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Holiday Celebrations, Feasting and FestivitiesHoliday Menus • Here are some holiday meal menus that you are welcome to peruse. We hope they spark your imagination and stimulate your tastebuds, from the Klondike Gold Rush to the 1990's White House. Pick and choose with impunity. Just remember when planning your holiday meals, the more the merrier! That goes for food and drink as well as the number of family and friends there are to enjoy! Holiday Poems and Stories • Poetry is the language of the soul. A good poem opens the heart and mind. Imagination awakened through poetry transports an audience beyond the limits of time and space. Old familiars, such as Clement Clarke Moore's "Twas the Night Before Christmas" or Dylan Thomas's "A Child's Christmas in Wales," do more than entertain us, they become the stuff of our own holiday memories. Holiday Quotes • Reading a collection of quotes is like thumbing through a photo album. Quotes are snapshots on the page. They don't tell the whole story or show the larger view in all detail but they do capture an idea or a feeling. Whether short and snappy or convoluted and dense, the quotes collected here are part of the literary landscape of our holiday world. Holiday Recipes • In 1986, we spent three weeks traveling around eastern Australia. We visited one of Chuck's friends from graduate school who lived in Canberra. His wife told a funny story. Since they were both American, one Thanksgiving they decided to have a "traditional" American Thanksgiving feast. It all seemed to be coming together pretty well (i.e., they could get all the ingredients), except for the Pumpkin Pie. The only way they'd ever made Pumpkin Pie was using the recipe on the Libby's can and of course the pumpkin from the Libby's can. It turned out they couldn't find canned pumpkin. After searching all over, she ended up talking to a vendor at a produce market. No one could apparently figure out why she wanted to make pie out of pumpkin. He finally convinced her she should buy some kind of squash and make the pie out of that. (KE) Here are some of our favorite holiday recipes! Holiday Traditions • Different people celebrate their holidays in different ways. For most of us though, celebrations center around food and drink. Baking cookies, making fruitcakes and candy are all part of our holiday tradition. Decorating the house, putting up lights and a tree, singing carols, playing music are what we do to celebrate the season. Holiday traditions have a way of evolving over the years, as children grow and families change. There is no right and wrong, traditions just are. More about Christmas traditions though the ages. |
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A Previous Year's FruitFromWashington Holiday Greeting Card - Illustration by Sophia Eberhart |
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Nose,
nose, nose, nose! And I do come home at Christmas. We all do, or we
all should. We all come home, or ought to come home, for a short
holiday--the longer, the better--from the great boarding-school,
where we are for ever working at our arithmetical slates, to take,
and give a rest. As to going a visiting, where can we not go,
if we will; where have we not been, when we would; starting our
fancy from our Christmas Tree! |
Holiday
Menus Also see the Food Timeline - Historic American Christmas Menus But don't miss the Historic and Contemporary Holiday Menus Listed Here! |
• Hackers
Kitchen by Avatar Holiday Recipes and Menus •
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• Renaissance Madrigal Holiday Feast • A Chaucerian Feast • Christmas Dinner from Godey's Lady's Book, 1890 • Klondike Christmas, 1897 • Klondike Christmas, 1898• Menu of a Complimentary Dinner by the Citizens of St. George to the Soldier Boys of the town and parish, July 2, 1919 • A 1944 Seabee Thanksgiving • Jane Austen Era Christmas Recipes • A Victorian Christmas |
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A Greeting A greeting I send thee for New Year, my dearest! |
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UNDER THE HOLLY BOUGH Ye who have scorn'd each other Ye who have lov'd each other, Ye who have nourished sadness, Charles Mackay, LL.D. [1814-1889] CEREMONIES FOR CHRISTMAS Come, bring with a noise, With the last year's brand Drink now the strong beer, Robert Herrick [1591-1674] KRISS KRINGLE Just as the moon was fading Old Kriss Kringle looked around, "Quite a stocking," he laughed, Then old Kriss Kringle, who loves Source: Thomas Bailey Aldrich CEREMONIES FOR CHRISTMAS Come, bring with a noise, With the last year's brand Drink now the strong beer, Source: Robert Herrick (1591-1674) Oh the joys of Christmas, as we hang our stockings
high, The Belgians now are cheering, who last Christmas
day were numb. A happy, happy Christmas, we have got and we must
lend, Source: Poems and Prose, John Graham Boulton, December 25, 1930 •••••••• Christmas Cheer Good husband and housewife, now chiefly be glad, Good bread and good drink, a good fire in the
hall, What cost to good husband, is any of this? Source: "Christmas Cheer" by Thomas Tusser •••••••• Old English Song I wish you a merry Christmas All you that to feasting and mirth are inclined, …Traditional •••••••• At Christmas I no more desire a rose Source: William Shakespeare •••••••• 'But my song I troll out, for CHRISTMAS Stout, Source: Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers •••••••• I have apples, I have
