“My kitchen is a mystical place, a kind of temple for me. It is a place where the surfaces seem to have significance, where the sounds and odors carry meaning that transfers from the past and bridges to the future.” ♥ Pearl Bailey
Here I am in my “temple,” making “Curried Pumpkin Pots” from my Autumn Book. I look like a mountain in Vermont in that apron, but I love it . . . I am a fall festival all by myself in my kitchen! The third best place for me after we got home. Number one, was of course, seeing my kitty; number two, we needed to go out on our walk and see how everything was doing out at the pond; and number 3, into the kitchen to nest like crazy and get ready for the holidays.
When I pull a card from my recipe box, where there are recipes from my mom, my dad, and my grandma inside, (and chocolates I saved from the QEII and a note from my girlfriend Sarah) and pick up one of my old wooden cooking spoons, I go right into that “significance,” where the “past bridges to the future.”
There’s no better time of year to feel that connection and all the traditions that come along with it, than now. And there is no better time for the nesting part of it, than when you are home (home!) from a long journey; you’re alone in your kitchen, with your birds scurrying around the feeders just outside the windows; your guy is making hammering noises outside on the rose arbor (men making hammer noises, or lawn mowing noises is an aphrodisiac to me), because right that moment you know that all is right with the world. ♣
But all is not quite right if your cutting board looks like this, not really! I promised you I would write about keeping your wooden things looking healthy, so this is the day; and here is the “before” photo! Because #1, I love my cutting boards and old spoons and #2, I really couldn’t be making beautiful fall food with dried up wooden things . . . it’s really just not done! 🙂 (I’m nesting, leave me alone.)
I’ll show you the cutting board first, because it’s basically the same method for the spoons . . . the thing that solves the problem is Mineral Oil. Because, unlike other kinds of oil, it will not go rancid. You can get it at the supermarket, or at the drug store, and keep it under your kitchen sink.
You can already see how much better the wood looks under the puddle of oil!
I use a pastry brush to paint the oil on. And since it has a wooden handle too, I soak the brush part in a bowl of hot water and dish soap when I’m done . . . no dishwasher for wooden things, it dries them out, takes all the color out of them, removes the patina of chicken soup and creamed butter and sugar, all those cookie juices you worked so hard to instill into these things. Just a quick hand washing for them is fine.
The cutting board is done; now here is the “before” picture for one of my favorite spoons . . . a spoon that knows all my cooking secrets and the inside story of every dinner party I’ve ever given. A very good girl.
And now, she is oiled. We let her sit, absorbing, while we do the others.
This takes no time at all. After they’re all done I let everything soak up the oil for a couple of hours; it will all disappear. See the “Sue” spoon in the middle? My dad made that with his own two hands. ♥ You can also find old wooden spoons, even handmade ones, sometimes in antique stores, and all they need is a good soapy washing and some mineral oil to bring them back to life, carrying all their cooking history with them, adding more “mystical” to your kitchen.
This pig board is another thing that’s been with me through thick and thin and cheese parties and sparerib servings too. I got him when I was in my early twenties and he’s followed me everywhere, from California to Martha’s Vineyard, from small apartment to New England house, through cookbook writing and Joe-meeting too. ♥
I never use wooden cutting boards for raw meat or fish, I have a plastic one for that. But every once in a while I will clean my wooden boards by sprinkling salt on them, rubbing them with lemon juice, then drying them well before I oil them.
Deep dark and delicious, that’s what they look like when they’re done. Ready to return to their spot next to the stove, ready for the holidays, ready to help bring the past, through favorite old recipes (my grandma’s Turkey Stuffing!), into the future, again, for another holiday season. ♥
Now your turn. I have a very special wooden thing that I think fits right into the realm of mystical-kitchen making, although, in the end, it will be up to you to complete the picture. It’s a starter kit, and truly one-of-a-kind, a little original piece of art in my mind . . .
Would you like to have this? I’m a big rescuer of old wooden recipe boxes. I can’t bear to leave them behind when I see them in antique stores, especially if they have some family’s collection of recipes in them. So I give them for gifts. When I found this one, it had divider cards in it and a few recipes; of course I have no idea where it came from, because like quilts, recipe boxes aren’t signed. 🙁 I made it a little more homey by writing words on the divider cards; I added my recipe for Sweet 
Potato Casserole (it’s used, as you will see; it came out of my box) . . . I also put in the words to the song Cinderella sang, a dream is a wish your heart makes, that I keep in my own box. ♥ One of you should have this box is what I think. It has plenty of extra cards in it for your own recipes. I wish I could do one for all of you, but I don’t have that many! It’s a way to say thank you for giving me such a wonderful welcome home! It’s so fun doing this blog and knowing you’re out there!!! As soon as I find out the name of the winner I will write a note on the little gift card that you see under the box, and tuck it inside. ♥
All you have to do to enter the drawing for this box is leave me a comment telling all of us about your favorite holiday tradition. Or, even just say hi, and you’re entered! You may already have a recipe box, but maybe you want to add your own recipes to this one for your daughter, son, niece or nephew. (If you’re one of the Daring Girls Club, tell your moms about this so they can enter and do it for you! :-)) And then be sure to sign the box with your name and the year. ♥ xoxo
It will fly off Martha’s Vineyard into your hands — we’ll wait a couple of days for everyone to have a chance to see this posting, then we’ll draw the winner and the wooden box will come, from my mystical kitchen to yours . . .
I have a beautiful cutting board my husband made for his grandmother when he was in high school. When she passed it was given to me…It is looking a little dry..thanks for the tips~I’m off to make it feel special again. 🙂
Yay!
Dinner for Christmas Day must always be Prime Rib with a special sauce and overnight mashed potatoes. A must at our house. Sides may vary but these 2 have to be on the table.
Well now, it’s 9:30 am and you’ve already made me hungry for Prime Rib! and sauce!
My mom always used a recipe box with family recipes passed down through the generations. When each of my children married, I made them their own recipe box with all of our family favorites hand written on “Susan Branch” recipe cards! One daughter moved away as soon as she was married, so I put family member’s photos on the index cards. The dessert index card had her little brother licking the spoon from chocolate chip cookie dough, the entree index card had her sister taking a pan of lasagna out of the oven, etc. When my married daughter used a recipe, she would see the photos and remember that we really really loved her. It took hours and lots of callouses to handwrite the recipes for them, but it was worth it!
SO worth it…a living scrapbook!
My favorite holiday tradition is pulling out the boxes of vintage decorations (day after Thanksgiving) and looking through them to decide how I will display them each year. Have a collection of the metal skier and skater figures and have fun making a winter scene with a mirror for the pond. Use the old bottle brush trees for background and also the little cardboard houses with glitter. Every year it turns out a little different.
Sounds adorable! Playtime!
We have cinnamon rolls every Christmas morning.
We have so many Holiday traditions it’s hard to choose just one! I guess my favorite, as the Mom, is when the whole family gathers at my house on Christmas Eve for winter snacks and Christmas cookies and the annual viewing of the movie “A Christmas Carol” which was my husband’s most very favorite Christmas movie!
Lovely . . . It’s Joe’s favorite too.
You’ve stirred up many warm memories of holidays past and excitement for those to come as I ready about your preparations! Like so many others this is my favorite time of year from now through the end of December. We have lots of holiday traditions, but one of my favorites is Christmas Eve. I always serve a specially marinated beef tenderloin which my daughters named “heaven meat” because my husband declared he was in heaven as he ate it. Later that night after returning from Christmas Eve mass we make chocolate fondue with fruits, pretzels and angel food cake, a sweet ending to the day! I would love to give a home to that pretty wooden recipe box. Happy nesting!
Thank you Diana!
We just returned from your beloved New England. I’m still there in my heart as we traveled to the Cape and Nantucket for a few days. I thought of you every day as we peeped in upper Mass. and drove through swirling leaves and bright sunshine. Welcome home!
Thank you! I know how you feel . . . Listening to tires slap the wet road outside my window, leaves blowing up behind the cars. . . very dark, candle-lighting kind of day!
