homemade fruit cake. Do you have a favourite mug? One of my favourites…

There’s no better way to get to the heart of a city than through the people who live there. This month we’ve asked tour guide and blogger Dana Horalíková (praguebehindthescenes.com) to guide us around her home town. You may feel inspired to visit one day, but for now just sit back and enjoy some armchair travel. How long have you lived in the city? Prague is my hometown, I was born and raised here. Tell us what makes your city unique Prague, or Praha in Czech, is an incredible city. What I appreciate most is its laid-back ambience, combined with its rich and well-preserved historical centre – which includes the largest castle complex in the world. Prague is full of culture, festivals, art, university students, nature, libraries and, of course, beer!…

This is my favourite time of the year and the entire house is adorned with flowers and plants gathered from either mine or my parents’ garden – although the living room tends to be the main hub for seasonal styling. When it comes to hanging greenery, my philosophy is more is more! Once decorated, I love nothing more than curling up by the fire and spending time with loved ones. Cecily Whitmarsh Boon, Norfolk @boonandbramble Every year, I look forward to decorating the inglenook. It’s mostly fresh greenery from the garden with dried foliage from hedgerows and eucalyptus from the market. Fairy lights are also a must as they give that cosy feeling on a winter’s day. Marta Dowling, Tiverton, Devon @marta_at_the_mill I love decorating with plain garlands as a…

MERRY XMAS EVERYBODY BY SLADE “It’s Chrissstmass!” Has the festive period truly begun till you’ve heard those words leave Noddy Holder’s lips? Holder wrote the song with bassist Jim Lea, after being challenged by Lea’s motherin-law to create a song that could be played “every year for a birthday, Christmas or Valentine’s Day.” In 1971, John Lennon and Yoko Ono had released Happy Xmas (War Is Over), making the idea of a Christmas song “a bit cooler” in Holder’s eyes. In fact, it was based on Holder’s first ever song – a 1967 Beatles-inspired number, originally called Buy Me A Rocking Chair. After a night in the pub, Holder seized on the idea of celebrating an old-fashioned British Christmas, and creating something to cheer everyone up amid the gloom of…

ROBIN The robin’s enduring relationship with humankind is timeless and tales abound of how this little charmer won its scarlet breast. Interestingly, it was always known as the ‘redbreast’ before the addition of the name robin was added as a prefix, thanks to a European custom of attributing names to birds. Christian folklore attests that it was an act of kindness that caused the robin’s colour change. The bird decided to fan the flames of the fire to keep baby Jesus warm as he slept in his manger, but it flew too close. In other tales, it was the robin who gently teased the thorns from Christ’s brow while he was on the cross, and a speck of blood tainted the bird’s breast and face. The Victorians really fell for…

Yule log Merci to the French for their chocolate version of the traditional wooden Yule log in the 19th century, a Bûche de Noël for extra fanciness. Panettone Buon appetito, or maybe buen provecho? Associated with Italy, in fact Peru’s the biggest panettone patron: eating 1.3kg per person a year. Hot chocolate Instant cocoa set the bar for chocolatey drinks in the 1960s. The whipped cream on top, though, is a trend that only began to peak in the early 2010s. Christmas cake Originating as porridge, it went down the (marzi)pan route in the 18th century, though is still enjoyed with a bit of cheese in Yorkshire. Trifle Developed in the 1700s as a leftover-user-upper, later introductions of custard powder, instant jelly and tinned fruit meant its making was more…

The kitchen isn’t always a place of calm and serenity, as we race to get dinner on the table. But if we try taking things slower now and again and lean into its sensory pleasures, we benefit from its inherently calming activities. The warmth of the oven, the scent of something on the stove and the soothing acts of stirring slowly or kneading and shaping are to be savoured, if we take the time to let them ground us. ALL IS CALM If ever there’s a time to wish for calm in the kitchen, it’s Christmas. Take the pressure off, switch into mindful mode and enjoy the process of making something delicious. Dark December days call for substantial meals, but that doesn’t have to mean stodge. Take a buttery leek…