cakes, I have presents rich and rare, Source: Bessie Rayner Belloc, A Carol for
Willie (from Poems, 1852) •••••••• Where now sun, now shadow dapples-- Red and yellow, streaked and hoary, What profusion, what abundance! These the hasty winds have taken In this mellow autumn weather, Red and yellow, streaked and hoary, Till gay troops of children, lightly Source: Mathilde Blind, Excerpt from Apple-Gathering (from The Ascent of Man, 1889) Credit to: Victorian Women Writers Project: an Electronic Collection digitally published by Library Electronic Text Resource Service (LETRS) of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana (edited by Perry Willett). The summers we spent in the country, now at one place, now at another. We children, of course, loved the country beyond anything. We disliked the city. We were always wildly eager to get to the country when spring came, and very sad when in the late fall the family moved back to town. In the country we of course had all kinds of pets—cats, dogs, rabbits, a coon, and a sorrel Shetland pony named General Grant. When my younger sister first heard of the real General Grant, by the way, she was much struck by the coincidence that some one should have given him the same name as the pony. (Thirty years later my own children had their pony Grant.) In the country we children ran barefoot much of the time, and the seasons went by in a round of uninterrupted and enthralling pleasures—supervising the haying and harvesting, picking apples, hunting frogs successfully and woodchucks unsuccessfully, gathering hickory-nuts and chestnuts for sale to patient parents, building wigwams in the woods, and sometimes playing Indians in too realistic manner by staining ourselves (and incidentally our clothes) in liberal fashion with poke-cherry juice. Thanksgiving was an appreciated festival, but it in no way came up to Christmas. Christmas was an occasion of literally delirious joy. In the evening we hung up our stockings—or rather the biggest stockings we could borrow from the grown-ups—and before dawn we trooped in to open them while sitting on father's and mother's bed; and the bigger presents were arranged, those for each child on its own table, in the drawing-room, the doors to which were thrown open after breakfast. I never knew any one else have what seemed to me such attractive Christmases, and in the next generation I tried to reproduce them exactly for my own children. Source: Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919). An Autobiography. 1913. •••••••• Fine old Christmas, with the snowy hair and ruddy face, had done his duty that year in the noblest fashion, and had set off his rich gifts of warmth and color with all the heightening contrast of frost and snow...The plum-pudding was of the same handsome roundness as ever, and came in with the symbolic blue flames around it, as if it had been heroically snatched from the nether fires, into which it had been thrown by dyspeptic Puritans; the dessert was as splendid as ever, with its golden oranges, brown nuts, and the crystalline light and dark of apple-jelly and damson cheese; in all these things Christmas was as it had always been since Tom could remember; it was only distinguished, it by anything, by superior sliding and snowballs. Source: George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss •••••••• And numerous indeed are the hearts to which Christmas brings a brief season of happiness and enjoyment. How many families, whose members have been dispersed and scattered far and wide, in the restless struggles of life, are then reunited, and meet once again in that happy state of companionship and mutual goodwill, which is a source of such pure and unalloyed delight; and one so incompatible with the cares and sorrows of the world, that the religious belief of the most civilised nations, and the rude traditions of the roughest savages, alike number it among the first joys of a future condition of existence, provided for the blessed and happy! How many old recollections, and how many dormant sympathies, does Christmas time awaken! ... Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days; that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth; that can transport the sailor and the traveller, thousands of miles away, back to his own fireside and his quiet home! Source: Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers •••••••• The coach was crowded, both inside and out, Source: Washington Irving, The Sketch Book •••••••• There never was such a goose. Bob said he didn't
believe Source: Charles Dickens, Christmas Carol •••••••• There were pears and apples clustered high in blooming pyramids; there were bunches of grapes, made, in the shopkeepers’ benevolence, to dangle from conspicuous hooks that people’s mouths might water gratis as they passed; there were piles of filberts, mossy and brown, recalling, in their fragrance, ancient walks among the woods, and pleasant shufflings ankle deep through withered leaves; there were Norfolk Biffins, squab and swarthy, setting off the yellow of the oranges and lemons, and, in the great compactness of their juicy persons, urgently entreating and beseeching to be carried home in paper bags and eaten after dinner. Source: Charles Dickens, Christmas Carol •••••••• When the cloth was removed, the butler Source: Washington Irving •••••••• "I never indeed saw more general good humour and merriment on a Christmas day since I went to sea. A pretty compliment was paid to all the officers by a well meaning, but certainly not very sober crew, by absolutely forcing each in turn, beginning with myself, to go out on the lower deck, and have his health drank with three hearty cheers. On the 26th, we sent all the people for a run on the ice, in order to put them to rights, but thick weather coming on, it became necessary to recall them, and, postponing the dinner hour, they were all danced sober by 1 p.m. the fiddler being, fortunately, quite as he should be." Source: Captain
