Are sugar plums the same as prunes? Yikes. Those would not be dancing in my head. So it is a relief that it was a general expression that referred to "almost anything sweet and round" - it was used interchangeably with the term comfit - a sweet consisting of a nut, seed or other centre coated in sugar.
It became so universal that any kind of sugar candy or bite-sized confection was a a"sugarplum".
The term expanded widely: According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a sugarplum was “something very pleasing or agreeable, esp. when given as a sop or bribe.” A similar definition pops up again in 1788, this time as a verb meaning “to reward or pacify with sweetmeats; hence, to pet, cosset.” A rich person in 18th century England was sometimes referred to as a “plum” while someone else receiving a particularly coveted appointment was considered to have a “plum job.”
The traditional Christmas Letter doesn't have such a long and splendid history. It likely started with traditional greetings at Christmas. In our current time, they are broadcasts of what is to be envied and complaints that can't be responded to.
Everyone has a step by step guide on writing these letters. Here is a step from WikiHow followed by Hallmark's guide to boasting.
We might blame Santa on the origination of family letters. Supposedly letters to Santa started out as letters from St. Nicholas. "Full of good counsels" to children.
Christmas Letters have a love/hate following. There are the many satirical versions that demonstrate all that is good and bad about Christmas letters. I enjoyed Lynne Truss' Christmas letter variations at BBC.comHERE :
It starts out with this variation:
"Somehow I don't get round to writing and printing my own Christmas newsletters. For one thing, I'm sure I could never master that wonderful breathless reporting style - or indeed imitate your enviable devil-may-care attitude to written English. Anyway, here are a few thoughts on the latest newsletter... "
This Christmas train was in Allen Gardens in Toronto a few years ago.
