Families, Fun and Food!

Christmas is a family holiday.

I am very traditional and idealistic when it comes to how I think Christmas should play out. I grew up in a home where all the holidays, particularly Christmas, were a big deal. Not because of the presents, although who doesn't love that? Not because of the sparkly lights and brightly decorated trees. But because there were a list of things that we just did every year because that's what we do at Christmas. As a family.

And because Christmas is about Christ and He wants us to love one another.

What better way to share family love than by cooking? After all, the kitchen is the gathering place in most homes. It's not WHAT we're cooking. Let's face it, we're not all Julia's in the kitchen. I'm certainly not. But that doesn't mean I don't gather the masses for a marathon of cookie baking. Holiday baking together is time well spent. I have many memories of spending days in December with my aunts and cousins, decorating cookies, making homemade candies and pulling taffy. Yes, taffy. I said I was an idealist. And of course, what do you DO with all this sugary, buttery goodness? You pile it up on plates and wrap it in plastic with shiny bows and take them to your friends and neighbors. You share the love, man. That's what Christmas is all about.

When I was growing up, every year we made a gingerbread house. It took days to make, which to a child, was an eternity. Letting the royal icing set before we could dig into the bowls of colorful candies and start dressing up the house was torture. We have a collection of photos of our gingerbread masterpieces throughout the years. Let me tell you, not a one of them is pretty. But man alive, we had so much fun making them! And it would proudly sit on top of the piano and we would be thrilled to show it to anyone who came by.

Keith and I have made a few gingerbread "houses" over the years. We don't do it annually, but we make one often enough. Our favorite was one we made of Noah's Ark a few years back. It was Noah's Northern Ark, complete with polar bears, grizzlies and moose.

 

This year, we thought we'd build a gingerbread McCabe Building. This historic granite building was built in 1899, at the height of the Klondike Gold Rush as a Methodist Prep School for girls. Wouldn't you want to send your impressionable young daughter off to a boarding school in the middle of a thriving Red Light District? Surprising so, a year later the building was sold. Now it houses the City Hall and a Museum.

 

Wouldn't that be a fun gingerbread house?

Another family tradition at our house is the Yule Log. We make them every year, and every year, someone asks for the recipe. They are absolutely divine. And so simple!

Christmas Yule Log

1 1/4 C sifted powdered sugar
1/4 C plus 1 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp salt
5 Tbsp cocoa
6 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
6 egg yolks
1 1/4 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp water

Sift together powdered suagr, flour, salt and cocoa.

In a large glass mixing bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff.

In a small mixig bowl, beat egg yolks, vanilla and water. Beat until stiff and lemon-colored.

Add sifted dry ingredients to egg yolk mixture until well blended.

Fold egg yolk mixture into beaten egg whites.

Well grease a jelly roll pan with shortning. Line with waxed paper and spread cake mixture evenly. Be careful not to let the shortning touch the cake batter or it wil not rise. Bake at 375° for 15 minutes.

While cake is baking, dust cheesecloth with powdered sugar. Remove cake from oven, loosen around edges and invert onto cheesecloth. Remove pan immediately. Carefully pull off waxed paper. Very gently roll up cake from narrow end, rolling the towel in the cake. Roll loosely, but firmly, giving the cake room to breath or it wil get soggy. Set aside and let cool completely. Do not use a dish towel, as that will not allow cake to breathe while cooling, which will result in a soggy pile of goop.

Filling: 1 pint of whipping cream
           1/4 C powdered sugar
           1/2 small box of instant vanilla pudding

Beat filling ingredients until thick. Lick the beaters for sure! This stuff is sinfully divine. Gently unroll cooled cake, spread filling, and tightly re-roll. Frost using your favorite chocolate ganache or frosting.  Run fork tines along outside of log to make wood grain design. Dust with powdered sugar for a snowy look. Slice across into rounds about an inch thick. Now go do an hour of cardio to make up for licking the filling bowl.

As it was silently snowing up the pass this morning, it is very fitting to be sending these snowflake prints away, maybe to someplace warm?

The winner of yesterday's snowflake fabric pack is....DIANE CANNON, who wrote:

I just love the blue fabric with the snowflakes and I save all my snowmen and decorate with them after the other Christmas decorations are put away--so that snowflake fabric is perfect!!! My favorite Christmas carol is Away in the Manager--and soo many more!!!

Diane, please email me your mailing address and off these go! Enjoy! SKagwayquilts at hotmail dot com.

A few years ago, I participated in several month's worth of a cat block swap. This resulted in multiple litters of cute little kitty blocks. Now, most people put them all together in rows and rows for a large cat quilt, but I thought they looked all jumbled up like that. So I divided my cats up into holiday piles...gold and brown blocks for Harvest Cats, pink and red ones for Sweetheart cats, and green and pinkish-red ones for Victorian Christmas cats. I've had these piles tucked away for a while and pulled them out a few weeks ago to finish up some UFO's. So here is a Victorian Christmas Cat wall hanging for today's giveaway. It would be a great addition to someone's shabby chic holiday decor. And it could be yours. Go ahead and leave a comment and these could be on their way to your house very soon. Don't worry, they're house trained.