Lyon's Private Journal Santa Claus & Christmas Tree Cookies 1 c. shortening Thoroughly cream shortening and sugar. Add beaten egg, orange rind and beat well. Add sifted dry ingredients. Chill. Roll thin and cut with Santa Claus and Tree cookie cutters. Place cookies on greased baking sheet and bake in a slow oven, 325° F. 8-10 minutes. Decorate with confectioners' sugar frosting as follows: 2 c. powdered sugar, 1 t. vanilla, milk or cream. Carrot Pudding 1 c. grated raw carrots Mix carrots, potatoes, sugar, and butter well. Add eggs, flour, and soda, blend well. Add spices; blend. Add raisins and currants; blend. Place in steamer. (Or use juice cans, greased and covered tightly with foil. Tie two layers of foil on the top with string.) Fill pan 2/3 full of water. Put steamer (or can) of batter in pan, cover and steam for 2 hours or until done. Can be served with Plum Pudding sauce. Fruit Cake The last few years I've been making fruit cake by making a basic pound cake recipe then adding whatever dried and candied fruits suit me. I've used dried black currants, pears, apples, apricots and sometimes add some citron and candied lemon peel. After baking, I wrap it in plain muslin (cheesecloth works, of course), douse it with rum, and put it in a tin until the holidays. The trick is to remember to check it every few days and dribble more rum on the cloth if it looks dry. I've used the Pound Cake recipe in the Joy of Cooking but it looks like there are lots of pound cake recipes around. The trick, apparently, is to use butter and nothing but butter! (Really put on those pounds!) (KE) For Nativity Feast - Adapted from: Fruits in Cooking, by Robert Ackart (Macmillan Publishing Co., NY, 1973). 2 oranges, thinly sliced and seeded 1 T. cumin seed Salad greens In mixing bowl combine oranges, limes, apples and beets. In a saucepan, combined beet juice and lemon juice with cumin seed, sugar, and salt then bring to boil. Cool liquid to lukewarm, pour over fruit. Chill. Serve fruit mixture on bed of shredded greens, garnished with sliced radishes and peanuts. A FruitFromWashington.com adaptation of the classic loaves of Italian Christmas fruit bread. Bread starter-- Prepare starter and let rest for one to two hours. Meanwhile, soak fruit-- Dough-- Optional addition: Mix bread starter and remaining dough ingredients adding just enough flour to form soft dough. Let rest 15 minutes then knead dough adding more flour as the dough demands. Work in fruit and up to 1 c. bittersweet chocolate chunks, if desired. Add more flour as needed to keep dough manageable. Let rest for another 15 minutes then shape into ball and place in greased bowl, turning once. Cover, leave in warm place to rise for an hour. Punch down, let rest for 15 minutes. Shape into loaves, place on greased baking sheet or in loaf pans. Cut an "X" in the top of each loaf using a serrated knife. Let rise again until almost double. Preheat oven to 375° F. Brush loaves with egg white. Sprinkle with sugar. Place in oven and reduce heat to 350° F. Bake for 35-45 minutes (longer for large loaves) until well-browned. Remove from baking sheet or pan, and allow to cool on rack. Traditionally served on Christmas Eve with vanilla ice cream, hot bittersweet chocolate sauce accompanied by steaming cups of chamomile tea. Christmas Currant Loaf (Overnight Method) Two cakes of Fleischmann's yeast, one pint lukewarm milk, one pint lukewarm water, one tablespoonful salt, one cup butter and shortening mixed, one cup granulated sugar, one cup chopped raisins, two cups cleaned currants, six pints sifted flour, one teaspoonful ground mace, one teaspoonful cinnamon. Make sponge from milk, water, yeast and two pints of the flour. Cover and set aside to rise for about one hour. Then add sugar, shortening, salt, fruit, thoroughly floured, spices; add remainder of flour gradually. Knead thoroughly, cover and set aside to rise in a warm place, free from draft, for about eight and a half or nine hours, or until very light. In the morning divide into loaves, put into well-greased pans, cover and let rise for one and one-half hours, or until real light. Bake one and three-fourths hours in a slow oven. This amount makes four ordinary loaves or three large ones. The whole process takes about fourteen hours. If a richer cake is desired, add more fruit and some chopped citron. This bread is lighter and in every way much superior to that made from a bread dough. ••••••••
•••••••• Christmas - A Blessing or a Burden • Polish Christmas Traditions • A pretty good set of holiday menus with recipes • Holiday Internet Guide • Holiday Sites • Dickens and Christmas • Christmas in the British Army During the War of 1812 • Medieval Christmas Feasts
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D.R. Eberhart & Associates, Inc. P.O. Box 877, Ellensburg, WA 98926 Contact Us Online by Using our Feedback Form Page Update November 25, 2007 Copyright © 1999-2008 D.R. Eberhart & Associates, Inc. All Rights Reserved |