I enjoyed the cutting board story so much, since a cutting board is on my holiday list!! ( I don’t have a wooden one!) My favorite holiday tradition is making and decorating sugar cookies. I used to do them for my kids, they’d start just sprinkling sugars, then as they got bigger, they’d frost and sprinkle, and then they’d help roll and cut when still a little bigger! They all had special aprons which they wore. Now I have grandkids and I have continued the tradition. My granddaughter who is 17 will call and say, Nana, when are we going to make cookies? And they too have their own aprons! I had some time between grandkids, but now I’ve got a new group of grandkids that enjoy my cookies, I call them “The Littles” ages 2, 4 and one on the way. It makes it all fun yet again! I too have old recipes written from friends and family members. I can look in the box of folded pieces of paper, and at a glance know who’s recipe is on that piece of folded yellow paper, or in the flowered notecard! A walk down memory lane for sure! I hate to even think of transferring them to cards! I’d treasure winning your recipe box giveaway! I so enjoy your blog! Have a blessed day.
Thank you Francine! You’ll love that wooden cutting board — instant kitchen warmer! Love the sound of your recipes!
Good morning, Susan. I just posted on my blog and then saw where you had a new post on yours. I can’t resist leaving a comment to have a chance to be a winner of your giveaway.
When I think about about what would be my favorite holiday tradition, it has to be the huge family gathering at Christmas time. My oldest sister invites everyone to her house. She decorates it to the max, and we have a BIG dinner. My parents, who are in their eighties, are there, all my sibs and their families, and with all of us it is a crowded house with plenty of talking, laughing, babies crawling around, eating, and holiday fun. We sibs usually spend a little time remembering what our childhood Christmas mornings were like and enjoy sharing the memories. It’s the only time during the year that all (or mostly all) of us can be together to catch up with each other and just have a day of family fun. Just yesterday I received the “save the date” invitation for this year which will be added to my fridge door with a magnet and each time I see it I’ll be reminded of the fun day to come.
Have a glorious October day!
Perfect Connie . . . like a movie!
Susan, thanks for sharing the mineral oil trick. I have to tell you that I absolutely love the SUE spoon that your Dad made for you. What a special kitchen item!! First of all, because it is gorgeous, and secondly, because your Dad made it for you with his own hands. I, too, have a pig cutting board, and a chicken, and a cow. Thank you for sharing! Have a wonderful day! xoxo
Hi Rosinda! Yes, The Sue spoon is the one!
One Christmas my favorite Aunt sent me a recipe box that looks like an East Coast House (a lot like your home – white with black shutters) – you open it by lifting the roof. Inside she had written out a few of her favorite recipes and some from her mother and her favorite aunt. All written in her very distinctive handwriting. What a treasure! She included some wonderful recipes including one for molasses popcorn balls which she and her siblings (one, being my dad) would make at Christmas time, wrap in cellophane, tie with a festive ribbon and give to neighbors and friends.
I loved that recipe box, but it was just cardboard and due to all the usage, just didn’t hold up. I never thought to look for a wooden one at an antique store. Might just have to do that!! Thanks for your inspiration!!
They should make wooden houses! Get the best of both worlds!
Our holiday traditions always have revolved around food! Coming from a large Italian family, holidays were very important. Christmas Eve meant the seven fishes. Imagine being a young child waking up on Christmas Eve morning to see your father cutting up an octopus!! Easter meant zuppa glace for dessert and ham and cheese pie for breakfast. Even Thanksgiving had to salute Italy with a bit of pasta! Please enter me into your contest; I’d love to win!!
Sounds like a very fun Christmas!!!
Holiday tradition? I always wanted those gorgeous needlepoint stockings that are featured in all the Christmas catalogs. And one year I saved up and ordered SEVEN for my kids, my dear husband and myself! They hold a ton of stuff and the kids always enjoyed that they could explore the stocking stuffers until grandparents arrived for the real celebration. Now with the addition of more sons and daughters that arrived with marriages, and the blessings of granchildren, our stocking number has increased to fifteen. You are never too old for a stocking! I spend all year searching for inexpensive, but very special items for each stocking from back scratchers, to wooden spoons, to special mittens and socks and tiny (but safe) toys.
Stockings are the most magical…I agree with you Maryellen!
I am 66 y young tomorrow and love following your blog! Became acquainted with you in giving my daughter-in-love your calendar every year….it is a special thing between us. It hangs in the middle of her busy family on the side of the fridge. My grand children love looking up the name of the full moon each month.
Next week we travel to Cape Cod for the first time…am excited to feel so close to what you love!
I just want it to be beautiful for you…all the church spires gleaming white, blue sky and colorful leaves!
I have my Grandma’s wooden spoon and I have some wooden spoons of my own – I once had a dog chew up one of mine! I keep my recipes in a small looseleaf binder now that has the words from the song “Heartland” from the George Strait movie “Pure Country” on the front page, and my cookbook is titled “Rita’s Recipes from the Heartland”, because I’ve lived all my life in the heartland and am a country girl at heart! And every December, my mom, sister and I would pull out the old recipes – some with butter stains on them – and bake cookies,- butterballs or Austrian “Kipful” or wine and raisin cookies, or thumbprints. My aunt, who was born in Austria like my Grandma was, used to make dozens of cookies then ship them across country to her adult kids who lived in California and New York. Yes, it’s getting on toward that time of the year again and I’m looking forward to pulling out those recipes and baking for my stepchildren and their children. Susan, I read your blog everyday – it really helps make my day better. Thanks so much for your beautiful writing and photos!
And thank you for your sweet contribution Rita . . . it just wouldn’t be the same without all of us!
Like many, I love to make holiday cookies–lots and lots–usually more than 20 varieties. I have a rule I can’t start baking until Thanksgiving is over. With a family and a job I admit sometimes in the midst of it all I feel like I’m in my own private hell–but like childbirth, each time you forget the pain. My favorite part is scouring cookbooks, magazines, my grandmother’s recipe box, and of course the internet for each year’s to-make list. I love to ‘read’ cookbooks but don’t often have the time–so it’s nice to give myself permission to luxuriate in the lure of cookbook reading with a ‘legitimate’ purpose, which I permit myself to do after Halloween. Then of course I love to make the list of who we’ll share our cookies with. I’m stingy with that sometimes–so many people I know really and truly don’t appreciate homemade goodies–so I make sure that we share our cookie bounty only with those whose eyes light up with TRUE appreciation when we deliver a freshly baked, beribboned treat during the rest of the year. I love to see your clickable cookie jar every year. So festive and cheerful!
Good Lisa! I can’t imagine someone not LOVING homemade cookies!
You are my kindred spirit, Susan Branch . . . with all those homey wooden kitcheny items that our Daddy’s made for us (spoons, cutting boards, and even a rolling pin)! And as for a favorite holiday tradition — well, when I was a little girl, one of my favorite days was when Mom would bake my FAVORITE “Moon Cookies” for Christmas (actually they are the Mexican Tea Cakes in the shape of crescent moons) . . . and I would sit in my rocking chair, smelling the baking cookies and watching the snowflakes through the dining room’s ruffled criss-cross curtains. Such a beautiful memory . . . and now those same cookies are my son’s favorite . . . and it’s just not the holiday season without making them and storing them in the pretty blue “moon cookie” tin. Those walks through memory lane are the BEST! 🙂 . . . and thank you for this blog and being the catalyst that stirs these great, great memories.
Love hearing these memories, aren’t we just so lucky!?
Absolutely blessed!!
My favorite holiday tradition is having all the family here for Thanksgiving Day. That has been the pattern through the years, and although I have only one sister, we manage to fill both the dining room and kitchen tables with “company.” Turkey and dressing happen to be my favorite meal!
Also, those wonderful Scotch Eggs in your Christmas book have become a tradition. I have altered it a bit, using ground white meat turkey which I season myself for turkey sausage. These are oft-requested for Christmas morning.
I have a cherry wooden dough bowl that needs the attention of mineral oil! That will be on my to-do list as soon as I have an unscheduled day for nesting in the kitchen.
Today I am off to sing with the chorus at a senior center downtown, right in the middle of the day. The rest of the week is devoted to baking cookies and brownies for a youth event at our church this Sunday.
It seems there is often something waiting to be stirred up in my kitchen.:-)
Have a wonderful Wednesday! xoxo
Singing and cooking sounds perfect to me.
Such a cute recipe box…Love it!! I have a piggie cutting board just like yours. I’ve had it for years and it seems that I can’t even remember where or when I got it. Thanks for the tip on oiling our wooden cutting boards. I’ll have to get myself some and use it.
