Letter 11 Elsie De Wolfe
Elsie de Wolfe
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Elsie de Wolfe was an actress, hostess and pioneering interior decorator whose name became synonymous with modern good taste. At a time when fashionable rooms were often dark, heavy and crowded, de Wolfe championed light, comfort, pale colour, mirrors, chintz, wicker and a fresher way of living indoors. A respected decorator known for her innovative, anti-Victorian interiors.
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Stir-up Sunday
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Stir-up Sunday is the last Sunday before Advent, when many families traditionally made their Christmas pudding so it could mature before Christmas Day. The name comes from the opening words of the old church collect: “Stir up…” — a phrase that slipped from prayer into the kitchen, where fruit, spice, suet, sugar and hope were folded together in a heavy bowl.
- The custom made pudding-making a family ritual. Each person might take a turn with the spoon, stirring from east to west in memory of the Magi, while small charms or coins promised luck to whoever later found them. For Isabel, the tradition would carry the warmth of an approaching Christmas — domestic, fragrant, practical and touched with superstition.
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Little Sisters of the Poor
- The Little Sisters of the Poor began with Jeanne Jugan, a French woman who devoted herself to caring for elderly people who were poor, frail or alone. The congregation describes itself as an international Roman Catholic community founded by Saint Jeanne Jugan in 1839.
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In Melbourne, the Sisters became part of the city’s charitable landscape. Darebin Libraries records that Archbishop Goold invited the French Little Sisters to Australia in 1875, and local history sources connect the order with St Joseph’s Home at Northcote, where they cared for elderly residents.
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