Lady Ann and Lady Abigail at Christmastide!

Gathering the Greens!

Lady Ann adding a bow to the wreath that she made.

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Before the snows, Ann went out to gather rose hips and boxwood.

Byberry Cottage, home of Susan Fenimore Cooper, the authoress of "Rural Hours", published 1850.

 

 Lady Abigail as the first flakes from the winter storm Ezekiel started coming down.

 The trim on Byberry Cottage reminds us of Lady Abigail's Christmas tussie mussie and frilly white cap!

Lady Abigail was named after Abigail (Gibbs) Swift who was my 7th great grandmother. Abigail's family was also related to Tasha Tudor. Abigail (Gibbs) Swift was the great granddaughter of Richard Warren who came on the Mayflower in 1620.

The name Abigail was passed down from Abigail (Gibbs) Swift to each generation of my family, continuing on to my great great grandfather's sister Mary Abigail (Taylor) Bassett. My great great grandfather served in the Civil War. Mary and her brother's grandfather and two great grandfathers all served in the Revolutionary war. Mary Abigail's obituary said she was "always ready to stand for the right as she saw the right with all the fortitude of her puritan ancestry." Like Tasha and myself, Mary Abigail liked to pick and arrange bouquets of wild flowers. It was reported in the paper that Mary Abigail won a prize for her wild flower bouquet! Mary Abigail lived just around the corner from Susan Fenimore Cooper, the authoress of "Rural Hours". Susan Fenimore Cooper oft' times wrote about the wild flowers.

When lit, the Advent wreath creates such lovely shadows and light on the ceiling at Corgyncombe.

The Dundee cake is brought out to be served with tea.

With the coming of Christmas, Dundee cakes are delicious at teas throughout December!

 Lady Ann mixing up a pudding. 

This book, "Little Bird Red and Little Bird Blue, A Tale of the Woods" by M. Betham Edwards, originally belonged to Susan Fenimore Cooper's niece Susie Cooper. She received it as a Christmas gift in 1863.

"Susie Cooper with a Merry Christmas"

Sparrows at the Corgyncombe bird feeder.
Feeding and watching the birds are pleasant winter activities.
The birds are always such a joy to watch and to hear!

Jenny Wren Lindenwood weaves on a Jonathan Seidel tape loom in the parlour in front of the fire.

Lady Ann loves to weave on her own loom also made by Jonathan Seidel.

 Lady Ann's trug full of boxwood and rose hips.

 I seem to have, when visiting antique shops, an ability to pick out items all previously owned by the same person. Things that I treasure, they treasured.

Those who have been reading the Corgyncombe Courant, might remember my posts telling about how I went in an antique shop and started picking out things that I loved that I found out from the owner of the shop, had belonged to a lady named Martha. I found baskets, a bird cage, doll clothes, a wooden box, a mirror in the shape of a heart, quilts and other things. The embroidered running deer quilt is one of them.

I found out that Martha lived without electric and running water! She did her cooking and baking on an old wood cook range. I had to find out more about this lady! Later I found out that Martha was a gardener, loved watching the birds, looking at stars in the night sky, dolls, genealogy, and teaching Sunday School! I wish I could have known her, as true kindred spirits are a delight to find!

Lady Ann has made Shrewsbury cakes for tea.

Lady Ann was named after my 9th great grandmother Lady Ann Borodell wife of Capt. George Denison, who lived near Mystic, Connecticut. Their daughter Margaret married James Brown, grandson of John Howland and Elizabeth (Tilley) Howland who came on the Mayflower. James and Margaret were my 8th great grandparents. We also have many other Anns in our ancestral family. 

A beautiful Tufted Titmouse in flight!

"December 19th, Long walk over the hills. We passed a cart standing in the woods, well loaded with Christmas greens, for our parish church. Pine and hemlock are the branches commonly used among us for the purpose; the hemlock, with its flexible twigs, and the grayish reverse of its foliage, produces a very pretty effect. We contributed a basket-full of ground-pine, both the erect and running kinds, with some glittering club-moss, and glossy pipsissiwa, for our share; it is not every year that we can procure these more delicate plants, as the snow is often too deep to find them."

~ "Rural Hours", published 1850,
by Susan Fenimore Cooper

The church the Coopers attended. How lovely it is in the new fallen snow!

Susan's father James Fenimore Cooper saw to the remodeling of the church in the Gothic Revival style in 1840.

The Cooper family is buried in the churchyard.

"December 25th, Christmas-day - But even under a cloudy sky, Christmas must always be a happy, cheerful day; the bright fires, the fresh and fragrant greens, the friendly gifts, and words of good-will, the "Merry Christmas" smiles on most faces one meets, give a warm glow to the day, in spite of a dull sky, and make up an humble accompaniment for the exalted associations of the festival, as it is celebrated in solemn, public worship, and kept by the hearts of believing Christians. "
~ "Rural Hours", published 1850,
by Susan Fenimore Cooper

 

Making Dundee cakes for tea is another tradition around Christmas time at Corgyncombe Cottage.
During the days before Christmas, delicious and festive Dundee cakes are enjoyed at tea time.
At the Corgyncombe Bakery I make many Dundee cakes in all different shapes and sizes.

Dundee cakes are made a month ahead of time and put in cold storage until time for St. Nicholas Tea.

'Tis now the season when we make apple, orange, lemon, and lime pomanders. After the cloves have been put in all round the fruit, it is rolled in an orris root and cinnamon mixture.  Orris root is a ground powder from the rhizomatous roots of Iris Florentina. Pomanders, with their pleasing scent, have long been a tradition at our house at Christmastide!

A receipt for Dundee Cake is in "The Tasha Tudor Cookbook".

I never add the citron nor the raisins as called for in the receipt, but add more than the called for amount of currants and in addition to the almonds in the receipt, add walnuts.

This combination makes the most delicious Dundee cake!

In her cookbook Tasha Tudor says to decorate the top of the Dundee cake with cherries and almonds. I have always decorated my Dundee cakes in a different pattern than those that I have seen Tasha illustrate. I use the cherry as the center with almonds or other nuts around the cherries forming flower-like shapes. I also use the currants to decorate the top of the Dundee cake.

Eliakim and Lydia Corgi.

I took the photograph of the chickadee several years ago, as St. Nicholas Day morn dawned snowy, sparkly white!

How lovely the light of the design shines!
I love this little lantern and how cheerfully the lantern light sparkles!

Rose Hips hanging from the mantel and an old English shepherd's staff alongside.

The sheep in the stable remind me of my own. Raising sheep has long been a tradition in my family for many generations. In addition, my direct family surnames include both Shepard/Shepherd and Angel... puts one in a Christmastide mood!

The Advent wreath from the outside looking in through the old wavy glass.

Silent Night at Corgyncombe

Our old fashioned table top Christmas tree like my Grandmum always had! The tree is surrounded by an old fashioned fence.

"December 25th, Christmas-day - It is, in good sooth, Merry Christmas! The day is bright with blessings; all its hours are beaming with good and kindly feelings, with true and holy joys."
~ "Rural Hours", published 1850,
by Susan Fenimore Cooper

Some of the photographs and some of the writings on this post are from previous Corgyncombe Courant posts that can be found here on the Corgyncombe Courant and from our web site and our previous postings elsewhere on the internet.

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