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Holidays:  Old Fashioned Christmas  |
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sherone_13
True Blue Farmgirl
2460 Posts
Sherone
Evanston
WY
USA
2460 Posts |
 Posted - Nov 14 2012 : 1:09:37 PM
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What is your definition of an Old Fashioned Christmas?
To me, I am taken back to the stories that my mother told about the Christmas trees of her childhood. The tree was decorated by the family with handmade ornaments and strips of thinly cut aluminum foil. There was a train going around the bottom of the tree. There was a mirror that served as a skate pond for tiny figurines. There were few present, but lots of magic.
My father tells the story of waking up to a snowy Christmas morning with no presents under the tree. He described his delight when a large box was found on the porch, filled with toys, clothes, and food.
There are foods that I look forward to, like my Grandma's Hjortabakkles (Norwegian Deer Cookies) or Grandpa's Welsh Cakes.
An old fashioned Christmas is something different to everyone. Lots share those ideas here!
Sherone
Farmgirl Sister #1682
Thirty-One Independent Consultant
www.mythirtyone.com/233237
My Blog
www.annapearlsattic.blogspot.com
Women are angels. When someone breaks our wings, we just jump on our broomsticks and fly! We are flexible that way! |
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FebruaryViolet
True Blue Farmgirl
4810 Posts
Jonni
Elsmere
Kentucky
USA
4810 Posts |
Posted - Nov 14 2012 : 1:22:06 PM
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Well, Sherone, before I go any further, I really must have, if you're willing, a recipe for Norweigian Deer Cookies!!!!
For me, it's tough--I have a little one, so Christmas is all about the shiny new toys and baubles and things of that sort, but I try to capture the "old time" in my decorating. I use lots of the vintage ornaments and decoarations that I remember seeing at my Great Grandmother's house. Some of them I have, some I've had to buy at vintage sales, but that was one of my favorite parts of my childhood, "warming" my hands by fake cardboard fireplace with the celophane flames!
I'm really the first "cook" in the family since my Great Grandmother--my mom and my grandma were too busy to really make that effort because they were always working, and even though I work full time, food is a very important part of being with my little family, so I make special meals for them during the holidays and try to incorporate our very English and very Irish heritage into what we eat. Traditional treacles and puddings, a gingersnap recipe from 1898, yorkshire puddings, corned beef briskets and Beef Wellington decorated with holly leaves made out of puff pastry.
Since Violet is a bit older, we're going to try to do some baking together this year together! I'm so anxious for Christmas this year to get going--which is really rare for me. Think I'm catching my little one's fever!!!
"Hey, I've got nothing to do today but smile..."
The Only Living Boy in New York, Paul Simon |
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Katlady93
True Blue Farmgirl
361 Posts
Charlotte
Denmark
SC
USA
361 Posts |
Posted - Nov 14 2012 : 3:54:19 PM
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Janni
what is treacle? |
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pinokeeo
True Blue Farmgirl
559 Posts
Phyllis
Oregon
USA
559 Posts |
Posted - Nov 14 2012 : 5:38:55 PM
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I'd be interested in a good ginger snap recipe.
My idea of an old fashioned Christmas is a tree with homemade ornaments, no tinsel, and a train around the base. Presents wrapped in cloth instead of disposable paper (my folks used cloth and reused every year). And Carols and real hot cocoa on Christmas Eve.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I cannot master those things that I have not tried.
check out my artfire: http://www.artfire.com/users/PiNOKEEOs |
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texdane
Farmgirl Legend Chapter Leader Chapter Guru
4658 Posts
Nicole
Sandy Hook
CT
USA
4658 Posts |
Posted - Nov 15 2012 : 06:14:11 AM
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You summed it up in three words..."lots of magic". Beautiful.
