Meat

Sara's been making mince pies today and I've just done the Christmas food shop. We're getting there. If I didn't have to work until Thursday I could start enjoying myself properly :-)

In the (good?) old days, mincemeat really did contain meat:

Pyes of mutton or beif must be fyne mynced & seasoned with pepper and salte and a lytel saffron to colour it / suet or marrow a good quantitie / a lytell vynegre / pruynes / great reasons / and dates / take the fattest of the broath of powdred beefe. And if you will have paest royall / take butter and yolkes of egges & so to temper the floure to make the paest.

(from Wikipedia)