Thanks for the great giveaway and I’ll keep my fingers crossed. Love old wooden boxes.
I just LOVE your blog!
hugs, Sue K
hugs back Sue!
I will be oiling my cutting boards and spoons. I have a very special cutting board my Dad made for my husband for Christmas a couple of years ago. My husband loves to cook and it is perfect. I have many recipes but they do need a good home in a nice old box. Thank you!
Thank you Clara!
Susan! I’m so glad you asked this! My favorite tradition is hanging my favorite Christmas ornament at the top portion of my tree! It was my Dad’s when he was a child and now that he has gone to live in heaven, it’s place is with me. Every time I hang the ornament I get a ball of excitement in my middle as I remember ALL the memories of my Dad and how wonderful he was! The ornament is a red 3-d star, about 3 inches all around. It always hangs at the top of my tree and I’m the person who has the honor of hanging it! One day I will pass that honor on to one of my daughters…but not yet!
Sweet DeAnna, lots of history!
Oh gosh…for untraditional southern Californians we have a lot of of them…I think we created them all to make up for the fact that we can never have a white Christmas…which I wish for every year! We used to get breakfast burritos{20-25} from Naugles {when it existed} every Christmas morning…yes, they were open! Now, one sister makes the carnitas Christmas eve {so when I get there on Christmas morn, her house smells mmm, mmm good…!} We pack that all up…comal and sticky buns included!} and haul it through the canyon to my other sister’s house where everyone gathers to open more presents. There my sisters and I whip up carnitas and eggs for all like short order cooks…while, in recent years, taking intermittent breaks to go stand by a window to relieve a hot flash! The sticky buns are a MUST! As is the “Culiver’s Corn” {hot! hot! hot! with cayenne pepper!} for Christmas dinner…{the corn has also worked its way into Thanksgiving dinner!} One year we tried to change things up…but all the grownup kids went crazy! They didn’t want up messing with all their traditions! ;}
m ^..^
We can add, but never take away!
Susan, like so many of your fans I too have favorite traditions. First I would like to share what happened last Sunday that made me think of you especially.
My husband and I went for a drive and ended up having dinner at the Steaming Tender Restaurant in Palmer, MA. The restaurant is housed in the most beautiful former train station. I was thinking that you and Joe probably came right by there numerous times….This year AMTRAK is celbrating it’s 40th anniversary and low and behold sitting there looking out the train came on by in celebration…this particular engine is touring the country. It made our dinner very special indeed.
One of the traditions that is very dear to me was handed down to me by my Mom…Red Velvet Cake with Buttercream frosting. My family looks forward to it as it is the only time of year that I make it. Our recipe is different from the others that I have seen,,we use 3 bottles of red food coloring. It is delish!
Thank you so much for the opportunity to share this in such a nice way!
Thank YOU Carol…I loved that dinner — how fun the train went by! Will have to look for that place when we go off-island again.
I look forward to your blog and check it everyday to see what’s new! I have my grown children and grand kids over on Halloween for homemade spudnuts and taco soup! We have a lot of family traditions, but this is one of their favorites! Thank you for all the fun tips … you truly are an inspiration!!
Thank you so much Addie!
I LOVE your pig cutting board! And who wouldn’t want the spoon your Dad made. One of my dear friends has her birthday in October and I love doing fall themed gifts for her. This year my husband made her a maple leaf shaped cutting board, it turned out so beautiful. I am making pumpkin cinnamon bread and apple butter to wrap up with it. I hope she likes it and treasures it forever.
How could she not LOVE it, what a wonderful gift!
The holidays wouldn’t be the same without sausage apple stuffing for Thanksgiving, and chestnut stuffing for Christmas – mmm! I love looking for old cookbooks in antique shops and second-hand stores. My very favorite one is a hardback cookbook from the 1930’s stuffed so full of handwritten cards and recipes clipped from newspapers and magazines that it was almost oval in shape and was held together with thick rubber bands! What a joy it was going through that cookbook – it even held a 1932 trolley schedule from Roanoke, VA!
Amazing, how lucky you are to have that!
My favorite holiday tradition is to make whipped shortbread on Christmas Eve. It is a recipe from my best friend so when I make them I always feel that she is near even though we are miles apart.
Very nice!
Greetings from Virginia, Susan! I loved your train trip journal/blog! Glad you made it home safe and sound, especially after that amazing nighttime boat ride! Wowza! I would have needed sedation before stepping on board!!
My mom was from Germany, arriving post WWII, and bringing with her many wonderful holiday customs and recipes! She passed ten years ago, but I still honor her by making her amazing butter cookies, using a full pound of butter and 12 egg yolks! Half the dough was rolled thin, cut out in appropriate Christmas shapes of angels, bells and trees, and then iced. The second half was used for Terrace (“terraza”) cookies, using a zig-zag edge circle cutter we cut out bottoms and tops, with one layer given a little hole or shape cut out to become the top layer, baked,filled with seedless raspberry jam, the tops sprinkled with powered sugar (before layering so the raspberry jam was pristine as it peaked out of the hole!) Being frugal, she then developed a recipe using the remaining 12 egg whites, beating them to within an inch of their life and mixing with just a teensy bit of flour, sugar and lots of wonderful ground hazelnuts folded in. They were then baked to crisp-chewy perfection! Can’t have a Christmas without these staples, and just the smell as the first batch begins to bake brings tears to my eyes!
I would love to share these recipes with my son’s almost fiance 🙂 and what better delivery system than this sweet little box! Here is to a wonderful fall!!
I grew up on a farm and there were always the morning barn chores to be done ~ no matter what ~ with 50 to 60 or more cattle to tend. We always hurried to make it into town to attend the early church services in Hungarian. I was in awe at the beauty of the service but marveled at the manger when I remembered the sights and smells of our own barn that we had just left barely an hour before. The rest of the day was with family and friends that gathered at our house. Seems like if you came from the same county or village in the “old country”, you were considered as “family” here. I called everyone aunt and uncle ~ I never quite knew who were actually my true aunts or uncles. Wonderful memories of an extended family. Simplicity…. surrounded with laughter, love and acceptance. Thank you for reminding me of that time of my life.
I bet you love it when you pass a farm and get that smell? My mom lived on a farm too when she was a little girl and loves the smell of a dairy farm!
My best holiday traditions evoke memories of both my beloved grandmothers. I make my Granmum’s stuffing for Thanksgiving and I ALWAYS make her fudge recipe (the one with Kraft marshmallow creme) at Christmas time as well. I can feel her presence in my kitchen when I do. On Christmas Eve, we (4 generations) gather at my Grandma’s house (where my father was born and still lives) and light the candles on the Christmas tree. They’re only lit for a few moments, but oh, it’s magical.
I am lucky enough to own a hand carved rolling pin that was made as a wedding gift for my great- grandmother and it will be getting your spa treatment this weekend! Thanks for the tip and Happy Fall.
Oh, and on Halloween night we always watch the Disney version of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” – narrated by Bing Crosby.
Love that rolling pin!!! Halloween sounds fun too, I remember the first time I saw that, was so scared!
I am in awe of your rolling pin! What special family history you have, treasure it!
OH! I meant to ask…I see you have one of the Bose radios on your kitchen countertop! Been thinking of investing in one. Are you happy with the quality? Also! Awesome orange prep bowl! Do you know of a source? Thanks!!
I got the bowl at LeRoux Kitchen Shop here on the island 508-693-0030 — they come in all sizes and colors, are very deep and light weight — I love them. Tell Michael and April I said hello if you call there. As for the Bose, it’s OK, not really especially wild about it, and really, it’s wide and flat and takes up too much space on the counter. But we do like the radio sometimes!
Dear Susan,
Thanks for reminding us to clean our cutting boards and get those spoons done too…I usually forget about them! My stepson (now 37) made me a great wooden recipe box when he was taking wood shop in middle school…it has four sides that he bolted together and then he burned images into it that had special meaning (a horse for when I used to ride and compete, a heart because I collect them, a teddy bear, etc.). The sides are lopsided, the bolts cover some of the images, some of the images are a little crooked but I have never traded it in for a “newer” or older box. It holds the memories of cooking celebrations over the years and recipes to try, handwritten recipes from my grandmother and my mother, as well as girlfriends from all over the globe. So, I do not wish to win your lovely wooden recipe box, but wanted to share how much mine means to me! Have a great day and welcome home for the best part of the year!