 

Comments

[Judith]

Oh, pick me! A co-worker lost her cat this last summer. He was savaged by some wild thing and the vet could not save him. This would make a wonderful gift to her as a rememberance of her cat.

[Dee Winter]

Such darling kitties!!!! I promise to give them a good home!

[Linda]

My best friend is the "mother" of multiple cats. I would love to give this to her. Thanks for your Christmas blog. I've really enjoyed reading it.

[Julie in WA]

I am loving your Christmas week, bringing back lots of memories for me. I am not interested in the giveaway today, for I am not a cat lover. I just wanted you to know I am appreciating your blog!

[Linda Douglas]

CHRISTMAS JOY TO YOU!
Your site is so cheery-I love viewing it! The photo of your cookie cutters and dough really inspired me to start-so I'm right know elbow-deep in gingerbread!
Love, Linda
jldouglas@wispwest.net

[sissa]

my husband's daughter is constantly taking in yet another stray cat - much to the annoyance of her husband!! this would be such a great gift for her and i think even her husband would approve!

[Sandi]

Lovely holiday memories, and thank you for sharing the yule log recipe. As a relatively new quilter (but a definite cat-lover)I haven't attempted a cat quilt yet and I could give this one an excellent home. :-)

[Nancy]

First, congratulations to Diane for winning the beautiful blue fabrics and threads...so lovely. Now, about those gingerbread houses...they are so wonderful. The Noah's Northern Ark is especially delightful to us because when my hubby lived in Anchorage for two years 2002-2004, he fell in love with the State. He didn't want to come home, wanted to move up there. I didin't ever get to see it because of my Scleroderma which switches into high gear in the cold. I'm talking anything below about 60 degrees, so instead, we live is balmy Northern Utah, it was a delightful 20 degrees Farenheit last night, lol, so today is stay in bed day for me, though I just had to get up and pop into my favorite blogs to say hi and see what was happening. Also have to keep up to date on your Christmas extravaganza and your wonderful giveaways. OH, how I would love to have the cat quilt, but I'm certainly not complaining. I'm sooo very excited about my adorable snowmen and now I can just get excited for all the other winners. But, we are all really winners Allyson because this week of Christmas and your stories and delightful traditions are treat all their own. I can't wait to see your McCabe Building gingerbread house. Our family traditions have gone by the wayside as children and grandchildren moved out, then after my hubby's heart attack, we of course had to make drastic changes to our diet and exercise routines. We try really hard to be good. The Yule Log recipe may be something that I can't resist trying though. Not only does it look delicious, it is very appealing to the eye and that always makes it tasted even better. One last thing before I head back to bed, where my hubby keeps reminding me I'm supposed to be today...***sigh*** this was going to be my sewing day, going on day 5 now without sewing a single stitch, horrible, just horrible. But I digress...the thing I had to tell you was I that as I was putting away some fabric that I had planned on using today, I noticed a "12 Days of Christmas" panel that I had forgotten about. It was one of the gifts a local quilt shop gave out during the Fall shop hop (weren't you here in Utah for that?). Not sure how I'm going to use it. I hate to cut it up BUT, if the snowmen and lovely snowflake fabrics are the right hues and values I might, just might incorperate it into a nice lap Christmas throw. I am never without one, summer and winter to protect my joints and hands. Thank for another wonderful post and sharing your thought and traditions. Okay, Okay, I got caught...my hubby is taking my chair away...Good Luck to Everyone in todays giveaway. Hey Allyson, remember when you were concerned that no one would visit your blog? I do, and look what you have created. A wonderland of treasures!

[Lisa J]

Oh I LOVE that cat wall hanging! I have 11 furbabies right now, oh heaven help me!! But I love each and every one of them!

Thanks for the great give a way!!

[Carol Lewis]

I've never tried baking a jelly roll cake but they are awesome looking and tasty too, perhaps I'll try it someday. Thanks so much for the recipe. Christmas baking is a fun thing to do and your right wrap them up and give as gifts. Sweet treats are always a good idea. Love your Victorian Christmas Cat quilt.

[Sheila Carita]

I would love for those little kitties to come and live with me and my brood of meowsers!!

Thank you for the opportunity to enter!

SheilaC

shecarita(at)yahoo(dot)com

[diane Cannon]

OH MY ---I have won something--and I will treasure the fun in using the fabrics,etc!!! I have entered many many giveaways since I started blogging in Feb 09, but this is my first win---THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!!
Have a great holiday--
Hugs, Di
ps--will email you my address!!!

[Zannah]

Oh no - I think I may be too late - but I would love to give those cats a home. We have no animals at all in the house (we're both out all day) and these would be a pretty good substitute!!!