Christmas is in what…5 weeks? 6 weeks? It crept up on me quickly…and I can already feel my holiday anxiety level rising. The kids are happily making lists for Santa, and I’m stressing about decorating the house, cleaning for company, and preparing big meals. There are certain things we ALWAYS have during the holidays, and my children would revolt if those items weren’t served during our big family meals. Thanksgiving, for example, means a huge turkey, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce. We’re getting a 16 pound turkey, even though it’ll only be my family of 5 plus one. I like a lot of leftovers!

Christmas Eve always means a spiral honey ham, and I like to make roast beef on Christmas Day. Last year we had a standing rib roast that was amazing. One thing we’ve never had was a traditional Christmas pudding. I seem to recall my grandmother (my Mormor) serving it once or twice though. If you’ve never had Christmas pudding, or even heard of it, Matthew Walker is one of the world’s oldest pudding producers. They’ve been making Christmas pudding since 1899! There are ingredients like cherries and raisins and sherry in this pudding - it actually has 13 ingredients which represent Jesus and the 12 apostles. If you’ve never had Christmas pudding, this is NOT Jello. It’s more like a cake, and can be served steamed or microwaved, with a brandy sauce.

Do you serve any special foods during the holidays?