I always make the dressing that my Mom use to make. It always makes me feel like she is still here with us. I have a recipe box but it isn’t old and doesn’t have much character. Thanks for the opportunity to win yours!
If it’s got family recipes in it, it’s got character…but a little transfer to another old one couldn’t be all bad!
i have been married over 40 years and STILL have my original recipe box; all faded but still love it. Have added more boxes over the years. Some of my favorite recipe cards are from my husband’s grandmother! I was given them a few years ago from her daughter…a treasure for sure. It amazes me reading them as no exact measurements; i.e., it just says baking powder, salt, etc but no amounts! Her cooking was exemplory! I can still smell the smells from her kitchen!
I have recipes like that, how did they do it???
It’s not exactly my favorite tradition, but it’s the most meaningful–making Christmas Stollen bread every year for my Dad. His mom used to make it every year and would give out dozens of loaves each year. We’d get one at our house and Dad would just drool over it, savoring every crumb and being grateful that (unlike his brother’s house) he was the only one who loved the stuff so he got it all to himself. When Grandma died my freshman year in college (26 years ago), I stepped up and made a batch–three huge loaves. Two for dad and one for my uncle. Then I made it again the following year and was immediately sucked into a new tradition.
Because I hate baking Stollen. Unlike every other bread recipe I’ve tried it’s stubborn. It’s dense. It’s so weighted down it barely rises, and when it bakes, it tends to burn before the centers are cooked. “Stollen Day” left me in tears for years, and is still the one day a year I can say to my family, “You have to go out for the day” and they run for the hills to get as far from me and the stollen as possible.
But, my father loves the stuff as much as I hate making it. And it links him to his mother, who’s been gone too long. My uncle died a few years ago, too, so this holiday bread is one of the only links left to his childhood. And so every year I swear and pull out my mixer and curse at the oven, just because it’s all part of the Christmas Magic for my dad.
LOL, so funny, running away from you and the Stollen! I’m just laughing at the Christmas Magic! You are a good girl!
Deb, may I ask how you got your picture here by your name? I have been trying to do that and I am stumped!
Thank you!
Susan,
My mom died about 6 years ago, a woman who belonged to the mystical sisterhood of kitchen wizards! She could make anything taste so delectable!! I miss her so, but reading your blog and seeing all the yummy dishes you show us how to prepare makes me feel close to her all over again…thank you so!!
At this time of year she would have just finished canning and now be turning her sights to her recipe box to decide what candies to make for the holiday season (She gave out these candies as gifts, and boy were they wonderful!!) Seeing your recipe box brings back so many wonderful memories of her; seeing her sit at her kitchen table going through her recipes deciding on which ones to make for this years gifts and then making her grocery list based upon which recipes she decided on. (She LOVED to roam through a grocery store; it was an adventure to be experienced, not rushed through. I can see her now in my mind leaning on her cart as she strolled up and down each and every isle of the store, sometimes simply eying an item, other times actually picking something up and giving it a good examination, trying to decide if she could put it to good use or not…most of the time she would put it back but not after standing there discussing its pros and cons, lol) Sadly, I was not the one to be blessed with her treasure chest, aka recipe box, but rather a grandson who likes to cook was so blessed with the coveted box. (I did manage to copy a few of the recipes before it went out the door though!)
I called her “Mom”, but in reality she was my step-mom, but I had known her my entire life, so calling her mom was easy to do. She was a wonderful woman with an infectious laugh that filled a room. She and I shared a love of art and craft-making. When she died, I inherited her ‘crap-room’ as my Daddy called it, but which in fact was her craft room. It too smelled wonderful. I hated to see the rooms contents be boxed up as I knew the smells would never be quite the same in my own home, but I have tried to preserve them. Smells, they are the brains way of allowing us to hoard memories/treasures.
Whomever you should chose to bless with your ‘starter kit’ I am sure will put it to great use, as that is what they are for, not to just sit on a shelf an look pretty, but rather to hold the wonders that can be seen in a childs eyes and smile when they bite into a cookie, cake, pie or dish that started out as nothing more than words on a card that is stored in a recipe box…they are in fact tho’ a true Pirates Booty, lol (My mom would enjoy hearing me refer to her recipe box as a Pirates Booty, )
Susan, thank you for sharing so much of your travels with us and then to see how you prepare your ‘tools’ for the holiday baking season ahead!!
Gamma Rori >>>> hugs <<<< (Bon appetite!)
Just Beautiful Gamma Rori! Your mom sounds just wonderful, how lucky you are. Thanks for sharing her with us!
i have a tall wooden spoon that my husband made for me to stir the carmels. the recipe is from his Aunt Ag and you need a tall pot or it will boil over. the spoon is a little flat on the end so you can scrape the bottom while stirring. i’m going to oil it and my other wooden things. it will be time to make carmels again soon 🙂
thanks for all of your inspiration. glad you’re “home” again!
Me too Patti, thank you!
I too have many favorite traditions, but the one that popped into my head first was this…I raised two boys and while they were little I would make matching PJ’s to wear to the candlelight service on Christmas eve. Well, as you can imagine that only lasted a few years. But wonderful sons that they are they grew up and married great women and now we “GIRLS” buy matching PJ’s every year and wear them ALL DAY LONG on Christmas. And these wonderful girls have now given me 4 grandkids and we try to match their PJ’s to ours. Sometimes the Christmas pictures look a little crazy but it is so much fun!
Adorable. Priceless photos!!
This is not your typical family tradition, but since we got a small home on the Cape a few years ago, on Christmas Eve our family (grown children & their spouses), available relatives and friends go to the Chatham Bars Inn to see the Gingerbread Village and then head to the Chatham Squire for “last call” before a lasagne dinner at home. We still have our well-worn copies of “The Night Before Christmas” and “The Polar Express” waiting for the grandchildren to be born to re-kindle the old traditions, but in the meantime, everyone looks forward to this “new tradition.”
I love Chatham Bars Inn, how wonderful that little town all sparkling with Christmas lights must be over the holidays!
Good morning Susan, it is a rainy, cold day here in Ky and I’m sitting here with my cup of tea reading your blog and what a treat it is – thank you for sharing your love of so many things – old and new.
One of my favor Christmas traditions is doing Christmas stockings. Ever since my children were very young I have loved to come up with things to put in their stockings – each year trying to do different things so the gifts are always unique and different from the year before – I always find it fun and a challenge to come up with these gifts.
I have loved reading about other peoples traditions and what is special to them. Thank you .
Me too, I’m so in the mood after reading all of these!
We celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve and then get together Christmas morning for a big covered dish breakfast. It is a stress-free time to exhale, kickback and enjoy the holiday with friends and family.
Nice!
Thank you for your wonderful Blog and the really fun drawings! I was a late starter and didn’t fall in love with all the fun and joy of home making until I met and married my Joe a little over 20 years ago. The late start meant that someone else got dibs on the family recipe box so I sure hope I’m the lucky winner of your drawing.
My holiday tradition is making absolutely delicious pumpkin bread each year for family members and neighbors. The bread is baked in one lb. coffee cans and they look so cute standing upright after they’re packaged in cellophane and ribbon. This tradition was inspired by, and is my version of Truman Capote’s A Hoiday Memory.
Sounds original and wonderful! People must love it!
We have several traditions that we do; all have meaning to me but the one I look forward to the most is this. Sometime during the holidays my daughter and I camp out under the christmas tree. We have the tree lit and we talk and laugh and sleep there all night. It started when she was very little and would lay on the floor and look at the tree for what seemed like hours. One night we got our pillows and blankets and stayed there all night. Next year she remembered and we did it again and a tradition was born. I should say that my daughter is now 26
I always think that each year may be our last but so far we haven’t missed a year.
It is so magical lying under a lit Christmas tree…I remember doing that myself, with Dean Martin singing in the background.
I will be adding mineral oil to my shopping list today. How special to have a spoon made by your Dad with your name on it. I have an old black notebook of my grandmother’s that has many of her handwritten recipes in it and many recipes that she cut out of magazines and pasted on pages in the notebook. Looking at her recipes in her own handwriting brings back many childhood memories of family holiday gatherings at her house.
