The Odd Christmas Idea Thread Our Daily Dinner

The ODD Christmas Idea Thread

notyourmomma 9 years ago
Okay, just saw a cute idea that may have to wait til next year, but I thought I would share for the foodies in ODD.

We have all heard of a cookie exchange where multiples of one cookie is shared with as many as a dozen other bakers...what about a homemade treat basket exchange?

Make multiple jars of your favorite rub, bbq sauce, jelly/jam, whatever is your specialty and arrive at the party with a big basket of your packaged item. The other guests make their special goods and then each of you exchange items and fill the baskets with a representative goodie. And if you are not a cook, you can get beautiful fruit or flowers to add to the basket as a cheery accompaniement. I saw DeMaris from Southern at Heart do this exchange with her family, their market baskets held, Kentucky bourbon steak sauce, flavored oils, homemade chocolate fudge, big oranges, homemade vanilla extract, homemade cornbread croutons, hot pepper jelly, bacon jam, cookie mix in mason jars, soup mix in mason jars etc. Wouldn't that be a fun exchange? And they stayed to have supper after the food swap.

So, the cookie plan is as follows:
Crunchy Peanut Butter Chocolate Cereal cookies
Coffee Cake cookies with struesel, super easy from ready made Pillsbury sugar cookies
Ginger Sparkles
Cranberry Orange Tea Cookies (make the dough,keep in a slice and bake roll for fresh cookies all season)
Red Velvet Crinkle cookies (oh no, no buttermilk in the house, will the buttermilk police let me sub soured milk?)
Salted mixed nut bars
Glazed lemon Sugar Cookies
Grandma Plaza's Poppyseed and Apricot Jam Kolache cookies
Finally a 13 x 9 Honeyroll cake. As seen at the St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church social. I've been wanting to make it for 3 months. Lois finally coughed up the recipe.

Now, Christmas at our house has some traditions and we tend to veer off into tangents quite often. Since this will be my last Christmas in this home, I want to make it memorable.
Ideally:
We have our Christmas Eve Midnight Candlelight Service at the Community Church. I would like to make a Polish supper (which is supposed to be meatless, but Fred prefers meat) of sauerkraut soup, pierogis, fried sausages, mustard and brown bread. After service, come home to a dessert of Christmas cookies and rum cake and champagne. Sister and family invited, Scotty as well. Last year, Olivia and I went to a feast of the seven fishes and drove around downtown admiring the sparkly lights. Nice but I want family this year.

Since we don't have little children jumping to open presents, we sleep in late and have a leisurely breakfast of sausage gravy and biscuits, eggs benedict for a crowd, fruit salad with my sister at her house.

Christmas day supper is under discussion. We don't usually do another turkey (although I have three in the freezer AGAIN). We would have to rob a bank to afford a prime rib, but I would love to make one. Allison usually makes London Broil but her daughter is having oral surgery two days before Christmas and I don't think she will be chewing after a bone graft and implant. We might just go out to a movie and find a Chinese restaurant. LOL

So what traditions must be honored at your house?
Do you set out cookies and milk for Santa, carrots for the reindeer?
What dishes are the must-haves for the table?

Merry Merry Christmas!
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notyourmomma 9 years ago said:

Fred is having a fit......"What on earth are you making?" Christmas Goodies. Now sing with me.
TWELVE paws a circling, sniffing noses in the air,
ELEVEN hours of baking, "What am I thinking?"
TEN gift tins awaiting, food to be shared,
NINE kinds of cookies, citrus, ginger, nutty
EIGHT pounds of batter,
SEVEN sticks of butter,
SIX kinds of chips and nuts,
FIVE cups of sugar
FOUR bowls of flour
THREE Cookie sheets
TWO Cake pans and
ONE preheated oven..........
AND a Merry Christmas to all of you. LOL

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chuckieb 9 years ago said:

