Christmas Traditions

[_LittleNipper]

So what Xmas traditions do you have , hold dear, etc... When I was a little boy, my parents decorated the tree after I went to be Christmas Eve. My dad would always set up a train platform. Any fond memories? Any sad memories? Any memories?

[Guest]

Having a large family, my parents would allow us to open all the gifts from other people Xmas eve, then send us to bed while they set up the Santa gifts. Much later I realized this tradition allowed my parents to sleep in on Xmas day. I have continued the tradition of sleeping in on Xmas with my family.

[_Quasimodo]

Food! My mom was an excellent cook. She is getting a little too old to do that now, so I help. I do the heavy lifting and she supervises (keeps a close eye on me).

My family is English, so she would make Christmas cake (fruit cake, the real deal, everyone loves it) and plum puddings. A big turkey, mashed potatoes (with gravy to die for), mushy peas and loads of tarts, pies and other wonderful pastries for dessert. There was always a trifle.

In later years, as the family grew and extended it became necessary to bring the ping pong table (sans net) up from the basement to seat everyone.

If I could have one Christmas wish granted, it would be to spend a few moments once again with that wonderful crowd at that wonderful dinner. So many are no longer with us.

[_Albion]

I'm surprised that your English tradition includes mashed potatoes. Most English people would serve roast potatoes with their Christmas dinner. I do think the English tradition is that Christmas is a feasting holiday where foods are served that are rarely eaten on any other day of the year.

One of the strongest memories I have as a kid took place around 1946 or 47. Christmas didn't offer much in the way of gifts or fancy things, there still being shortages and rationing from the war. The house we lived in had one coal fire in the living room. The bedrooms were icily cold...cold linoleum on the floor and often ice on the insides of the windows. One Christmas Eve my father lit a small coal fire in the bedroom fireplace so my brother and me went to bed in warmth. Christmas to me is bare feet on warm linoleum.

[_Albion]

Quasimodo, was that fruit cake really dark and covered with marzipan and frosting...and did you have silver coins in your plum pudding. The tradition in our home was that whoever got a piece of pudding with a silver coin in it received the wish that went with its placing in the mix when the pudding was prepared. Of course, my mother always made sure we got a piece with the coin.

[_Quasimodo]

Quasimodo, was that fruit cake really dark and covered with marzipan and frosting...and did you have silver coins in your plum pudding. The tradition in our home was that whoever got a piece of pudding with a silver coin in it received the wish that went with its placing in the mix when the pudding was prepared. Of course, my mother always made sure we got a piece with the coin.

Nope, the marzipan and royal icing (as hard as cement) were used on square, tiered wedding cakes in my mom's recipes. She made many of them. Christmas cake had no icing and was usually baked in a loaf pan (like bread). Both were really dark and had black treacle added, along with rum and (of course) dried fruit.

When I was very little, plum puddings came with coins wrapped in foil and baked in. We had the same tradition about the wish, but just getting a few coins was good enough for me as a kid. I don't know why, but this tradition somehow faded away in later years.

They were always served 'flambe' using a generous amount of brandy for fuel. After the fire was extinguished and portions were served, a yummy covering of hot custard was applied.

Oh, and yes potatoes roasted with the turkey along with large pieces of carrots. That's what made the gravy so good.

[_LittleNipper]

My mom would make Christmas cooky cutter sugar cookies, and allow me to set one out for Santa with a cup of coffee. I asked her once why the coffee and she only laughed and said, "Your daddy says it will help 'Santa' stay awake most of the night." I also remember her singing "Silver Bells," while she made her cookies. My grandparents would come Christmas day for turkey, candied yams, bacon stuffing, mashed potatoes/gravy and string beans. Trees were decorated with lots of leaded tinsel back then and the ornaments were mostly thin mercury glass. I still have many ornaments that are from the fifties, forties, thirties, and the twenties... Each one holds some sort of memory for me, either of someone who is now gone or a simple moment of youth long past...

[_Quasimodo]

My mom would make Christmas cooky cutter sugar cookies, and allow me to set one out for Santa with a cup of coffee. I asked her once why the coffee and she only laughed and said, "Your daddy says it will help 'Santa' stay awake most of the night." I also remember her singing "Silver Bells," while she made her cookies. My grandparents would come Christmas day for turkey, candied yams, bacon stuffing, mashed potatoes/gravy and string beans. Trees were decorated with lots of leaded tinsel back then and the ornaments were mostly thin mercury glass. I still have many ornaments that are from the fifties, forties, thirties, and the twenties... Each one holds some sort of memory for me, either of someone who is now gone or a simple moment of youth long past...

Yeah, I guess Santa might need a little caffeine after visiting every house in the world.

If you can arrange to post photos of those lovely old ornaments, it would be great.

What part of the country were you raised in, Nipper? I'm guessing the South, but I'm usually wrong about these things.

Thanks for the thread, Nipper. It's good to remember past Christmases and past loved ones.

[_Albion]

We still do the plum pudding with coins but it is difficult to get our American born grandchildren to eat it. Sadly, they been tainted and as Cosby would say are brain damaged. It leaves more for me, though.

[_Quasimodo]

We still do the plum pudding with coins but it is difficult to get our American born grandchildren to eat it. Sadly, they been tainted and as Cosby would say are brain damaged. It leaves more for me, though.

That's great. Pity the little Yanks won't eat it. Send the leftovers to me and I'll finish them off.

Do you have one of these?