My family has several holiday traditions but I think one of our favorites is Christmas morning. We have a special breakfast casserole that I make only on Christmas morning and the table is set with Christmas dishes. After breakfast we move to the living room and open “Santa Gifts” and yes my kids are adults but we all still enjoy this part of the holiday.
That notebook sounds like a treasure!
Your blog is always so much fun to read. It usually is the first one I look for in the mornings now.
My favorite holiday tradition is playing Christmas music. I am a little embarrassed to tell you that I start playing it on November 1st. I just can’t wait any longer than that. I got a few new CDs yesterday of Christmas music and am listening to them already. Only one once a day for two more days, then I will leave it all until the 1st. If there was nothing else but the music for Christmas, I would be happy. All the songs from “The Messiah” to “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” and everything in between get many playings. I am already excited. And one more confession: last year I started playing Christmas music the last week in October.
Thank you so much for the lesson on refreshing cutting boards and wooden spoons. I am off to the drug store after breakfast for mineral oil.
Christmas Music is so cheerful! We should be able to have it on all the time, although I guess what makes it special is that we have to wait (until October!).
I love my wood spoons and cutting board to. I can relate to this post tradition is everything to a lot of us like special cooking or baking in the kitchen at certain times of year and hearing my hubby ( A.K.A ) Papa, in his wood work shop and our birds on our feeders our kitty Harley puring away in the kitchen and our dog Miggy with Papa in the shop makes everything right with my world .I love your apron its pretty. Papa has been busy with wood workings and will be making my new hand made cutting board soon. Fantastic post and photos you really have a way with words. Have a wonderful day !
You have a way with words too! Thank you!
susan-could never top gamma rori’s comment-beautiful!–i just love holiday cooking -the buying of the turkey-the smells filling the kitchen-the setting of the table–seeing the family around that table. i would love to have the recipe box but the note from you would be especially treasured!
Oh you are so sweet Sharon . . . yes, the way the house smells is really a wonderful thing!
Have always had Thanksgiving at home ever since we moved to WNC in 1981 and went out to eat, and they were out of pumpkin pie! Went home to a cold and un Thanksgiving smelling house, and I said right then that we would never do that again! Always have cheeseball and crackers, recipe from a cookbook my step sisters gave me in the early 60’s, “Saucepans and the Single Girl” (it’s a fun reading book also, two girls out on their own after college in San Francisco!
We have always had pumpkin pie also!
Love Love Love the smells of Thanksgiving and of course Christmas! I start craving fudge the day after Thanksgiving and I start packing up fall and bringing out all the Christmas decorations! Can’t wait!!!!
xoxo
No pumpkin pie would change my ways too!
Ever since I married my sweet hubby, we have celebrated Christmas Eve with my in-laws. This has been a very special tradition for me, because I was an only child, and my hubby has 2 brothers and 2 sisters. Christmas is my mother-in-love’s favorite holiday, so there is much time of food and fellowship. My mother-in-love is now 90 years old, wracked with Parkinson’s Disease which has left her unable to do anything but sit in her chair in the family room. We are hoping for one more Christmas Eve to celebrate family, faith and friends.
I’m so sorry to hear it, but she does have you!
Great primer on preserving those beautiful cutting boards and spoons. Thank you as always. And I love your apron. Not much color in CT this year and now we are having a mini-nor’eastnerner lots of leaves will come down. I have a stuffing recipe that I have been making for years – from an former boss! I always make it the night before to let the flavor go through (but of course don’t stuff the turkey) and when my daughters arrive home, the first thing they go for is the stuffing. Either just made or in a dish on top of the stove because it all didn’t fit in the bird. They like it better than the turkey! Once I retire, I plan to do a recipe scrapbook for each of them with my special holiday recipes – like my green jello for Easter! Thank you for another wonderful blog.
You are welcome, love the sound of the green J-ello for Easter!
Hi Susan,
You are so right, the kitchen is a “mystical” place, especially at this time of year. My daughter was recently married to a captain in the military. They are stationed in North Pole, Alaska. No kidding – how’s that for a holiday sounding place?
My heart is broken because this will be our first Christmas without my daughter here. You have given me a great idea. I am going to send her all of our traditional family recipes for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I would love to send them in the antique recipe box. Please enter my name for the drawing.
Thanks so much for all of the inspiration you send our way. Take care. XOXOXO Gail (from Hingham, Ma, – practically a neighbor of yours!)
Hingham, with the prettiest Main Street in America, as Eleanor Roosevelt said! What a wonderful gift that will be for your daughter!
My daughter made the ugliest angel tree-topper ever when she was in kindergarten. Of course, it has topped our tree for the last 25 years.
So looking forward to all your holiday posts. This blog always makes my day.
Thanks from a long time fan.
Gin
Thank you Gin!
I am 49 years old, and my favorite Christmas tradition is STILL eating my mom’s home-cooked Christmas dinner!!
Lucky girl!
I have so many wonderful childhood memories its hard to pick just one! However every christmas when we were kids we would always ask for one special thing! It could be the latest doll or a little sweet shop or… whatever it was times were tough my Mum & Dad didn’t have much money and every single year they would convince us they couldn’t affort it! But every year we were surprized with it (always the last gift!) And I swear I was convinced that “this year” we wouldn’t get it! I don’t know how my mum did it but wished I could! My teenage son said to me the other day “Mum you know you always surprize us at Christmas….” lol
Love those surprises!
So glad you made it home safe. A few years ago I was shopping at my local Sam’s Club and found your Home Cooking Traditions recipe book. I know I was supposed to be buying Christmas gifts for others, but I had to get it for myself. If I’d waited for someone to get it for me as a gift, chances are it would be gone. I filled it with all my favorite recipes, some from my mom who is deceased and some from my mother-in-law along with tired and true ones I’d made my own. I wanted to share these recipes with my daughter and daughter-in-law so I bought each of them one also. I put in a few family favorites and left the rest blank for them. They both loved them. I smile every time I take mine down from the cabinet to make something. It is truly a treasure in my kitchen and I have you to thank for creating it.
Sue
That is so nice to hear! Exactly what I hoped for for that book! Thank you!
Susan,
Thank you so much for taking the time to read and answer each comment. I love reading your blog and look forward to it each day. You help me to realize that “all’s right with the world”. Keep up the good work.
Sue
Thank you so much Sue, love to see you here!
My precious kitchen items are my Pyrex bowls. And I love using vintage bowls to serve food at the holidays. I love trying traditional recipes from friends and families and adding them to my traditional repertoire. My favourite new/old/traditional recipe is German Christmas Stollen.
We had someone else write in about Stollen, you should look back and see if you can find it, she could use your help! 🙂
Thank you so much for how to take care of the wooden workers in my kitchen!
I will tend to that tonight. Christmas Eve day is our day to cook and we spend the day in the kitchen preparing our Meals for Christmas Day…Breakfast casserols, Monkey bread, curried fruit, standing rib roast,twice baked potatoes, brussel sprouts,crispy salad with garlic dressing and the list goes on… always the same menu and everyone has the same jobs…the ones they have had for years. It is our favorite day starts early ends and with midnight mass. Each year the prep-crew has a new member or two… Current girl and boy friends, people needing a little Christmas cheer. The recipes are unchanged. I guess that is the best part of the Holidays for us ..the sameness of all the traditions we have kept. Gives me goose bumps looking forward to it. Lots of love.
I have goose bumps too, reading this, and everyone’s memories . . . so very wonderful!
Thanks for the mineral oil hint! We were given a beautiful wooden cutting board as a wedding gift several years ago and I had been intimidated by it since I didn’t know how to properly care for it. Since our first child will be a year and a half this Christmas we are starting new traditions. I bought an advent calendar this summer (the kind with a nativity scene, velcro characters, and little pockets at the bottom) and am looking forward to making that part of our family’s traditions. This really is the BEST time of the year!
You are going to be a great mom! I love your thoughts about traditions.
