I remember going caroling as a young girl. A group of my friends and I would gather and roam the neighborhood, ringing doorbells then singing carols to the family who answered. Of course they were home. It was just after dinner time…families were always home at dinner time.
I loved Christmas when I lived in England. Steeped in such old world traditions, carolers there literally looked as though they had just stepped from the pages of a Charles Dickens novel. Wassail is both a greeting and a drink. Traditional wassail is a complicated affair that includes eggs. This recipe is more like what we call spiced, or mulled, cider. Victorians carried a bowl of wassail out into the street and sold cupfuls for pennies. A bit of toasted bread was placed on top. Hence, the expression…”Let’s have a toast!” when you raise your glass.
Wassail, or spiced cider, or mulled wine…all conjure up Currier and Ives scenes of horse-drawn sleighs, women in capes and muffs, men in top hats, snow gently falling. Sleigh bells jingling with the rhythm of the horse’s gait. The last scene of one of my favorite movies, White Christmas, shows this very picture as they throw open wide the doors behind the stage.
I doubt we will have a white Christmas this year in West Virginia. But we WILL be having “The First Annual FixIt Family Holiday Extravaganza” on Saturday. This will consist of the WVU Basketball game, hors d’oeuvres, opening presents, and eating a big pot of chili with homemade cinnamon rolls for supper. I’m over my cold, thank you God! (Zicam is my secret weapon…reduces a two-week ordeal to three days!) I didn’t go to Colorado this year…for a number of reasons. Mainly because Mr. FixIt had hand reconstruction surgery two weeks ago and couldn’t do much of anything. He’s doing really well…thank you for your prayers. He went to get the stitches removed but it’s not quite healed up enough for that so he’ll go back next week.
What are some of your favorite family holiday traditions? I’d love to hear them! And, if you have a recipe you’d like to share, please do. ❤️
“Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you.”
1 Corinthians 11:2 ESV
Puffy Big Dutch Baby pancakes cooked in cast iron pan, dusted with powdered sugar and sprinkled with lemon juice from our tree. Opening stockings, and checking the tree branches for hidden presents. Watching the cats play with their new toys. A slender flute of champagne in front of a roaring fire. A walk over the local sea coast lake’s elevated boardwalk to marvel at the stunning scene of Mother Nature in all her simplicity. So many memories. As every widow knows, traditions change, and it’s difficult and painful work to build new ones, but we must, and it works to help fill our hearts with the Joy of the season.
❤️
Every year on Christmas Eve starting around 4 all my kids, their mates, our Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren gather for heavy horsdeuvres etc. and then they have to sing a song I write. I take the Christmas song and personalize it. Then we open gifts and just enjoy watching the young ones getting so excited. O
I love the personalized song idea, Glo! It’s all about the kids, isn’t it? ❤️