Friday, December 23, 2011

An advent calendar of sorts Day 23. (Also a FFF55)

Dad coughed and sat back with a worried look.
He enjoyed the turkey, perfectly roasted and surrounded with beautifully browned potatoes, parsnips, sausages, cranberry sauce and herby stuffing.
Then came the dreamy pudding, with brandied flames and a choice of rum butter or cream.
But nobody warned him about the sixpence – and he’d swallowed it!

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It was an old tradition to put a silver threepenny piece in a Christmas pudding, and whoever found it was supposed to have good luck throughout the coming year.  When silver 3d were discontinued the tradition went on using a sixpenny piece. You can still buy them (even though they aren't legal tender any more) to put in your pudding if you want to.

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This post is part of my advent calendar but also for The G-Man for his weekly 55 word challenge.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Yikes! How big is a sixpence and what is it made out of? Hope dad doesn't get lead poisoning or choke! Enjoyed reading and learning about an old tradition. Have a very merry Christmas!

Akelamalu said...

Ooops poor Dad, hope he didn't choke!

anthonynorth said...

Ah, the old Tanner - many coughed up in the spirit of Christmas :-)

House of Bears said...

I never knew you could still buy sixpences. I made my own pudding for years but haven't for the past couple. Maybe next year.

Brian Miller said...

yikes...i wonder how many lives that took...haha...a sixpence...how big is that...i need to google it

G-Man said...

I thought you were supposed to warn the eaters that they have a coin in the piece?
Loved your festive 55 AJ
Thanks for playing, and have a Kick Ass Holiday
Merry Christmas