tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2807403883562053852.post5550952057454930912..comments2024-03-27T08:40:31.785-06:00Comments on Clayton Cramer.: Holiday Traditions: A Time To ShareClayton Cramerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03258083387204776812noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2807403883562053852.post-4716249965385688362010-12-27T17:07:40.493-07:002010-12-27T17:07:40.493-07:00My mother made her plum pudding from scratch, with...My mother made her plum pudding from scratch, with the fixings (currents, suet, &c.) poured into tins and boiled until solid. The pudding was then doused with brandy and served enflamed. It was satisfactory, but something I only wished to eat once a year. I never saw the point of the hard sauce. <br /><br />I suppose the appreciation of it indicates that palates were once formed differently. Julia Child, describing her upbringing in the 1920s, said that even quite well to do families like her own had rather bland diets (e.g pot roast and melba toast). My grandmother was an enthusiastic cook, but the available meals were influenced by Depression-era austerity and wartime rationing.Art Decohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05811784594425834599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2807403883562053852.post-32256377393846387692010-12-27T13:47:38.190-07:002010-12-27T13:47:38.190-07:00Our gift opening time shifted over the years. In ...Our gift opening time shifted over the years. In the earliest years of my childhood it was after church on Christmas morning (while our small town Lutheran church still did both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services). I don't remember if it was consistently before or after the meal. It morphed to 'open one gift on Christmas eve' to finally happening whenever depending on when we could all gather. My parents were wonderfully flexible in celebrating holidays once we were out of the house and had obligations to visit various in-laws and such.<br /><br />While my mom's mother was still living in her own home we had soup on Christmas Eve, oyster for her, mom, and dad, and chicken noodle for us kids. I did try the oyster broth a few times but never quite took a liking to it. I was never sure exactly where that came from. She was Swedish-American so there might be a connection to some Scandinavian tradition but her ancestors worked for the wealthy families in Galesburg IL so it might have been adopted from their Christmas customs.<br /><br />We never had stockings but as we grew up my mom made the habit of obtaining an ornament to contain a cash gift to us, our spice, and eventually the granchildren.Der Hahnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05967487071137862252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2807403883562053852.post-22804566862248176872010-12-27T08:14:15.296-07:002010-12-27T08:14:15.296-07:00We've had a variety of Christmas traditions de...We've had a variety of Christmas traditions depending on where we lived, who our friends were, and how old we were. We usually had stockings. Sometimes we opened all our presents on Christmas eve, and sometimes just one.<br /><br />In Uruguay, where most of my adolescence was spent, they shoot off fireworks at midnight on Christmas (and New Years). They get presents on the Day of the Kings (Jan 6). Some families give one present each day between Christmas and Jan 6.patrokovhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11342697173847508018noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2807403883562053852.post-30574506259816564902010-12-26T19:20:07.832-07:002010-12-26T19:20:07.832-07:00Oranges were still precious to some people much la...Oranges were still precious to some people much later than you might think.<br /><br />This is a story told by "Sgt. Mom" of the Daily Brief. She grew up in the Los Angeles exurbs in the early 1960s; there were fruiting orange and lemon trees scattered around.<br /><br />Some English children visited the area. Sgt Mom recalled one child's wonder at seeing the trees, and being invited to pick an orange if he wanted. <i>"To eat?"</i>Rich Rostromhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13262703348236110420noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2807403883562053852.post-19239691499949104072010-12-25T23:37:03.010-07:002010-12-25T23:37:03.010-07:00When I was a child, my family did a split celebrat...When I was a child, my family did a split celebration. We would open gifts from each other after dinner on Christmas Eve -- and those were the only gifts that were put under the tree in the run-up to the holiday. Then, during the night, gifts from "Santa" would magically appear and we would open those on Christmas morning. We each had a special Christmas stocking we would hang from the mantel above the fireplace, which "Santa" would fill up. We'd also put one up for the family dog, which got dog treats. (As I recall the dog was more interested in lying in front of the fire in the fireplace -- he was a wise animal.)<br /><br />The other odd tradition my family had was that we always had oysters for dinner on Christmas Eve. For many years it was a stew, then later a casserole. We never had oysters at any other time of year. I have no idea where that tradition came from, but to this day my palate thinks oysters mean Christmas.<br /><br />My wife's family did their entire celebration on Christmas morning. There was a period of a few years after we got married when we all lived in the same city, so that worked out very well. We'd spend Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas day with hers.Kyle Haighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14608497826478356055noreply@blogger.com