HOME at CHRISTMAS ( includes grandmother's shortbread recipe)

"For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas ,when its mighty Founder was a child himself..." 

                                                                                -Charles Dickens  "A Christmas Carol)

"Christmas is the celebration of the keeping of a promise. A saving promise...."

                                                                              -Michael Card

My favourite fabric to work with, especially for Christmas , is blingy sari fabric, beads trims, stars, reusing  what I've found at thrift stores, or online.  I rip them apart ,and repurpose every part , into shiny "new" things, draping here and there....there and here....

I also love vintage pixies...I've collected oodles of them. About 60 or so ( sigh, they are everywhere at Christmas...naughty things like to swing from light fixtures) They also like to sing  "Silent Night", using my mother's mini carol book from 1950. Pixies usually sing off key, by the way......

"The magical dust of Christmas glittered on the cheeks of humanity ever so briefly, reminding us of what is worth having, and what we were intended to be...." -Max Lucado

"Much of the beauty of Christmas lies in its challenge to look further, deeper, until we find its secret in the heart of God......" -Dale Evans

"It is Christmas , every time you let God love others thru you..." -Mother Teresa

"Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. I give to  you not as the world gives. Don't be troubled or afraid...." -John 14:27

"Merry Christmas. Nollaig Shona Dhuit (Irish), Eftihismena Christougenna 

( Greece), Zalig Kerstfeest (Dutch speaking countries), Sretan Bozic (Croatian)...." 

                                  "The ancient dream. A cold clear night......." -Lucinda Franks

Grandmother's BIG PAN of SHORTBREAD

2 cups butter ( can use plant butter these days!), 1 cup icing sugar

3 ½ cups flour, ½ cup cornstarch

Blend all together. Press into parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake about 20 minutes at 325 degrees (check and add time as needed). When done, take out of oven, slice the warm dough into squares or rectangles. Let cool completely. Drizzle with dark and white chocolate. Package up in little clear bags for yummy treats.

 My mother used to keep shortbread in a large glass jar she'd powder with icing sugar. Her shortbread was covered with  silver dragees and candied peel, stuffed into the tops. I used to sneak shortbread out at midnight, scrape off the dragees and peel, then gobble them one by one .....every  night  for a week. She always knew it was me. Cause I'd drop the yukky toppings to the bottom of the jar.......

"The time draws near.....the moon is hid; the night is still; Christmas bells from hill to hill; Answer each other in the mist...." -Tennyson

"The week before Christmas ....was the moment for carol singing..." -Laurie Lee

2024 Photographs

1930's XMAS Recipes ( 1)

"Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality..."

   -Washington Irvine

On the farm, in Bethune, Saskatchewan,  ( not just in the 30's, but over the years she visited home), my mother would bake these pastries  with my grandmother. Vinegar tarts, and Mincemeat....doled out at the holidays......with care. Counted into their Christmas tins , to await  the holidays. Savoured and saved. At Christmas, we tend to  bake  that which reminds us of our past, maybe a past we never knew , but cherish cause it's  family. My mother said these pastries reminded my grandparents of the family they left behind in Scotland all the years ago ,and ever saw again.

My mother also said her brothers liked to sneak them  , and run off with them into the snow, stuffing their cheeks as they ran. Every time she baked them, she said she could see Bill and Stuart , their cheeks full like chipmunks, laughing, as grandmother threw up her hands in good humoured despair. Ingredients were precious. To make up for it,  there were extra chores for  the boys. Year after year, when they were children, grandmother never seemed to really mind.....

DEPRESSION ERA VINEGAR TARTS 

2 cups brown sugar , 2 large gobs of butter ( tblsps),

4 splashes ( tblsps of any vinegar), 1 cup corn syrup, 4 eggs 

Beat ingredients till fairly combined. There will be pieces of butter swimming in the mix. That's okay. 

Bake in a hot wood stove oven ( or 350 degree modern oven for about 15 minutes. test the centres. Should be bubbling, add 4 minutes extra time, till set and pastry browned.  

Set out in tins in the snow to cool. Make sure tins are covered with a tea cloth. Store in tins, possibly dust pastries with icing sugar, if you wish.  