FAVOURITE SHOP Papelote Stationery shop and creative studio. Smart, sustainable and locally made paper products. papelote.cz FAVOURITE BOOKSHOP Knihobot A funky second-hand bookshop. The books are in mint condition and creatively organised. knihobot.cz FAVOURITE GALLERY Galerie Rudolfinum Located in a beautiful Neo-Renaissance building with regular new art exhibitions. Plus it’s free. galerierudolfinum.cz FAVOURITE BAR Automat Matuška Great pub for craft beers and pub snacks. automatmatuska.cz FAVOURITE CAFÉ Kavárna Nový Svět Cosy, family-run café hidden away in a tiny house, serving delicious coffee and cakes. kavarna.novysvet.net FAVOURITE RESTAURANT Bistro Karel A hidden gem located in the Wild Garden, and surrounded by a Baroque Troja Château. bistrokarel.cz FAVOURITE MARKET Hala 22 Year-round indoor farmers’ market offering fresh veggies, plants, seasonal goods, and pastries. holesovickatrznice.cz FAVOURITE WAY TO SPEND AN HOUR Climb one…

Seasonal anthologies An English Christmas, edited by John Julius Norwich (John Murray) Anthologies come into their own at this time of year – place one on your bedside table so you can dip in and out whenever a dose of festive cheer is required. An English Christmas is a Christmas stocking of a book, filled with a surprising variety of literary delights. John Julius Norwich, with his inimitable eye for story, has gathered an array of very English Christmases, from a country-house holiday spent with Henry James, to carol singing with Laurie Lee and over-eating with Agatha Christie. There’s a mix of poetry and prose, with snippets from diary entries, letters and lists that celebrate the joy, poignancy and sometimes even the absurdity of the season. The book is divided…

FOREST NEEDLES CHAI Serves 1 (mix serves 6-8) For the chai mix: 36g dried conifer needles 1 tbsp dried orange peel 1 tbsp ground cinnamon 1 tbsp ground cardamom 1 tbsp ground star anise 1 tbsp ground ginger 2 tbsp whole peppercorns FOR THE CHAI: 1 tbsp dry chai mix Honey or herbal syrup, to taste 2 tbsp milk of choice, optional Top off with milk, if desired. Cook’s note: Store the mix in a cool, dry, dark place and it’ll keep for up to 1 year. This recipe works with any edible conifer needles, including pine, fir, and spruce. If using fresh needles, do not add them to the chai mix. Instead, make the tea according to the directions, adding 1 teaspoon fresh needles to the mix to steep per serving. If making a smaller batch of…

Gathered Living Gathered Living began as an online marketplace for four independent brands – The Interiors Yard, ALSO Home, MeanWhile…, and Raine & Humble – and has grown into a beautiful lifestyle store in Nottinghamshire. “At Christmas, we love to help customers create a warm, welcoming home, whether that’s dressing their Christmas table or finding thoughtful gifts,” says Abbi from The Interiors Yard. “There’s a lovely buzz, especially at our festive ‘gatherings’, which are a joyful way to celebrate with our community.” From handwoven linens and rustic boards to garlands and glassware, each piece is chosen to bring joy and longevity. gathered-living.com Last orders: 18 December 2025 Holly & Co Indie designer Cath, of Catherine Colebrook, has been sprinkling joy into homes since 2006 with her playful, Britishmade creations –…

Christmas shopping – and perhaps a light grumble about Christmas shopping – is a tradition in its own right. It seems to hit the high street earlier every year and can be exhausting – or exhilarating. Amid the mayhem, spare a thought for our high streets. While once a fixture in our festive preparation, we’re told they are declining, and it’s undeniable that many household names have now gone. In this key time for shopper and shopkeeper alike, where did it all start? IN THE MARKET We’ve always shopped, just not in shops. Before the high street came the market, held first in churchyards, then market squares and, by the mid-19th century, in purpose-built market halls. Everyone used markets, from the highest nobles (or their servants) to the poor. But…