Nicole
Farmgirl Sister #1155
KNITTER, JAM-MAKER AND MOM EXTRAORDINAIRE
Chapter Leader, Connecticut Simpler Life Sisters
Suburban Farmgirl Blogger
http://sfgblog.maryjanesfarm.org/ |
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sherone_13
True Blue Farmgirl
2460 Posts
Sherone
Evanston
WY
USA
2460 Posts |
Posted - Nov 15 2012 : 06:19:06 AM
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Upon asking my family to give their first impression on what an old fashioned Christmas is, I got the following feedback:
1. Cutting a real Christmas Tree
2. Popcorn garland
3. Sledding
4. Caramel Popcorn and fudge
Sherone
Farmgirl Sister #1682
Thirty-One Independent Consultant
www.mythirtyone.com/233237
My Blog
www.annapearlsattic.blogspot.com
Women are angels. When someone breaks our wings, we just jump on our broomsticks and fly! We are flexible that way! |
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FebruaryViolet
True Blue Farmgirl
4810 Posts
Jonni
Elsmere
Kentucky
USA
4810 Posts |
Posted - Nov 15 2012 : 06:29:01 AM
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Charlotte, treacle is the UK's version of molasses. VERY sweet, very dark and really decadent. It doesn't have the same "smell" that molasses does, which is often what turns people off of molasses. I make a treacle tart for Christmas eve supper each year.
Phyllis, I love our gingersnap recipe--it's from 1898 and the only addition I have made is that I add chopped crystallized ginger to give it even MORE ginger flavor. I'd be glad to send you the recipe if you'd like it.
Sherone, those are good answers from the family. I love cutting down the Christmas tree, but I have to be honest, the first time we did that together as husband and I wife, I had the flu (had had it for 5 days, then it turned into a severe sinus infection), I couldn't smell nor taste, it had snowed about 12 inches and was bitingly cold and we had little choice but to fit cutting the tree into the weekend before Christmas. The place we went had only 2 types of trees, one of which was entirely too expensive. We chose one (a cheaper one), he cut it down, I went inside to warm myself by the woodstove. We got home, put it in the tree stand only to find it had been growing on a hill and was thus, "slanted", and the needles on this tree were so prickly that it hurt to decorate it! I "might" do it again, but I'd find another place, for sure!!!
"Hey, I've got nothing to do today but smile..."
The Only Living Boy in New York, Paul Simon |
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Joey
True Blue Farmgirl
1868 Posts
Joey
Gulf Coast
FL
USA
1868 Posts |
Posted - Nov 15 2012 : 07:46:52 AM
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Jonni,
Thanks. I think most of us were wondering what treacle is. Sounds delicious. I'd love the gingersnap recipe too. Would you be willing to put it here? Do you have a reindeer cookie cutter that you use? About how big are the cookies?
My family says...cutting a live tree, snow, carolers, and the family being together..and cookies that they never get at any other time of year.
Well behaved women rarely make history. |
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FebruaryViolet
True Blue Farmgirl
4810 Posts
Jonni
Elsmere
Kentucky
USA
4810 Posts |
Posted - Nov 15 2012 : 08:01:07 AM
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The gingersnaps are drop cookies, Joann--tiny and crispy, about the size of a silver dollar when baked. You roll them into little balls with your palm, then drop them into cinnamon-sugar. I'd be glad to post the recipe. It never fails to get rave reviews, makes a bunch for gifts (and for eating) and I love that it harkens back to the time of my Great Grandmother's birth. Makes about 30 cookies.
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
Finely chopped crystallized ginger (to taste)
1/4 cup dark molasses
1/3 cup cinnamon sugar
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Sift the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a mixing bowl. Stir the mixture to blend evenly, and sift a second time into another bowl.
3. Place the butter into a mixing bowl and beat until creamy. Gradually beat in the white sugar. Beat in the egg, crystallized ginger and dark molasses. Sift 1/3 of the flour mixture into the shortening mixture; stir to thoroughly blend. Sift in the remaining flour mixture, and mix together until a soft dough forms. Pinch off small amounts of dough and roll into 1 inch diameter balls between your hands. Roll each ball in cinnamon sugar, and place 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet.
