Continuing the Food Theme

Food during the holidays is a big thing for my family. A really BIG thing. We always have a billion different dishes for our holiday dinners and I always thought that that was pretty much normal, until I met my dear husband, Ben. His family does not really emphasize food during Christmas and Thanksgiving, which is something I will need to get used to. I mean, we are talking two different ends of the spectrum on the food menu thing. My family would use an excel spreadsheet to coordinate their holiday dishes, while Ben’s family sometimes didn’t even cook anything special on Christmas Eve or Day when he was growing up.

I informed Ben that Christmas without the dinner is not really Christmas. In fact, it is pretty much just a birthday, well, without cake. Like I said, pretty different. Of course, this piece of information is something Ben forgot to tell me before we got married. Not that our eternal marriage would have hinged on something like that, I’m just saying, it would have been nice to take into consideration. He has also failed to mention this detail during the last couple Christmases he has spent with my family. He actually mentioned very little about his family’s Christmas celebration besides the fact that they read Luke 2 on Christmas Eve. It wasn’t until our sister-in-law called a few days ago to tell me about their Christmas traditions (thank goodness she realized that I might need some prepping) that I found out they did things differently. I’ve been trying to prepare myself mentally for the change. Tonight we had our ward Christmas party and I made sure to eat plenty of turkey, ham, green bean casserole, and ham. I’m not sure if it will hold me over until next holiday season, but here’s to hoping. If not, we will just have to have Christmas dinner on Ben’s birthday.

In all seriousness, this will be my first Christmas away from my family and I’m a little sad, but I’m also excited to see Ben’s family and experience Christmas with them in Minnesota.

Advent Calendar Day 17: Christmas Dinner in Warren County

We have always had a really wonderful spread of food during the holidays. My mom would spend quite some time coordinating all the dishes. Calls would be made and items assigned. We usually have at least two turkeys, one ham and about a dozen side dishes (not including desserts) for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. It has been this way for as long as I can remember, and it seems that this abundance of food hearkens back to when my grandmother was a child.

My grandmother who grew up in a small town called Cedars in Warren County outside of Vicksburg, Mississippi shared with me her memories of food during the holidays. Christmas revolved around the big dinner and treats. The children would spend the day going from one house to another acquiring yummy desserts. Children would rush to my grandmother’s house where her aunt Eliza Winston would give away coveted pecan popcorn balls along with apples and oranges. My grandma would spend her time collecting goodies and would save a special portion of her day to go with her cousin Sunny to visit their cousin Amy. Cousin Amy loved to have the kids over and would lay out a white tablecloth and serve pie while the kids sang Christmas carols to her. After they visited all the neighbors they would go back home for a real feast, although I am unsure how they could possibly have room for any more food after all of those desserts.

Throughout the day Aunt Eliza cooked up a storm to ensure that they had a variety of food and treats. The preparations started a few months in advance when they slaughtered two hogs. Her Uncle would smoke the ham in their smokehouse. They would give away the meat of one hog to several families and keep the other for holiday feasts. Another interesting tidbit about their Christmas dinner is they would eat chicken instead of turkey. They had their own chickens that were big and fat. They would kill two chickens and stuff them for dinner. Along with the meat, they had an assortment of collards and plenty of desserts. They ate coconut, chocolate, and jelly cake. Each cake consisted of at least 3 layers. Sweet potato, pumpkin, lemon, peach, and apple are a few of the different types of pies prepared for Christmas dinner. They even had all sorts of roasted nuts. Aunt Eliza made her Fruitcake soaked in brandy the month before so that it would be ready in time for Christmas. My grandma is especially fond of the different candy they ate, Her favorite was a

sweet candy that she fondly remembers as a strip of fat, which sounds gross to me, but she explained that she called it that because the different colors made it look like fat. The candy is rather sweet in reality.

My Grandmother and her family didn’t have a lot of the material things but they certainly always had plenty of food.