"Like snowflakes, my memories gather and dance...each beautiful , unique.....and gone too soon." -Deborah Whitt

MINCEMEAT TARTS 

PASTRY ( tarts or pie):

2 ½ cup all-purpose flour,1 Tbsp sugar, pinch salt, 3 Tbsp veg oil or lard,

1 cup cool unsalted butter, cut into pieces ,¼ cup cool water, 2 tsp vinegar

(Combine together quickly. Keep in fridge to chill until ready to use as shells.)

It used to be that the tarts were actually made in large muffin tins. Nowadays we use frozen tart shells. My mother always made this for the mincemeat ( homemade or bought cans)....she'd serve them scalding hot from the oven......and slathered with thick cream. 

"Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer,  but always it will be a day of remembrance. A day in which we think of everything we have ever loved..." - Augusta E. Randel

HOMEMADE MINCEMEAT 

medium apples, peeled and coarsely grated

1 cup golden or Thompson raisins,1 cup dried currants, ½ cup dried cranberries

¼ cup finely diced candied ginger, ½ cup packed dark brown sugar

⅓ cup honey, ¼ cup brandy, optional,1 Tbsp finely grated orange zest

2 tsp finely grated lemon zest,2 Tbsp lemon juice,½ tsp ground allspice

½ tsp ground nutmeg, ¼ tsp ground cloves,¼ cup unsalted butter, melted

Cover and chill  Mincemeat ingredients for at least 2 hours, up to 24 hours. You may want to pulse the ingredients in a food processor if not fine enough . If ingredients are too thick , the mix will be coarse and not cook down to gooey loveliness.

 Preheat the oven to 400 F. Pull out the dough from the fridge 15-30 minutes before rolling out or cutting into tart shells.Place the pie onto a parchment-lined baking tray and bake for 10 minutes at 400 F, then reduce the oven temperature to 375 F and then bake for about another  40 minutes, until the crust  is golden brown. If doing tarts takes about 20-28 minutes. Keep an eye on them .

                                                                 

"Christmas is a tonic for our souls. It moves us to think of others, rather than of ourselves. It directs our thoughts to giving...." -B.C. Forbes

Stack into tins, or ice cream pails you can freeze..may last long enough to serve to company!

"What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past. Courage for the present, and Hope for the future.." -Agnes M.Pharo

Photographs 2024 and family vintage....

 

FRUITCAKE WEATHER....

"Snowflakes swirl down gently in the deep blue haze beyond the window. The outside world is a dream. Inside, the fireplace is brightly lit, and the Yule log with orange and crimson sparks. There's a steaming mug in your hands, warming your fingers. There's a friend seated across from you in a cozy chair, warming your heart. There is Mystery unfolding...." -Vera Nazarian

"Poetry is a fireplace in summer or a fan in winter..." -Robert Hass

"I think people who come into my home feel comfortable and welcome and loved....." -Julia Roberts

                          "I light candles every single night in my home..." -Evangeline Lily

"There was a fire in the fireplace and peace in my heart......

                                             and everything was quiet.." -Veronica Roth

"Arrives the snow ....the whited air  hides hills and woods, the river and the heaven..." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

"You're lying on the floor  ( in front of the  fire), with all the lights off and listening to the silence of the snow falling outside. For that one instance in time, everything is good..." -Francesca Zappia

"Imagine a morning in late November. A coming of winter morning more than twenty years ago. Consider the kitchen of a spreading old house in a country town. A great black stove is its main feature; but there is also a big round table and a fireplace with two rocking chairs placed in front of it. Just today the fireplace commenced its seasonal roar. A woman with shorn white hair is standing at the kitchen window. She is wearing tennis shoes and a shapeless gray sweater over a summery calico dress. She is small and sprightly, like a bantam hen; but, due to a long youthful illness, her shoulders are pitifully hunched. Her face is remarkable—not unlike Lincoln’s, craggy like that, and tinted by sun and wind; but it is delicate, too, finely boned, and her eyes are sherry-colored and timid. “Oh my,” she exclaims, her breath smoking the windowpane, “it’s fruitcake weather!" -Truman Capote ( my mother's favourite expression for  this time of year!)

"In the soft quiet of the days before Christmas , we find warmth not from a fireplace, but in the close embrace of loved ones. The true magic of the season lies in simple acts of kindness, shared laughter, and the heart's gentle whisper that the best gifts are not under the tree, but in the moments we create together..."

                                                                                                                   -Michail St. Fountoulakis

Photographs Mt. Washington Range, Campbell River, B.C.  2024