I was up early this morning to do a few things in preparation for our feasts (small) on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. No, I wasn’t making figgy pudding, but I was in the kitchen in the joy to the world spirit. It will only be Tom and I but we are actually fine with our low-key Christmas. Okay, okay, I will admit it. I would prefer to have both our children and their families all here and celebrating with us—but trying to squish them all into our little one bedroom cozy-as-can-be apartment might be a challenge. There is also the challenge of the covid pandemic, even though we are all vaccinated (if you’re not, do it—please!!!). Our extended family will be celebrating from Eastern North Carolina all the way to Phoenix, Arizona and over to the West Coast this year.
But just being the two of us did not prevent me from wanting to connect to some Christmas feasts of the past. Yesterday I made deviled eggs. Both Tom and I love deviled eggs. I even liked them growing up which is strange because I hardly liked any exotic foods growing up and yes, deviled eggs would have fallen into the exotic category for me.
My mother once told me, “If you are ever invited to bring a dish to a potluck, always take deviled eggs. It guarantees you will go home with an empty plate.” She was not wrong and I have put this to the test many times. So yesterday I pulled the deviled egg plate (and yes, yes, no matter how much you downsize you still need to keep a deviled egg plate) out of our corner cupboard. I have to make two versions—some with pickles and some without pickles. I married well but he does have some deficit characteristics—like not liking pickles in his deviled eggs. But pickles or no pickles, the deviled eggs connect me to my mom and to her mom. They both could make a mean deviled egg!
This morning I got up early to cook the bacon for the crumbles that will go in the twice-baked potatoes we will enjoy on Christmas Eve. Most people will tell you that you don’t need a recipe for twice-baked potatoes but I will tell you that I have failed twice-baked potatoes multiple times. Fortunately, my friend Mary came to the rescue and wrote it all out for me step--by-step, so now I could compete in a Bobby Flay throw down as I mimic Mary’s best ever in the world twice-baked potatoes. These potatoes connect me to Mary and other friends who have shared recipes throughout the years.
This morning I also stirred up the filling for a pumpkin pie I will bake tomorrow. My mother always baked a pumpkin pie on holidays simply because it was my Dad’s favorite. She didn’t grow up with pumpkin pie; her family baked sweet potato and chess pies, but my Dad loved pumpkin pie so there was always one or two of those for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Pumpkin pie connects me to my Dad and to my mother’s love for him. Tom recently read that pumpkin pie will be more flavorful if you mix the filling a day ahead and let it sit in the refrigerator to blend all the spices. I think he learned this from King Arthur Flour baking tips on the internet. We tried it at Thanksgiving and it was truly THE best pumpkin pie ever. So Christmas Day dinner gets a re-run of the wait-to-bake pumpkin pie.
Tomorrow Tom will commandeer the stove as the turkey bakes and he takes over the potato mashing and the gravy making. He made the cranberry sauce yesterday from a recipe we have always credited to our daughter though she claims she does an uncooked version and ours is cooked. We still always think of her when we have this cranberry sauce, plus she does live in the land of beautiful Cape Cod cranberry bogs. Tom will also make sure we have green peas, one of his two favorite vegetables in the universe. The other is green beans, in case you are wondering.
Our son and his family are traveling west for the holidays but he is an excellent cook. I can’t think of any one dish for which he is known. He doesn’t do a lot of repeats as he loves to cook and try new things. If he does a deep fried turkey one year, he will try a smoked turkey the next year. I will have to ask to see if there is any recipe from his childhood that he still cooks.
Our daughter is making a dessert for New Year’s Eve which my mother made and my brother claimed as a favorite. It consists of taking these very thin Famous chocolate wafer cookies and sandwiching them with freshly whipped cream into a “log” of sorts. I think this recipe was birthed by bridge luncheons in the 1950’s, but we were always thrilled when we saw the log chilling in the refrigerator.
When our children were small, after the gifts were unwrapped and the thrill of Santa had waned, we had the same Christmas morning breakfast every year : pancakes, real maple syrup, and country ham. Every year. Tom is a pancake chef extraordinaire. That Christmas morn breakfast never varied. I grew up on country ham (you will know I consider you a very dear friend if I ever give you a packaged slice of North Carolina country ham as a gift) but I did not discover real maple syrup (What? Log Cabin isn’t real???) until I was an adult. We still order our real maple syrup from Shelburne Farms in Vermont and are happy to be back in North Carolina where country ham is a staple not a special order.
I remember a little clear plastic gumdrop tree that sat on our table as a child. Colorful gum drops would be stuck on each branch. I have seen these little trees for sale in the Vermont Country Store catalog. I didn’t pilfer many of those gumdrops as a child as I don’t really care for those spiced gumdrop candies, but I loved the way it looked, so colorful and so festive.
One more thing….stockings. We always got an orange and some mixed nuts (in their shell) in our stockings. There were other little gifts and candy treats but the orange and the nuts were there as they connected our mother to her childhood Christmas. Oranges were a treat when she was a child. To get an entire orange was golden. Nuts did not come shelled and roasted and salted; you used the nutcracker and picks to crack and shell and enjoy at a slow pace that made it all last longer. We used to put an orange in each of our children’s stockings, too. I don’t know if either of them still carry on that tradition with their own children.
I love it that cooking and the dishes we make and those we just fondly remember link us to past generations and families. With just two of us this year, Tom and I won’t have a heavily laden or large table, but we will have a few things that connect us to our past and to our present. We are truly blessed to have an abundance of memories to enjoy.
I share these memories with you because I imagine you have your own wonderful memories of foods that bring Christmas and other holidays to your mind and heart. Even though many in my family are no longer with us, at least not on this side of the Great Beyond, and many of us have moved into much more low-keyed celebrations (and meals) or will celebrate in different places this year, it is lovely to take the time to pause and remember and to give thanks. So many blessings.
I’ll be wearing my red socks tomorrow and eating deviled eggs with pickles and finishing the evening with a slice of pumpkin pie. Who knows? Maybe Santa will even leave me an orange in my stocking!
I hope you enjoy your own delicious memories.
P.S.—And be sure to check out my blog on Tuesday, December 28 as it will be a triple delight as you get to hear from me and two of my blog-mates! I think you will enjoy our year-end reflection.
You and Tom have the same dispute we do about pickles in deviled eggs except Dwayne wants pickle relish in the deviled eggs. Pickle relish goes in everything! No pumpkin pie in our house but we will finish up the Honey Pecan pie and the Bourbon Cherry pie I got him for his birthday. There might even be some leftover for our upcoming 32nd anniversary!
Wonderful memories for all...and a great record for the family. Happy Eating!