4. Bake in preheated oven until the tops are rounded and slightly cracked, about 10 minutes. Cool cookies on a wire rack. Store in an air tight container
"Hey, I've got nothing to do today but smile..."
The Only Living Boy in New York, Paul Simon |
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pinokeeo
True Blue Farmgirl
559 Posts
Phyllis
Oregon
USA
559 Posts |
Posted - Nov 15 2012 : 10:11:25 AM
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Oh, thank you for the recipe. I am going to add this to my baking list this year.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I cannot master those things that I have not tried.
check out my artfire: http://www.artfire.com/users/PiNOKEEOs |
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Annika
True Blue Farmgirl
5602 Posts
Annika
USA
5602 Posts |
Posted - Nov 15 2012 : 11:33:05 AM
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To me, an Old Fashioned Christmas starts in the kitchen and the kitchen is the heart of Christmas and the home. All of my Irish, Scottish, German, English and various degrees of Scandinavian family traditions are wrapped up in traditional Christmas foods. I have a literal shelf full of Christmas recipes and notes on family favorites. Christmas is a festival of scents and sounds as well as tastes and visuals. Fir and evergreens, spice and snow, vanilla and candles, wet wool and warm spiced cider, the sounds of laughter and a crackling fire, children singing carols at our local school Christmas pageants and Appalachian dulcimer and fiddle Christmas music at home. How much baking and cooking I do depends on if we're spending Christmas alone or with family but it has to include a bunch of traditional cookies and foods, which can include stollen, marzipan, fruit compotes, zimtsterne(which are little spicy star shaped cookies) pfeffernüsse (spicy peppery little round cookies) Dundee black cake( a Scottish fruit cake) Brandy butter & ginger Christmas pudding, Little Granny's Baked custard, various chutneys, home made crackers, little now-nameless almond paste Christmas cookies passed down from a century and a half ago, spiced mixed nuts, chicken pate, sweet and sour red cabbage, roasted potatoes, asparagus in lemon butter, homemade horseradish sauce, green apple mince pies, roast beef/roast pheasant/stuffed pork loin/roast turkey, shortbread, popcorn, toffee, cheeses and fruit, spiced cider and Pfefferkuchen/gingerbread! Whew! And then I spend the entire next year working off the Christmas pudge  I love the scent of spicy orange pomanders and evergreen and the way it makes my house smell. YUM! If I could add anything else to help with the old fashioned part, besides now long gone family members, it would be my grand dad's marvelous bubble lights and a big fire place to sit in front of 
Annika
Farmgirl & sister #13
http://thegimpyfarmgirl.blogspot.com/
http://pinterest.com/annikaloveshats/
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KatyDid
True Blue Farmgirl
66 Posts
Kate
Warwick
RI
USA
66 Posts |
Posted - Nov 15 2012 : 12:30:32 PM
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Annika, I agree on the kitchen being the heart of any holiday centered around family! Cooking and baking is also very important in my family and we have many recipes passed down through the generations (also including stollen, pfeffernusse, and some tasty British recipes that my grandparents picked up when living in England).
I think one of my grandmother's old cross-stitch patterns sums this idea up nicely: "Life's riches other rooms adorn, but it's in a kitchen where home is born." I love this little poem, which was on their kitchen wall. And of course the wonderful smells of cinnamon and nutmeg sank into the wood of their kitchen, so even when my grandmother and great grandmother were not actively baking, it was a real treat to visit!
I try to keep Yule as traditional as possible at my house - baking of course, and also a wreath on the door, and white candles in the windows. White lights on the tree with the quilt my mom and I made tucked underneath. Even though my husband is Jewish, he loves going to pick out and cut our tree every year! There is no substitute for a real, fresh pine smell :) It's so refreshing! FebruaryViolet - definitely try a fir or white pine tree. I don't get the blue spruce, either. The needles are too sharp and you need gloves just to hang ornaments! We usually find ours at a tree farm in Little Compton, where the farmer also sells wreaths, cookies, brownies, hot cider and cocoa in his barn. So after we find and cut the perfect tree, we always stop in to warm up and sip on something hot.