• Carrots & parsnips Draw the length of your hand in a straight line across the soil, creating a shallow trench. Thinly sow seeds and cover with soil. Label and water. Once seedlings appear, thin them out to one every couple of cm. Cover with horticultural fleece to protect from carrot root-fly. Water regularly, and keep the area weed-free. • Brussels sprouts Sow into a modular tray filled with compost. Water, label and place somewhere sunny and warm indoors. Once seedlings appear, thin out to one plant per module. In April, harden off and plant outside, 60cm apart. Water regularly, keep free of weeds. They may require a stake as support. Protect from pests with insect-proof mesh. • Potatoes Fill two-thirds of a large pot or potato bag with compost.…

A weekend away in December offers the chance to take a much-needed breather and enjoy some comfort and joy in what can become a busy and tiring month. Ignoring the to-do list for a couple of days and spending some uninterrupted time with someone special allows you to pause and remember what you enjoy about the season. And there’s nothing like a country house hotel all dressed up for Christmas to lift your festive spirits. Throw in a mindful activity such as wreath-making, and you’ll not only feel calmer but will have a beautiful decoration to come home with, and the satisfaction of a job well done. Where we stayed A 13th-century former farm, Tudor Farmhouse has all the ingredients of a cosy, rural retreat. You can immerse yourself in…

1 Find an old book and carefully remove its cover. You want the pages themselves to stay joined to each other. 2 Starting on the first page, fold the top right corner towards you – the full width of the page should align with the left edge. 3 Fold towards you again, so the diagonal edge is in line with the left edge. 4 You’ll now have a triangle that pokes out over the bottom edge of the book. Fold it up so it’s level with the edge of the book. To keep it out of sight, then carefully undo your folds, turn that triangle to the back, then re-do the folds so the triangle is tucked into the middle of the folds. 5 Repeat the same steps on the…

Maisie leaned her hot head against the cold window and gave a small sigh of satisfaction. On the kitchen counter were a host of buns, and the air was warm with cinnamon, brown sugar and lemon, with little flecks of dried cranberry and apricot speckled across the work surface. Outside the day was wintry, a pale grey sky, with high white clouds, and an icy wind making its way through the bare branches of the trees, but it was beautifully hushed. It had been a loud week, full of noise and hurly-burly, and Maisie planned to eat one of the buns and wander down to the river, look at the reflections in the water and then head home to a hot whiskey and more silence. But then her phone rang.…

George Washington's recipe: “One-quart cream, one-quart milk, one dozen tablespoons sugar, one-pint brandy, ½ pint rye whiskey, ½ pint Jamaica rum, ¼ pint sherry. Mix liquor first, then separate yolks and whites of 12 eggs, add sugar to beaten yolks, mix well. Add milk and cream, slowly beating. Beat whites of eggs until stiff and fold slowly into mixture. Let set in cool place for several days. Taste frequently.” Maybe it was the raw eggs in George Washington’s recipe that put off each and every 18th-century British visitor to Mount Vernon, kicking off what would become a centuries-old disgust of eggnog across the Atlantic. To all you nognaysayers, I declare: bah, humbug! The holiday season just doesn’t seem the same without at least one sip of the stuff. Brits really…

THINGS TO NOTE AND NOTICE nature spot GREY PARTRIDGES Our native grey partridge (the fancier red-legged partridges were introduced to hunt in the 17th century) can be spotted in December as it scurries between bare hedges. With their grey bodies, chestnut breasts and orange faces, they have plenty of festive appeal. You’ll often see them in pairs as they mate for life, or in small groups (known as coveys) in the middle of a field where they gather for safety. Now a Red List species, they are mostly found in central and eastern England, so look for them running along the bottoms of hedgerows or dashing across fields. They’re more commonly seen on the ground than in flight and virtually never in a pear tree, despite what you may have…

Growing up, Christmases were about me and my two sisters camping out in each other’s rooms, waking before daylight on Christmas Day, and discovering whether Santa had left a stocking. We would excitedly gather on one bed and tip out the contents, examining the mysterious parcels. We would each have several items the same shape and size, so there was an unwritten rule that these gifts needed to be unwrapped in tandem to avoid any spoilers. As chief present-buyer, my mum always stuck to a winning formula of gifts, from socks and stationery to pocket-money toys and toiletries, plus the obligatory Chocolate Orange – which never survived beyond breakfast. Christmas was a magical celebration in our family and this tradition of a bulging stocking filled with thoughtful gifts continued long…

