Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Those buckeyes! Definitely the most time-consuming treat I make, and the most asked for. No wonder we only make them once a year.
Wow, a lot of this is really about heritage! Elnina, yours is definitely a most unusual (to most of us) Christmas fare. I'm impressed! I've never had any of the dishes you mention, including goose.
And the oyster stew on Christmas Eve - when I married into my husband's family I found out much to my dismay that was their tradition too. I remember being very disappointed! Once the holiday started being celebrated at our house instead that tradition went out the window!
Yech, we grew up with the tradition of having to eat oyster stew on Christmas Eve and as kids we hated it. Not something that children should be forced to eat! Neither my siblings or I still continue the tradition.
You must have a German heritage, that's where I think my family got it from.
For me, I make pralines and date candy for Christmas, which is the tradition that came down from my Louisiana Creole/Cajun French maternal line.
It's interesting how many of our Christmas food traditions come from our ethnic heritages, isn't it!
I think it depends: my dad started the oyster thing on Christmas eve when we lived in Boston toward the beginning of WW2 and he was stationed there. He was Irish/Scotch but mostly Irish. On the other hand my mom in law always ate Oysters on Christmas eve cause her dad did: she was 100% German. I don't know where it really came from but I hated them, I still do. Dad would sometimes make Oyster dressing on Chirstmas day. Well, shall we say once or twice.
Yech, we grew up with the tradition of having to eat oyster stew on Christmas Eve and as kids we hated it. Not something that children should be forced to eat! Neither my siblings or I still continue the tradition.
It's funny how different people's tastes are. I've liked oyster stew since I was a child.
Since I'm Italian, Christmas Eve dinner consists of:
Stuffed calamari, fried smelts, baked baccala, pasta with oil and broccoli, cheese balls, and desserts (grispelle, pizzelle, and panettone).
The only time of the year I make these items. It's my favorite time of year!
Chex mix with the chocolate chips/peanut butter melted on them and then powdered sugared. I have the ingredients and am using all of my will power to keep from making them early.
Christmas is generally the only time I make fudge. I think it's good to have around for people.
I typically only make mince pie around Christmas and Thanksgiving time. For fellow mince pie aficionados I'll mention the mince pie strategy I shared with my father a few years before he died, and with my mother-in-law: in any family gathering there are only a few people who like mince pies, whereas just about everybody likes the pumpkin and apple pies. Therefore, the first time pie is served have your fill of pumpkin and apple, just like everyone else, because you know you'll always have the mince to enjoy after the apple and pumpkin are gone.
The fun part of this strategy is that it doesn't depend on keeping it a secret, because even those who know what you're doing aren't going to suddenly switch to mince just go thwart your efforts.
Yech, we grew up with the tradition of having to eat oyster stew on Christmas Eve and as kids we hated it. Not something that children should be forced to eat! Neither my siblings or I still continue the tradition.
You must have a German heritage, that's where I think my family got it from.
For me, I make pralines and date candy for Christmas, which is the tradition that came down from my Louisiana Creole/Cajun French maternal line.
It's interesting how many of our Christmas food traditions come from our ethnic heritages, isn't it!
No, I'm Irish. However, I love German food. I've always thought of oyster dishes as purely American. Europeans have always eaten oysters almost exclusively raw as they're very expensive in Europe. The huge oyster beds off the American coasts made them an inexpensive delicacy here. By the late eighteen hundreds refrigerator cars were loaded with oysters in New York for points west. The tradition continues to this day. A local restaurant here gets a shipment from New Orleans every Friday during the winter for fried oysters. I must mention that my favorite oyster dish is Oysters Rockefeller. It's classic New Orleans French, French technique and local ingedients.
I don't know how the tradition began in my family as I remember it from my earliest days. I was the only child at these gatherings. I've always loved oyster stew. In fact, I'm hungry for it right now.
Hungarian poppy-seed kolache. My mother made one every year at Christmas time, and when she passed, I continued the tradition, especially for my Hungarian father. Now that he is gone, I make it for the few family members I have left.
I have a Czeck background...my relatives from the Old Country are gone...
no one to make it...well, not like THEY did from memory!!!!
With no recipes left written DOWN!
I digress..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.