Another old-fashioned memory I have is one year at my aunt's house, she taught us the 4-part harmonies to a few different carols (using my grandmother's song books), and my family and I visited her neighbors to sing for them. Most of them did not expect it (or know what to do!), but they all seemed to really enjoy it, and it was wonderful being able to give a pleasant surprise to strangers like that.
To complete my old-fashioned memory bank, I'm hoping to be able to do one this year that I have never tried: a sleigh ride with my hubby! I have always fantasized about going along through the snow at a good clip with a heavy lap robe, cuddled up with my honey :) Unfortunately last year it didn't snow enough to use the gift certificate I had gotten, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this year!
Farmgirl Sister #4527
You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.
- Mae West |
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Bonnie Ellis
True Blue Farmgirl
2474 Posts
Bonnie
Minneapolis
Minnesota
USA
2474 Posts |
Posted - Nov 15 2012 : 8:07:04 PM
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My idea of an old fashioned Christmas starts with church on Christmas eve. The crispy air and a beautiful moon if its a clear night fills my heart with the real meaning of Christmas. On Christmas day we admire the tree and it's hand-made ornaments including cookies on the tree from a lifetime collection of wonderful cookie cutters. We slice oranges and dry them to hang on a garland entering the kitchen; the smell is delicious. You've got to read the Christmas story out of the Bible. Of course the present exchange changes with the ages of the children. Food becomes a memory no matter what the menu, especially if it smells wonderful. I get the old view master out and look at the old slides and I have old Sears and Roebuck catalogs from the 1890's and 1910 (I think I got mine from Barnes and Noble). The old folks love to look at things they used and how much they cost back then. You've got to watch those old favorite movies (It's a Wonderful Life" and Miracle on 34th St.) If we have time we go sledding or walking in the woods. I always give the animals extra food on Christmas. And the last traditional thing I can think of is sending home "care plates full of food with folks who have come a long way or for those who had to miss being there.
grandmother and orphan farmgirl |
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FieldsofThyme
Farmgirl Guide & Schoolmarm / Chapter Leader
4928 Posts
USA
4928 Posts |
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sherone_13
True Blue Farmgirl
2460 Posts
Sherone
Evanston
WY
USA
2460 Posts |
Posted - Nov 21 2012 : 07:56:55 AM
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I'm going to present a proposal to my family to have an old fashioned Christmas this year. No electric lights on the tree or house, homemade presents only, homemade food, Christmas as it might have been in the 1860's. I am planning to talk to them about it our Thanksgiving Dinner. I'll let you know the outcome.
Sherone
Farmgirl Sister #1682
Thirty-One Independent Consultant
www.mythirtyone.com/233237
My Blog
www.annapearlsattic.blogspot.com
Women are angels. When someone breaks our wings, we just jump on our broomsticks and fly! We are flexible that way! |
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KatyDid
True Blue Farmgirl
66 Posts
Kate
Warwick
RI
USA
66 Posts |
Posted - Nov 21 2012 : 08:15:54 AM
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Cool, Sherone! I bet they'll like that idea. I do the "no electric lights" thing every year for a Yule dinner that I host (well, except for the white tree lights!), just using our lanterns and candles for lighting. My mom has told me that it is "refreshing and relaxing" to just enjoy the natural lighting at night for a period of a few hours. It certainly makes family gatherings more intimate (gathering together against the dark outside), and I do feel like it makes holiday time more authentic.
Farmgirl Sister #4527
You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.
- Mae West |
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Annika
True Blue Farmgirl
5602 Posts
Annika
USA
5602 Posts |
Posted - Nov 21 2012 : 09:15:30 AM
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Sherone, we do a lot candles and try to minimize the electrical light in our house most nights here. it's so relaxing to sit together at table or in the living room with just candle light. I hope that this is something that sounds fun to your family, it sounds like it would be a wonderful experience for all of you to share! I want to try to make old fashioned molasses pulled by hand taffy like my grandma used to talk about, string popcorn, make ginger cookies to hang on the tree and generally try to get away from the plastic-y feel of modern Christmas...its challenging but really fun!