Nice thread Tina! The treat basket exchange is a very fun idea. Im afriad I don't know enough people that like to cook to organize such a thing. What's a Honeyroll cake? I love hearing what other people bake for the Holidays. Everyone has their own traditions and customs and it's very interesting to hear about. The Candlelight Christmas Eve Service sounds really lovely. I'm afraid I'm in my jammies waaaaaayyyyy before midnight and infact I'm all curled up snoozing by that point. I adore your Polish sauerkraut soup. Might need to bump that up on the short list! Perogies, sausages, yep....I'm there! Yum on sweets and Champagne after. When Jim and I were first married we used to walk around the neighbourhoods to look at the lights on everyone's homes. It was a lot of fun. I also used to try make a fancy breakfast for Christmas morning and I probably could this year although we'll see if I feel so inclined.
Jim's cousin has invited us for Christmas dinner at their home in Montreal this year. Will be super weird as we've had Christmas dinner at home for probably almost the last 30 years. :) But with no Benjamin around we are foot loose and fancy free and they have two girls ages 7 & 9 which will be a lot of fun. Montreal is only an hour and a half away. We'll open presents at home in the morning and then head out around noon maybe. Get a nice lunch somewhere along the way? Maybe? We'll stay a couple of nights and then we've been asked to join New Year's Festivities up in the Niagara region with Jim's brother and family.
Somewhere along the way I will make us a Christmas dinner, traditional turkey fare, just so we get all of our cravings met.
I LOVE to bake. But with Benj gone and Jim not a sweets fan I really don't know what to do. I could bring friends some but they only want so much too, watching their diet, etc.
I guess a huge Prime Rib would cost a fortune but we can pick one up that would feed four people for around $20 - $30 I think. Perhaps not as good quality as what you're after, but......nummy. :)
Obviously I used to set out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer but the last few years I've made a point to buy some apples and special seeds and nuts for my wildlife friends. I give the birds some gourmet fare and cut up the apples and such for the deer. So cute to see them chew them up with obvious pleasure.
We were talking about special treats and snacks to have on hand over the Holiday season. Our main candy treats that are tradition is a Terry's Chocolate Orange, Poppycock, a box of Turtles and then either Ovation Mint sticks or the thin mint wafer things. I usually always serve up a shrimp ring and cocktail sauce.
We usually open one present Christmas Eve.
Gonna pull out my Christmas CD's tomorrow. Meant to get the tree up today but it didn't happen. :)

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chuckieb 9 years ago said:

Sauerkraut Souppolish Style

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MissouriFarmWife 9 years ago said:

Such a cool thread. Great idea for a basket sharing! If I knew enough people who would be interested I would make wine jelly (two kinds),and Blender Ketchup to share. Your Christmas plans sound wonderful, Tina.

Christmas eve candlelight service is at 7:30 P.M. because many of the members are in their 70s and 80s and really don’t like staying out that late, although I prefer the midnight church service. The nicest one we ever went to was in Rohr, Germany, where we went to a little German church and it was so cool to sing Silent Night in German. The pastor spoke excellent English and I could stumble thru a little preschool level German, so we managed quite well.

This year we continue the tradition - daughter and family come up on Christmas Day. Family opens presents then. It is the first family gathering in the sun room. I usually fix a cured ham, but this year we are being gifted with a ham from a 200 lb. wild boar. The meat is quite strong and the taste is probably affected by the abundance of acorns around. So I will have to read up on it and probably use a pineapple / brown sugar topping or marinade it in something to tone down the taste. I am a bit doubtful - traumatized - shaking in my boots - but will have another meat dish just in case it is not edible - LOLOL. Probably lasagna or a beef roast or ???? whatever I decide between now and then. Mashed potatoes, rolls, cranberry sauce, steamed broccoli, for youngest GS, green beans and bacon, spinach salad with craisins and either feta cheese or almonds, pumpkin and maybe cherry pies, cheesecake with homemade topping (eldest GS and I love it, no one else will eat it, I can send some home with him!). This year for the first time, I am serving a nice table wine with it (and cider or apple juice for under age GS!)

Janet, you have a very busy Christmas planned. It sounds like you will have a great time with the kids! Enjoy.

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notyourmomma 9 years ago said:

I love the idea of a glazed ham, however I have a child who is an avowed ham hater.

Janet and Karen, I totally love your plans. Flexibility has become our norm at this age.
Yep, I would like an earlier Christmas Eve service, but I can handle the Church services at midnight......Plus Pinellas Community is large enough to offer 3 services Christmas Eve.

Can I just secretly say I want ham? Cookies and sweets aside, ham is so yummy.

Good luck on taming the boar flavor.

Favoite scent is
Peppermint?
Pine?
Cinnamon?
Apple/rum?
Burning wood?

What scent screams Holiday and family?

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chuckieb 9 years ago said:

Pine's a good one. Spruce and cedar too. I get major aromatherapy when I'm helping my Girlfriend at her Flower shop greening the centerpieces. Cinnamon is also a good one as is rum (and eggnog) :) and the scent of a burning fire. Beeswax is also a traditional aroma for us at Christmas time. We have some beeswax Christmas tree ornaments and I love to burn beeswax candles.
Gotta head to bed. Visions of sugar plums ladies. :) Karen....did you see sugar plums in Germany? Love your post. Shall comment tomorrow.

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chuckieb 9 years ago said:

A Christmas Eve candlelight service at 7:30 is way more my speed Karen! What a wonderful thing that you got to attend a Service when you were in Germany and sing "Silent Night" in German. That's really nice that your family comes to your place to open presents. What a feast you have planned!