Thank you so much for sharing about caring for our wooden spoons and cutting boards! Always love not only you ideas and advice but the wonderful pictures that you share with us! One of my favorite things you shared with us may seem silly and I am sure everyone knew but me but was something you may not even realized helped me with a big problem. A big problem to me anyway. I hate drainboards. They are always in the way, they usually are not attractive or seem to fit in with my homey lovely kitchen. I tried all kinds, old, new, just did not like any of them. Then one day you posted a picture of your sink with glasses and such drying on a Beatrix Potter kitchen towel…it was perfect, beauty, fun, useful and added to the story in the room. Such a little thing but to me such perfection. I know, a little simple thing that everyone has done I’m sure. But it is the little things that always make me happiest. And yes in a quick moment I had thrown down a dishtowel, any old towel. But now I have gotten out my many beautiful old kitchen towels I have picked up here and there that have been stuffed away in drawers. And yes one is even an old Beatrix Potter! And they now have a special place by the sink to reside for all to see. For that picture that day, thank you so much!
Since Christmas Day is always so busy with gift openings and food preparing and hopefully naps in the late afternoon, my favorite Christmas tradition is on Christmas Eve. I make everyone’s favorite snack foods as I call them, Olive Martini Cheese Ball, Sausage Balls, Christmas Cookies, Cheesecake, Fudge and a pot of Beef Stew with homemade biscuits. And we all sit in front of the fire eating our favorite things and watch “It’s A Wonderful Life”. And every year no matter how old we are, or how many times we have watched it (thousnads I’m sure by now), we cry and we are thankful for our “Wonderful life”, our blessings and that we are all together.
Sorry rattled on too much…
Not long enough!
Ohhh, I loved that!!! It is a simple little thing, but it makes beauty and just makes us happy! xoxo
Hi Susan, I would love to win that recipe box~I do have an old one that I got in the 7th grade for my Home Economics class. It was during the ’70s mind you, and it is a metal box in a funky geometric pattern in orange and purple. I smile when I use it too…I have some old recipes that my Nana gave me when I was trying to fill this little box up in the 7th grade. I typed them out carefully on the recipe cards. Now I am not so careful…yours are like works of art on those recipe cards. So pretty. My mom has an old wooden recipe box sitting on her counter on MV. My grampy made it for her when she married my dad. That is the story of the recipe boxes in our family.
Good story! I have a metal one like the one you describe set aside, very 70’s, making it for my niece — she’ll love it!
One of our traditions was to take my two small kids to the “real” pumpkin patch. Where they had been grown on the vine. This was a must…….because only the “great” pumpkins with coins of money grew there. They would spend hours guessing which one of these pumpkins had surprises on the inside. We would then get home……..and while kids where told we would cut the pumpkins later when Dad was home, I would then cut Around precisely around the stem and shove silver dollars ( from our winnings in Las Vegas) and small trinkets. Then in would insert the stem back in and you could really see the cuts.
During the day my kids would tell all the neighbor kids about how the would always pick out the “Great” pumpkins with surprises inside. So that night when Dad would come home from work…..and all the kids from the neighborhood standing to see……..dad would help them cut a large around hole at the top.he would the place a fork and pull the top off with the stem in tacked…SURPRISE!!!!!! They always found a “great” pumpkins. The neighbor kids would run home and make there parents take them to a “real” pumpkin patch. Now my son has his almost two year going this weekend to pick, Bella her first “great” pumpkin .
I have all your books….yearly calendars ,and day books! Would love to have that recipe box with a handwritten card in there by you to pass on to my daughter, who just gave birth to her first baby just this pass Monday…..little Hank.
Happy new baby Susan! Hank! Darling. Love the money in the pumpkins, our family would have loved that too!
Hi Susan-
I’m the one with all the baby books for all those babies, and years ago you kindly sent me bookplates for each one 🙂 Now there are 8 (!) and each one has your baby book. That’s a lot of record-keeping 😀 But I love the books and the kids that go with them. Actually, the oldest is now an adult- time is flying, just as they say.
Would love to win the recipe box! Thanks for all you do- it always makes me smile!
~Kendra
You are a good mom . . . my mom did one for all of us, and I’m so glad she did! I have my dad’s baby book too.
Hi Susan,
One of my favorite holiday traditions is driving around the neighborhoods and looking at the light displays. We then come home to cookies and hot chocolate. Fun!!
Oh yes! Lights! Love it!
Martha’s Vineyard is my favorite place to go……my husband spent summers with his Aunt & Uncle as a kid…….love all things Vineyard, many, many meals at Black Dog Tavern, t shirts as well…..Dinner with family at our house on Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve….then on to spend the night with our grandchildren to wait for Mr C to show up!!!!!! can’t imagine not seeing the faces on Christmas morning….. Love the recipe box…
Loved that Debbie!
Susan – you are just wonderful to us ♥♥♥ I’m at work and getting ready for vacation, but my Christmas memory that pops in my mind first is early morning ~ fresh pfefferneuse, fresh German stollen, GIANT oranges from the toes of our Christmas stockings and laughing, loving, eating and praying our morning into afternoon when my aunt would come out from the “big city” (NYC) for her birthday celebration and dinner with us. LOTS of love, laughter, faith, carols, decorations, and did I mention love, love, love ♥♥♥
Happy Cooking ~ thanks for such a wonderful blog this morning!
You are welcome . . . did I mention Love? ♥♥♥ I should have!
You fill every blog with love! it truly is what makes the world go ’round ♥♥♥ and brings smiles to all our hearts! Thanks for being such a blessing to so many of us!!!
Thank you Mari!!
Susan – Thanks for this post. I am most intrigued by your onion casserole recipe! Would you share it with me? My paternal grandmother used to make a scolloped onion dish that all of us loved but none of us took the time to learn how to make ( why are we all so ignorant when we’re young?) Every time my brothers and I get together for holiday dinners, one of us always says, “remember Grammie’s scalloped onions?” They then look at me expecting me to pull it out of the air! Your recipe just might do the trick!
Thanks, also for the wooden spoon and cutting board lesson.
Karen L.
I’ll do that recipe really soon, but remind me if you see me forgetting!
Susan another wonderful blog from you–thank you —I bought some mineral oil to revive my wooden things but only used a cloth to put it on them–I can see your way is much better–good soaking is what they need!
We have so many traditions in our family that it is hard to pick one. I must say it’s our gathering of family in our home that I love the most. It’s a house full with children, grandchildren, sisters and brother-in-laws,neices and nephews and all their pets too! We are all together laughing, eating (our favorite) and sharing funny stories of the year! All the time together –it’s simply the best!
It sounds perfect!
My mother’s love still pours out of her kitchen so Christmas memories for me are surrounded by smells. Grandma’s chutney bubbling on the stove, spice cookies made in the St. Nicholas cookie mold for our stockings, Portuguese sweet bread hot from the oven graced with Our Lady’s grass from my father’s garden. (I never got to meet my grandfather, but many decades ago he brought a clump of this sweet grass from his home island of Terceira in the Azores. Spread the leaves on the hot loaf and prepare for that smell to send you to heaven for a quick little trip and back). My own children are now out in the world and I find that all good memories begin and end around the kitchen table surrounded by love and those magical smells that become the link to our past.
Beautifully said!
Susan…what a happy and nostalgic way to start the holidays with your give a way. Being able to start traditions with my own three, wonderful children has been such a light in my life. We have so many, it’s hard to choose. We have many activities like building a gingerbread house, a night when we all get together and bake holiday cookies, stories by the Christmas tree, the kids use to like to have one night where they would “sleep under the tree”, that meant gather sleeping bags and sleep (or talk all night) in the living room with the warm glow of the Christmas tree lights. I love traditions so much because, yes the activities are fun, but it’s the feeling of love and being together that fills my heart as a mother. I’ve been trying to find the word to describe the feeling I get when we’re all together and I can’t seem to find it. It feels like I’m complete, and the energy I feel really does fill my heart! I love them more and more and more as time goes on and when I had each of them, I loved them so much I thought my heart would burst then. Thanks for giving me a chance to reflect on the beauties of the season.
Thank you for the chance to hear your reflections!
My favorite tradition is our Christmas eve . Every year since our family has come from Italy we have traditional fish (meatless) dinner. Along with homemade shortbread cookies and fried dough. We have gather together no matter what through good times and bad to continue what our great grandparents started over 80 years ago. Our greatest gift is remembering the past and keeping our families memories alive.
Just wonderful!
Thanksgiving is just around the corner and we are already preparing our stomachs to eat my daughter’s all from scratch Green Bean Casserole and of course, must have sweet potato casserole along with the turkey!
Of course!
