Counting Down to Christmas

  A Pinch of Spice 

Join us as we count down to Christmas Day through the season of Advent. Drawing from traditions of Advent Calendars with cardboard opening doors, we present a short daily dose of inspiration delivered direct to your email inbox each morning. 

Additionally, this year we’re offering an optional accompanying box kit available for New Zealand subscribers. Update 15 November 2022  OUR PINCH OF SPICE KITS ARE NOW

Distinctive tastes and smells are part of our Christmas festivals and celebrations. Some of these food and decorating traditions date back centuries, and others have much more recent origins. Whether old or new to us, the smells and tastes of our own Christmas engage our senses in our celebration of the birth of Christ.

A pinch of spice goes a long way. When used as a flavour enhancer, a pinch of spice brightens up a dish or drink. The smell or taste invites us to be alert, to sit up and take notice. Intriguingly as well as alerting us, the opposite can happen, and we find some familiar spices soothing. Spices are often warming, and our physical response to the smell or taste calms us. The smell or taste of a pinch of spice, especially if it’s one we know and love, can bring us comfort and reassurance.

The Christmas story is a familiar one. In this lead up to Christmas 2022, we use a pinch of spice to help us sit up and take notice of the Christmas story in a fresh way for this season in our lives.  We also use a pinch of spice to find comfort and security in our faith in Jesus Christ, Son of God.

When the wise travellers came to visit the baby Jesus, they brought with them gifts for the one who was himself God’s gift to the world. They came from faraway places, bearing gifts and seeking to worship the Son of God. In we’ll explore what gifts we ourselves bring to the Son of God this Christmas.

It's hard to imagine today that in ancient times cinnamon and other spices were as highly prized and as valuable as gold. The journey from source to spreading across the globe, was surrounded by mystery and legend for centuries. Today these sought-after tastes and smells can be traced along trade routes across time to their point of origin.

Throughout history the quest for power and control of spices has caused wars, exploited people, changed political allegiances, hastened colonisation, increased trade both fair and dubious, inspired travel and encouraged exploration. Globalization has been centuries in the making and access to spices have had a significant part to play in this movement.

The interconnectedness of our world is evidenced in our local grocery store where we can buy most of the spices and other things included in this year’s. In celebrating these familiar tastes and smells of Christmas we pay respect to and acknowledge the plants, the land, the people, and the countries where our spices came from in the past and come from today.

2022 has been written by Caroline Bindon. DAILY COUNTING DOWN TO CHRISTMAS EMAILS

The daily emails arrive at 5am (NZT) every morning starting from Saturday 26th November and ending on Monday 26th December 2022. FORMAT OF THE DAILY EMAILS

Each day the email will follow the same format.

A pinch of spice – A couple of sentences describing the spice and how it is and has been used to celebrate Christmas in different dishes, cultures, ages, and countries.

A pinch from the Bible – One or two sentences from the Christmas story in the Bible. We foc