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jett2whit 9 years ago said:

Love the ideas Tina! My favorite Christmas scent is evergreen. I can remember the days when my family would pile in the old station wagon and head out for midnight mass. I can remember my mom always nodding off. Now during morning service my hubby & kids have to nudge me because I'm the one nodding - LOL!
I grew up on Polish & Croatian food. That soup sounds good - maybe I'll venture out and make it since we're supposed to have cold temps this week.

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notyourmomma 9 years ago said:

The tree is decorated fully. I have a woodland wonderland. We have deer, bear,(remember those fun felted animals of our youth) ornaments of raccoons, squirrels, fox, rabbits, cardinals, pine cones, bronze sparkly leaves, sparkly grapes and one hummingbird in a nest (It will be my pickle ornament this year). I know grapes don't grow in the woods but they were pretty and filled in a hole in the artificial tree. I have grapevine balls and pinecone and reindeer garland. I have a copper star on the top.

Fred helped me rig up a pretty capiz star over our manger. Spoke too soon, the star just fell off the manger. I think putting the light bulb made it too heavy. I do believe the language Fred is using right now is NOT in the spirit of Christmas.

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notyourmomma 9 years ago said:

I love citrus and cinnamon simmering on the stove for my holiday scent. A clove studded orange, a stick or two of cinnamon, a sliced up lemon, a star anise simmering in apple cider. It always makes me feel comfy.

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MissouriFarmWife 9 years ago said:

Cedar or pine with accents of cinnamon and cloves in the air! That brings the scents of Christmas! The citrus and cinnamon combination sounds wonderful.

We always attend Christmas Eve services. In Germany we went to different ones in several German churches. The huge Gothic cathedrals in Nurnberg were awesome, but the one in the little church in Rohr was the most memorable. We have lost contact with the pastor but did communicate for many years.

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chuckieb 9 years ago said:

Tina, your tree sounds like one I'd ADORE. And wild grapes certainly grow in the woods. We have some wild grapevines on our property. It really sounds beautiful. NICE on the Holiday scents simmering on your stove too!
I would love to see those German Cathedrals Karen. They must have been so very beautiful.

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MissouriFarmWife 9 years ago said:

https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=cathedrals+in+nuremberg+germany&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001 has images of Frauen Kirche and St. Lorenz Kirche in Nurenberg. St. Lorenz was huge and stately. Frauen Kirche (church of our lady) not so much. Both were interesting to see. There were other, more ornate ones, but we really liked St. Lorenz Kirche for its amazing architecture. It made me miss it a bit when I Googled the churches.

I enjoyed your description of Cambridge, England. We never made it there, thinking we would be back for another tour, but it didn't work out that way.

Tina, we have wild grapes in our woods - at least I think they are wild grapes. Not being a residential wild plant expert, I would probably double check before trying one. I'm sure Fred with cease turning the air blue when he succeeds in fastening the star. Maybe using a smaller, LED light would work?

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notyourmomma 9 years ago said:

Different tape worked. Duct tape fell off. Clear package sealing tape worked. It is pretty. Too bad Fred can't tell the difference between the wise men and Joseph. I keep rearranging the figures and he swaps them around. He is funny that way. We have barricaded the base of the tree with a child potty chair and two childsize rockers....it is funny looking but effective. I caught Molly walking around with an ornament earlier today. We had one huge ornament shatter by a wagging tail.

I watch Burt Wolf and Rick Steve's travel shows on PBS. I love the churches. I wasn't allowed to go into the Church in Venice on San Marco Square. I didn't have sleeves and my scarf was NOT wide enough to count as a covering of arms and head. At least I got a good exterior picture.

My sister has not indicated her wishes on Christmas morning, yet. I'm hoping breakfast will suffice and we can call it a day. Another 24 hours of entertaining might just send me over the edge.

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notyourmomma 9 years ago said:

It is just going to be Fred and me for the Eve dinner. I'm changing it up big time. Filet mignon Oscar (raft of blanched asparagus, with med/rare filet of beef, topped with lump crabmeat and bearnaise sauce) oven roasted lemon thyme carrots and a mushroom pilaf.
A nice wine. We will go to the early service (5:30 pm) at PCC. Vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce for his dessert. Sleep in Christmas morning and then head to Allison's at noon. fruit salad with lime and champagne vinaigrette. crusty potatoes in cream, cherry tomato caprese salad and a spiced rum cake are my duties. Olivia won't be joining us, she is going to Scotties' godparents (her boss) on the Eve and she works Christmas day. I guess I should have mailed her gifts to her. Allison is making eggs benedict, sausage gravy and biscuits, strawberry pretzel salad. Kelly is bringing a ham. Ashley is bringing a caramel cake. We won't stay all day because Skippy needs nursing. Fred said he would help with the slice and dice stuff, bless his heart.

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