We get together every year and make our “Christmas Cakes”. They’re actually a filled spice cookie and we make anywhere between 150 and our record of 372.
The dough is made with cloves, cinnamon, and orange peel. And filled with ground almonds, minced orange peel and honey. They are fried and dipped in a dark syrup and spice bath. The house smells so wonderful!
It’s a recipe that my husband’s grandmother got from her mother-in-law and made every Christmas. She taught us how to make them almost 30 years ago and we’ve been making them ever since! I’m sure my children (adults now) and their cousins will continue the tradition for a long time to come.
Just sound wonderful! I’m a little partial to “fried” tho!
I have a pig cutting board that was a present from a boyfriend back in high school – “Piggy” has traveled with me through many moves – and continues to be one of my favorites! Have my mom’s recipe box – and my mother-in-law’s recipe box (she was 94 when she passed – lots of history in that little container!) – wouldn’t trade them for the world. Thanks for the mineral oil tip – I’ll have to get busy when I get home tonight! 🙂 Thank you for startin my day off so pleasantly – you are a ray of sunshine!
Thanks Connie!
Hi Susan,
First of all, thank you for sharing your mineral oil tips for wooden spoons and cutting boards. I never knew this :). Next let me just say that I love working in my kitchen. You are so right, it is a magical, mystical experience. I think it’s because of the energy that it is incorporated every time I make something there. I must admit, I have made some yummy food and some disappointing messes in there. I love creating new dishes there, and I always love using my favorite cookbooks. I love to collect them -(the more the better) especially yours! Finally, I wish I had a great holiday memory to share. I don’t know if there ‘s just one, and they’re always changing or evolving into something new. Some years, I’ve made breads, other years I experimented with spritz cookies. I don’t think there is a cheesecake I didn’t love. I’m still working on pies, and that will improve, I’m sure.
Thank you for the chance to reminisce a bit.
xoxo
Janet
Thank you for doing it here Janet!
Good Morning! One of our favorite family (Girls ONLY!!!) traditions is on Thanksgiving Day with my sister, sister-in-laws and neices. Each ‘girl’ brings a really nice Christmas Ornament for an exchange. Sometime we wrap them in fancy, fun-theme wrap or sometimes we have a crazy way of exchanging, swapping and/or ‘stealing’ an opened (or not) festively wrapped package. We have the turkey in the oven, hors d’oeurves on antique china and a Thanksgiving cocktail in pretty crystal. Boys are all pre-occuppied with the football game and we girls all gather in the living room all prim-and-proper like! Then the exchange happens …’ohhs! and ahhs!’ go around the room as each treasured ornament is carefully unveiled. Once every-so-often we have to ‘shooo’ a nosy male onlooker away as they wonder what all the chatting and laughing is all about. Each year we grow in size with new sister-in-laws, daughter-in-laws and now the neices who have grown up and like to participate in the ‘big girl’ game. (When they were younger, we had a separate exchange for them for their age level.) If we have the occasional out-of-town guest they get to bring an ornanent gift and ‘play’ too! It’s such fun because we all get to bring home a new Christmas heirloom to start off our decorating and enjoy for that current holiday and many more to come! So much joy during ‘The Girls ONLY Holiday Cocktail Hour! *(Sometimes the boys inch their way into the room to sneak-a-peek with offers of more appetizers or ‘freshening’ our drinks! …But no lottering around for them!!! 😉 We all look forward to it each year and get to make many years of memories with this simple way of sharing and adding to our Christmas collections.
That sounds like so much fun!!!
This tradition is a MUST for every Thanksgiving AND Christmas. It’s a recipe that came from my great-aunt (she really was more of a grandma to us, since my dad’s mom died when he was only 16). It’s called Pumpkin Squares, and is similar to pumpkin pie — the “crust” is made from yellow cake mix, then comes pumpkin pie filling, sprinkled with more of the cake mix. The whole thing is baked, cooled, and finally topped with a layer of Cool Whip… It’s to die for — no! It’s to live for!!!
Judy in CA
Yes!
I always have admired people who have had traditions during the Holidays but we seem to do things a little different every year. The one thing that is constant is that we are all together and love one another no matter what we are eating or what decor is our current favorite. The important “tradition” is being together and feeling grateful for what we have. Maybe I’ll start a tradition of keeping my favorite recipes in an old wooden box.
Thanks for always having something interesting to say and some good house-keeping tips along the way.
Sandy
Thank you Sandy, for being here!
My favorite holiday tradition has always been decorating the Christmas tree with my mom. We’re not themed-tree kind of people so it’s always exciting to unwrap each ornament to reveal all of its unique glory. We’ve had some of the ornaments since I was born and that makes Christmas even more special. My favorite ornament is a yarn rudolph ornament that opens its mouth when the corners are pressed in. It was my dad’s ornament when he was a little boy. Every year I put either nuts or a Hershey’s kiss in his mouth!
I have never owned a recipe box, but maybe that is because I am still rather young. My mom does have an “heirloom” Ziploc recipe bag though!! Ever since I can remember she has stuffed any and all recipes that she receives (even ones she never intends to use) into the freezer-sized bag. There are several old product labels with recipes on the back. The Jello and Frito Lay labels look so old fashioned compared to today’s designs. I love the bag with all of my heart and always tell her that it is a treasure. She always laughs when I say that.
We are not “themed-tree kind of people” either . . . LOL. You recognize a treasure when you see one!
I have all my Grandma’s old recipe cards in her beautiful handwriting, they would look nice in that wooden box! I even made an apron out of one, you can see it here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44075717@N08/4345977897/in/photostream/
Great idea!
Each year since I moved to San Diego 30+ years ago, I have a wine and cheese (or appetizer) tasting party for all my friends. Have used the same invitation for every party; now it is sent via e-mail. Everyone brings a bottle of wine and a “tasty” and we have a lovely evening. It’s tradition!
Traditions = the best!
Hi Susan, so glad you are home. Everyday, I traveled with you and I had a great trip! But, I missed being in your home and seeing all of the things that make me feel at home! I have a very, very old cutting board that belonged to my father-in-law who was a chef by trade. As a young bride, we spent many afternoons,evenings and mornings as he would chop, slice and reminisce. I learned to cook by watching him. I also learned so much about him by the stories he told while using it. I wish I had some of his wooden spoons to accompany my board. He has been gone for 25 years and the board was old when he had it. He was born in 1907 and traveled the world as a Navy chef. Oh, what stories this little board could tell! It bears a pretty serious burn on its side. This was made while he rested it on the stove top while he did something else and forgot it was there! This board and an old, striped sugar bowl are priceless to my husband and me. Yes, I would love to have the wooden recipe box to set on my stove. Please add my name to the hat! It’s good to know you are home. Thanks for all you do! Love, Denise Wysong
Thank you Denise, and I would also love it if that board could speak!!! And it would be even better if it could have a blog! 🙂
Ever since I was little I remember watching theThanksgiving Day Parades with my dad. He would pop in and out of our television room to watch with me as he was in charge of cooking our turkey. He loved those parades. There was always a fire in our fireplace too. The smells of the house were wonderful and our dinner was always delicious too. Our dinner room table would be set with my mom’s best china and candles. We even had a turkey centerpiece that was made from hard paper and tissue paper. The tissue paper would fan open and make up the turkey’s body. It makes me want to be little again so I can watch the parades with my dad and sit down at that beautiful table with my parents. I watch the parades now with my son. I am trying to keep the tradition of watching the parades going. Thank you Susan for the delightful blog. I just adore you and your way of making me feel all cozy inside. GOD Bless!! Love and Hugs, Tricia B.
Love the memories!
One holiday tradition is Hope College Vespers – it’s always the first weekend in December and the college choirs set the mood and tone for the season. These concerts are always sold out and people wait in lines for hours to get the tickets.
I bet it’s beautiful!!!
You are the inspiration that keeps me going Susan Branch!! Because of you my pantry is now equipped with red capped jars full of yummies – because of you my family now thinks store bought marshmallows are tacky, and now you have an adorable wooden recipe box that would be so happy in my kitchen! I adore old wooden anything – all with stories of their own, and lots of love and life still to give. Thank you for being you – you light up our lives!
Thank you so much Patricia, because of you, I have a big smile on my face!!!
