Hello and welcome once again to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 where 4 questions hopefully help us to blog, meet people and think about things in general. Sometimes the simplest questions can be a bit difficult to answer.
Today's topic is the countdown to Christmas.
1. What was the countdown to the holidays like for you as a child? Special projects at school.. at home.. with friends? Do you use an advent calendar?
The lead up to Christmas was always a special time. Every year our schools and our churches would prepare by rehearsing a play about the birth of Christ and also have Christmas carols. I was in our small church choir and always enjoyed the singing but I was never into acting. I remember having to play an angel once and I was so nervous for weeks on end and on the day of the performance. I didn't have the same issue in the choir because I didn't sing solo.
At home we kids didn't have much to do but we were so excited with the anticipation of eating all the wonderful baking our dear mom would make each year. In fact, when she wasn't home I'd sneak into the crock pots and try to help myself without it being noticed. Many years later mom and I had a good laugh about it as she admitted knowing what was going on, lol!
No one that I knew ever used an advent calendar and in fact I never even heard of one until well into adulthood. Now I usually send one to my niece in advance of Christmas. This year I didn't get a chance to send her an advent calendar due to our mail strike.
2. As a kid did your family stay home on the holidays or go visiting around ... what do you do now?
We always stayed home at the holidays. My mother was known for her wonderful cooking and every major holiday, including Christmas she would make so much food and people would drop by all day and into the night to eat and to visit. She loved being of service in this way.
These days I stay home because I make the dinner. Some times I host people, either family members or friends for dinner. I'd like to do it more often but my energy levels simply aren't there when it comes to most holidays.
3. What foods did Mom and Grandma make for those days? What snacks were out? What is the food situation in your home today?
In those days the usual menu for Christmas was the traditional bread stuffed turkey and all the fixings like mashed potatoes, green beans, corn niblets, tomato and lettuce salad, coleslaw with raisins, Hawaiian salad, gravy and a variety of canapés (sausages, crackers, cheeses, pickles) and a variety of snacks (nuts, chips, dips etc. Desserts were plentiful too with jellies, cakes, puddings, dessert bars, pies and ice cream. Growing up I always felt that we prepared way too much food because there was always a lot left over though people ate a lot too.
I resolved to make far less food once I started cooking myself especially since I don't have an 'open' house. I strive to. make plenty for those family members who will be at the meal and to have a bit left over for later.
4. What is Christmas dinner for you and yours? Goose? Turkey? English Roast Beef?
Christmas dinner is usually stuffed turkey because I'm very traditional that way. However I will often make something different, like ham for New Year's Dinner especially if we had turkey for Thanksgiving and Christmas and we are feeling 'turkied out', lol.
As the years go by I'm wondering how long I'll be making a holiday meal. I keep saying, I'll make a chicken instead of turkey but last Christmas and again for the most recent Thanksgiving, we had a smaller turkey instead. That way I got to stuff it because a turkey doesn't seem complete to me without stuffing. If I can find a small
turkey for Christmas dinner we will have that again this year. We also have mashed potatoes, baked Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, various types of salads, pickles, cranberry sauce, gravy and some kind of dessert. Snacks usually consist of a variety of cheeses, crackers, pickles and crudités.