Possibly the best part of Christmas is the anticipation, so it’s little wonder we all love the run-up. The word ‘Advent’ means ‘coming’ – it’s about planning and that period where ‘it’s still all to come’. Maybe you will get that racer bike you wished for, maybe it will snow, maybe you will hear the sound of sleigh bells. Anticipation makes wide-eyed children of us all, and never more than in December. Most of all, it’s about savouring this feeling of excitement. The Germans have a specific word for this (of course) – vorfreude, meaning ‘joy before’. So, it’s no surprise that the first cardboard advent calendars were created in Germany, when a printer called Gerhard Lang made a calendar with doors which opened to reveal a biblical picture (the…

Moving house is always stressful, but doing it just days before Christmas is not for the faint-hearted. However, when Carmel King and her family made the move from London to their new home in Stroud in 2019, just a week before Christmas Day, they were determined to start as they meant to go on. “Despite all the jobs we had to do, we hosted Christmas and it was lovely,” says Carmel. “I’ll never forget it, especially as it was the first time most of our family had seen the house, too. Having the Aga here and the fact that most of our furniture fitted helped. It’s such a lovely house to host in.” Carmel, a photographer, grew up in Bristol and always wanted to move back to the South West.…

PROUDLY HOMEMADE CLOVE-SCENTED CHRISTMAS TREES Create a scented forest to decorate your tree and home. You will need: Selection of Christmas fabric pieces Scissors Sewing machine or needle and thread Cloves Selection of old screws Small silver jingle bells String or twine Needle and matching sewing thread 1 Cut out pairs of triangles in various sizes from the fabrics. The fabric doesn’t have to be the same – it looks pretty to use two different fabrics for one tree. Cut two different triangles in half and sew different pairs together to make a pieced triangle shape. 2 Put the triangles right sides together and use a sewing machine or running stitch to sew the triangles together, leaving a gap at the bottom for the cloves and the screw. 3 Turn…

1 December 1927 saw the first film outing for which classic comedy double act? 2 What does the Met Office need to observe to declare a ‘white Christmas’? 3 A journey back to which UK town inspired Chris Rea’s song Driving Home For Christmas? 4 If you tot up all the presents in The Twelve Days of Christmas, how many are there in total? 5 16 December is the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth – which of her novels was originally called First Impressions? (answers on page 122)…

TO COOK CHRISTMAS DINNER SCIENTIFICALLY? Some of our finest minds have turned their attention to Christmas dinner… Test reactions: Swot up on ‘Maillard reactions’ between amino acids and sugars which help flavour development. University of Bristol physicist, Dr Peter Barham, says that the optimum temperature range is 140 to 200C before flavours start to tip into bitter. Get out your instruments: you’ll need a thermometer for the turkey. But also for the gravy. Professor Mark Miodownik of University College London says it should be served at 69C. Stir for 2.5 mins – so don’t forget your stopwatch. Oh, and a tape measure. John Emsley of the Royal Society of Chemistry says you need a batter rise of 10cm for Yorkshire puds. Plan ahead: Christmas puds have a long shelf life…

Serves 12-16 30g ground almonds 30g icing sugar 30g honey 4 eggs, separated 90g caster sugar ½ tsp vanilla bean paste 40g plain flour 30g cocoa powder FOR THE FILLING: 2-4 oranges, preferably unwaxed, to give 260g of orange segments 110g caster sugar 160ml orange juice 25g cornflour 50ml orange liqueur, such as Cointreau 600ml double cream FOR THE SYRUP: 50g caster sugar 100ml orange liqueur FOR THE GANACHE: 360g dark chocolate (at least 55% cocoa solids) 200g double cream 20g honey 30g unsalted butter, at room temperature Once they start to form a paste, add one of the egg whites. Transfer to a big bowl and set aside. Add the vanilla bean paste, then gradually fold in the egg yolk mixture. Keep whisking while adding the remaining 30g of caster sugar bit…