Annika
Farmgirl & sister #13
http://thegimpyfarmgirl.blogspot.com/
http://pinterest.com/annikaloveshats/
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lovinRchickens
True Blue Farmgirl
3440 Posts
Kelly
Pipe Creek
Texas
USA
3440 Posts |
Posted - Nov 21 2012 : 1:44:48 PM
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Oh I love an Old Fashion Christmas. Just using lanterns and candles just is so calming. Time spent with family making wonderful memories.
Blessings
~Kelly~ |
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Beth Jones
True Blue Farmgirl
3196 Posts
beth
tallassee
alabama
3196 Posts |
Posted - Dec 07 2012 : 05:17:59 AM
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My old time Christmas memories were here down in the deep South, we used cedar trees for Christmas trees. The limbs were not as heavy as the fir trees and such but that was what we had. By Christmas day all the ornaments would have slid off the tree and wound up on the floor. Mother always insisted on the individual strands of tinsel and she would place them on one by one. After a while she would leave my brother and I to finish it and of course we would take handfuls and throw the tinsel and let it land where it might! :( She always made a fruitcake from scratch. She would make it after Thanksgiving and pour grape juice on it till Christmas, What i would give to have one of those now. They were so good. So many sweet memories. My grandmother, 2 aunts, sister, brother, mom, and dad all lived together so it was a jumble of fun and memories. I can still smell the dressing cooking on Christmas day. Yum!! Smiles
You can never be to kind! |
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MtnGrlByTheBay
True Blue Farmgirl
171 Posts
Erin
Lexington Park
MD
USA
171 Posts |
Posted - Dec 13 2012 : 1:11:37 PM
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Reading these posts made me remember how many of us would gather aruond the piano to sing after dinner (we always blamed our foul notes on eating too much!). No one plays anymore. Sad. I miss that.
Family. Family recognizing how magical it is to be together is something that no modern lights, toys, video games or store bought pies can compete with. That's forever "Old Fashioned."
^^^I'm a RidgeRunner, and will always feel best when surrounded by the PA mountains.^^^
www.lastlapgang.com |
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sherone_13
True Blue Farmgirl
2460 Posts
Sherone
Evanston
WY
USA
2460 Posts |
Posted - Dec 14 2012 : 07:56:52 AM
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My foster Grandmother was the wife of a sheep rancher in Southwest Wyoming. She told me a story about spending one winter in a sheep camp out on Cedar Mountain near Green River, WY. She was a young bride and wanted to impress her young husband with a proper Christmas Tree. However, there is a serious lack of space in a sheep camp. Therefore, she found a tall sagebrush, cut it down and "planted" it in an old bucket near the steps going into the camp. She popped popcorn on the wood stove and strung it for a lovely garland. She used canning jar lids for the ornaments and made a star out of some old wire.
When Grandpa came in for tending the sheep, he was mighty impressed by her efforts. However, he asked her why she had put thread all over the "tree". Puzzled, she looked outside to see that the ever present Barn Swallows had picked her beautiful popcorn garland clean!
Sherone
Farmgirl Sister #1682
Thirty-One Independent Consultant
www.mythirtyone.com/233237
My Blog
www.annapearlsattic.blogspot.com
Women are angels. When someone breaks our wings, we just jump on our broomsticks and fly! We are flexible that way! |
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Katlady93
True Blue Farmgirl
361 Posts
Charlotte
Denmark
SC
USA
361 Posts |
Posted - Dec 14 2012 : 09:58:30 AM
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Sherone
thanks for sharing. i bet your Grandmother hadn't intended to feed the birds Christmas dinner, but the birds appreciated it.
Some dreams are worth the risk it takes to make them real.
Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footsteps on the moon. |
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Holidays: Old Fashioned Christmas |
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Old Fashioned Christmas
