Re: Christmas Traditions!
Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 10:56 pm
There's a cul de sac near Sugarhouse in SLC called Glen Arbor road that is also known as "Christmas Street." They've done spectacular Xmas light decorations for I think about 50 year now...possibly more. We always drove there to look at it when I was a kid (I can't find any good pics online, though).
Our family traditions included a spectacular tree with meaningful ornaments: some from England from relatives still there (given to my grandparents), some Italian ones that date from when my parents lived in North Africa (if you don't understand the Italian connection read a history book or two), and other things representing several generations in our family.
We always had ham on Christmas, because that's what my Dad got as a Christmas bonus. He also got a giant box of Bluebird Chocolates from the Bluebird in Logan every year, too. I REALLY MISS THOSE CHOCOLATES.
Also we all had fruitcake on Christmas Eve. Yeah, I know a lot of ignorant people make fun of fruit cake, but I think that's because they've never had any good fruit cake. The food writer Jeffery Steingarten is one of the few people who've extolled the virtues of a good fruitcake and that's because his wife is a jack Mormon from Utah. So yeah, Utah represent!
The family recipe I follow is a spice laden cake with currents, candied cherries and pineapple, walnuts and/or pecans. NO CITRON. And the batter includes a large amount of apricot brandy. Then after the cake is baked, it is wrapped in apricot brandy soaked cheese cloth and aged for about three weeks. Every week you unwrap it and put a fresh brandy soaked wrapping on it.
We ate it with a sharp cheddar and tiny glass of Cherry Kijafa (a danish cherry wine). Even as kids, we got a drop of the Kijafa.
Cookies and milk out for Santa, hand made stockings my Grandfather's sister ("Aunt Crystal") made for each of us kids. And not only was the milk drunk and crumbs or a half-eaten bit of cookie left, Xmas morning there were visible boot and deer tracks in the snow outside our house.
Christmas breakfast included drinking milk from Santa mugs made by a friend of my grandparents who had a ceramics hobby.
I still remember some of my best presents ever. One year I got a Kodak Brownie Fiesta camera from my uncle in California. Such an adult gift! My first camera! The smell of those tiny flash bulbs! I recently bought a completely intact Fiesta set off eBay just to smell the plastic scent of that camera. The minute I'm through typing this, I'm going to bust that camera out and inhale the memories of Christmas past...
Our family traditions included a spectacular tree with meaningful ornaments: some from England from relatives still there (given to my grandparents), some Italian ones that date from when my parents lived in North Africa (if you don't understand the Italian connection read a history book or two), and other things representing several generations in our family.
We always had ham on Christmas, because that's what my Dad got as a Christmas bonus. He also got a giant box of Bluebird Chocolates from the Bluebird in Logan every year, too. I REALLY MISS THOSE CHOCOLATES.
Also we all had fruitcake on Christmas Eve. Yeah, I know a lot of ignorant people make fun of fruit cake, but I think that's because they've never had any good fruit cake. The food writer Jeffery Steingarten is one of the few people who've extolled the virtues of a good fruitcake and that's because his wife is a jack Mormon from Utah. So yeah, Utah represent!
The family recipe I follow is a spice laden cake with currents, candied cherries and pineapple, walnuts and/or pecans. NO CITRON. And the batter includes a large amount of apricot brandy. Then after the cake is baked, it is wrapped in apricot brandy soaked cheese cloth and aged for about three weeks. Every week you unwrap it and put a fresh brandy soaked wrapping on it.
We ate it with a sharp cheddar and tiny glass of Cherry Kijafa (a danish cherry wine). Even as kids, we got a drop of the Kijafa.
Cookies and milk out for Santa, hand made stockings my Grandfather's sister ("Aunt Crystal") made for each of us kids. And not only was the milk drunk and crumbs or a half-eaten bit of cookie left, Xmas morning there were visible boot and deer tracks in the snow outside our house.
Christmas breakfast included drinking milk from Santa mugs made by a friend of my grandparents who had a ceramics hobby.
I still remember some of my best presents ever. One year I got a Kodak Brownie Fiesta camera from my uncle in California. Such an adult gift! My first camera! The smell of those tiny flash bulbs! I recently bought a completely intact Fiesta set off eBay just to smell the plastic scent of that camera. The minute I'm through typing this, I'm going to bust that camera out and inhale the memories of Christmas past...