I love this thought about bridges from the past to the future. It will often be on my mind when working in my kitchen. My favorite tradition is making cutout, frosted cookies. We did so as little girls with our momma. I did so with my now grown boys. All my grandmothers died young so I cherish a Watkin’s cookbook with my Grandma Nellie’s handwritten notes.
Aren’t we lucky to have these things!?
How so like you Susan, to want to give a recipe box to everyone! But, you already give us so much! I recommened your blog and your books to two friends at church because your positive energy inspires me. One afternoon I read through your past postings and I was inspired to clean and redecorate my whole house! My family holidays are nothing like they used to be, my entire extended family used to come and stay at my parents house for days. My poor Mom worked so hard cooking and preparing. My Dad was a retired army man and he really was a big kid leading all the fun. Us kids would sleep in sleeping bags in the den, there would be tons of food, games, plays, singing, dancing, nature walks, fires in the fireplace, roasting marshmallows, group book reading and so much love and adventure. I could carry on inarticulately (is that a word?) forever. I really miss those times, its everything childhood holiday memories should be. I’m so blessed to have experienced that.
Well, that’s where the magic comes from, and you still got it!
Please enter me into the recipe box giveaway. I have a metal gold medal one but have started putting my extra change in there to keep for extra things I need.
Christmas tradition is of course gingerbread cake and cookies. The house smells so wonderful while baking them.
mmmmm gingerbread! 🙂
Oh I would LOVE that dear, little wooden box with a hand-written note from YOU (best part!). At our home we have a holiday tradition at Christmas. When we put away the ornaments we always write ourselves a letter about what we expect to accomplish in the coming year and what our present life is like. The next year we open the ornament box and read out letters and see how much of it came to be. It’s still my 21 year old daughter’s favorite thing- to look over what she had written the year before and compare it to the new year.
XOXO Jacqui
Great tradition! Might have to try that one myself!
The holidays mean so much to me as they are filled with just the best of memories. My parents, brother & sister all died way too soon, but I carry on all the traditions that we had together. I think I have to say my various Christmas tree ornaments mean the most to me; I have some ‘oldies’ from my childhood along with many that were gifts over the years. I love to recall the stories that go along with each one. One year when my granddaughter was here (she was only 3 or 4), I was sharing some of the special stories with her about the oldest of the ornaments. Her reply was “grandma, you really need to buy some new ornaments”! She felt sorry for me cause they were so old!! Now she is almost 16, and she understands why they are so special. I have added mineral oil to my shopping list……thanks!! <3
She’ll be begging you for them someday!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for the tips on bringing back to life wooden spoons. I have several wooden spoons that I use, one in particular that fits my hand just right when I’m creaming butter and sugar for cookies. It is looking so dried out and ragged that I thought I would need to replace it soon. Who knew a little mineral oil would solve all my problems?
I have so many holiday traditions it’s hard to chose, but I started a new one a couple of year ago when I retired. I now make Christmas quilts as gifts for my family. Have 5 quilts completed with 5 quilt tops done. I just make lap quilts, but I want everyone I love to have one in several rooms of their home. By the way, would you consider designing some Christmas fabric? I can just picture the quilts I could make with it!!!!!!!
What wonderful gifts!! Homemade is always the best! Especially quilts. My grandma used to knit throws, which I call nap blankets. I have about six of them, total treasures to me.
ohhhh how I would love to have that special recipe box on my cookbook shelves!
My favorite holiday tradition is Christmas Eve….ever since I can remember, my family puts out what we call a shmorgasbord (did I spell that right??) of different foods. Rather than a big formal meal, we fill the kitchen table with platters of potato skins, mom’s Swedish meatballs, deviled eggs, winter fruit salad, pumpkin bread…….and we grab what we want as we prepare to attack the gifts under the tree. It’s truly one of my favorite days of the year!
That sounds like so much fun, and all those different things to eat, yum!
It is so good to see you home again, in the kitchen, making comfort food. The kitchen really is the heart of the home, after all. I have a creaky old wicker rocker in my kitchen..we call it my “Grammy rocker” …all the grand babies have been rocked in it …I had it recovered in raspberry Laura Ashley toile after my mother passed it on to me. The other day, my youngest daughter came by for the afternoon, sat in that rocker while I baked her a couple loaves of your delicious zucchini bread. (yes, still working off the huge squash;) As the aroma filled the kitchen, and I could see her melt with delight, I thought…this is like we’re getting to have our own little “Fall” party..or holiday..just the two of us. How often does that happen anymore in these hectic days….not near enough. She left, only after a good long nap on mama’s sofa, with her clean smell-good laundry and 2 loaves of the most delicious, warm-from-the-oven bread. Life is good. Would love a little wooden recipe box to fill for her, with all her “favorite things that Mom makes” …thank you for coming up with such a darling idea.
Christie
I think I want to be your daughter! 🙂
I’ve been making “memory calendars” for our three “children”~two of whom are married and have blessed us with four beautiful grandchildren~and my mother for years…they have memorable pictures from the year before on them…every year they all have to open them at the same time and then they compare and re-live all the special memories we’ve made from the year before…I still have one of your special calendars and a purse calendar every year, Susan…couldn’t live without them:-)…
That sounds like so much fun! Thank you Rae Ann!
What a dear you are, Susan…we all knew that already, but you are so sweet to reply to every single person who responds to your question about favorite Christmas traditions…
My blog is new, and maybe someday I won’t be able to do this; I thought I better strike while the iron is hot, because I want everyone to know how much I appreciate their comments! It’s the comments that make it so much fun for me! Thank you Rae Ann!!
Welcome Back Home, Susie! We miss you in Cali, but I’m so glad you were here for the wonderful and amazing Remnants of the Past Antique Show!! It was lovely to see you! Happy Happy Fall~
Thank you Cindy!
I have just added mineral oil to my shopping list to revive a cutting board and rolling pin that was given to me by my late husband. He made the cutting board after we married, but he had the rolling pin made for me before we married. He knew that I loved to cook.
Our holiday traditions have changed since my husband died three years ago. He loved to make pecan pies for Thanksgiving and Christmas meals. His pies were the best. This year our only son, who is 22, has asked to learn to make his dad’s pies, so he will receive his dad’s handwritten recipes on the day before Thanksgiving so he can make the pies for the holidays (with a little help from Mom). Nice to see that he wants the tradition to continue. I have started writting his favorite recipes onto cards and I have asked his grandmothers and aunts to contribute some of their recipes. All of these cards are for Christmas, so your recipe box would make a great place for these cards for my son. When he finishes his master’s degree and starts life on his own, he will have recipes from all of the women in our family.
Beautiful thought! So sorry about your husband . . .
Thank you for sharing on how to rejuvenate wooden cutting boards. After my dad passed away last January, I found an amazing big, wooden cutting board out in the garage that he had made long ago. He was an excellent carpenter, and this made it all the more special. It is old and dark looking, and I had set it aside trying to find out how to get it’s luster and beauty back. I will pick up some Mineral Oil, and tackle it! I will take before and after pictures and show you later….Great tips!!
Thanks so much Sue! ♥♥♥
You’re so welcome Bonnie!
Our favorite holiday tradition for Christmas is a Cajun-style crab boil. We boil together crab legs, shrimp, sausage, potatoes, and corn on the cob with spicy seasonings. At just the right time it is drained and dumped on long tables covered with white butcher paper…everyone DIGS IN! Clean-up is a breeze…just roll everything up and toss in trash. YAY!
Yum! Love the clean-up!
One of our favorite Christmas traditions is attending the Christmas Eve service at the 138-year old wooden church down the road. Lighted candles in the windows and glowing kerosene lamps lining the sidewalk greet worshipers at Pleasant Grove Church. After the service closes with the singing of “Silent Night” and the lighting of individual candles in the dark sanctuary, the congregation shares holiday treats in the basement with coffee and punch, even though there is no running water in the building. It is a warm, cozy, meaningful celebration of the true meaning of Christmas!
Just love the thought of all that tradition.
Favorite traditon..cookie bake with cousin..we grew up together..her house on one side of our grandparents..my house on the other..invariably we would start baking cookies and start a flour fight!! What fun!! We now do it with the daughters and grandkids..U should have seen their faces the first time we did it with the kids!!..we laughed till we cried!! A memory no one forgets!!
Sounds just wonderful! I bet the photos are keepers!