How was your Christmas?! Mine was pretty spectacular!
For the first time, in my entire life, I had a WHITE CHRISTMAS!!
See…
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| Woodland Park, CO |
The only thing that could have made my Christmas any better would have been if Bran were here to spend it with me. While I had a White Christmas, Bran had a Christmas in the sand.
See…
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| Cabo San Lucas, Mexico |
The in-laws took a family trip to celebrate the Holidays, and have their last “immediate family trip” before we get hitched next summer. It was really good that Bran and I were able to spend our last “single” Christmases, entirely spent having one-on-one time with our families. Yet, even though I am extremely thankful that we were able to have that dedicated time with them,it was admittedly still a bummer that we had to spend it apart. Our only communication was via email and that made it particularly difficult, for me. But that’s okay though…I’ll survive!!
-I’ll stop sulking here and go back to my story 😉
The thing about Christmas that makes it so special i (first and foremost) the promise we were made, and the hope we were given, through the birth of Christ Jesus. (Doesn’t get much better than that!) The second thing about Christmas that just pulls at my heart strings, is the TRADITION! Growing up in our family, we had alot of them! Most of the traditions we have today, and the memories that are so embedded in my heart, were made with my Granny Wilson.
As I mentioned in a previous post (here) the first Sunday of every December we would get together to decorate the Christmas Tree at my parent’s house. Sometime in December, we would often all bundle up in the car and take her to go look at Christmas lights with us. Then there was the Christmas carols… Every year, starting at probably the age of 5, I would join my dad (the pianist) and would sing Christmas song after Christmas song, as he played the piano for hundreds of elderly men and women at the AARP Christmas Party. These people were so delighted to have us play/sing for them each year, and it is such a fond memory I have of my Granny. Lastly, each Christmas morning my dad would get up at 4:30 or so and go pick my Granny up from her home and bring her back over to come watch us open our gifts from Santa, at the crack of dawn. (Yes, I was -and still am- THAT child.)
Now that our Granny is no longer with us, we try to honor her memory each Christmas by re-creating some of our favorite recipes of hers.There is nothing more magical for me tha re-creating her handwritten recipes, and getting to have her with us there, in spirit, in that way. My Granny is actually the reason I love to
cook/bake so much. My fondest memories are of time spent in the
kitchen with her, and it is why the kitchen is still my favorite room
today.
The Napa Cabbage Salad is good, and the Cauliflower Casserole’s even better, but the one thing my Granny did that far surpassed all others were these…
Snowballs!
These were a staple in our family’s Christmas Day celebration. It took me years after Granny passed, to figure out how she made them. (As a child, you don’t think to make sure and write down your elder’s prized recipes. Something, I now, IMMENSELY regret!)I’m not 100% sure that this is exactly how she made them, but they taste pretty darn close to me. (Although, I’m pretty sure she made her own whipped cream and I’m more of the “semi-homemade” type.)
So…without further ado…
Granny Wilson’s Snowballs
1 c. sugar
1/4 lb. butter
2 eggs, separated
1 lg. pkg. coconut
Maraschino cherries
1 c. finely chopped nuts (I use walnuts)
1 box vanilla wafers
2 (9 oz.) Cool Whip
1 lg. can crushed pineapple (drained VERY well)
Cream
butter and sugar together. Add egg yolks. Beat egg whites then fold into sugar
mixture. Add pineapple and nuts to mixture. Place filling in layers between 3-4 vanilla wafers. (I do 4 wafers. Whatever you do, just don’t put the filling on the top wafer.) Put on cookie sheet and chill for 2 hours. Then cover the mounds (all
over-except bottom) with Cool Whip. Roll (very carefully) in coconut. Add a
cherry on top. Decorate “leaves” with green frosting. Chill until ready. (Best to chill over night)
Here’s how they should look before you put the whipped cream/coconut on.
Here’s my dad “leafing” (aka decorating) the snowballs.
(I let him do the cherries & leaves each year because it, too, reminds him of Granny.)
The finished product.
(As you can see, I got dressed up for you all!)
I hope your Christmas was merry, bright and filled with tradition and new memories made. God bless!
this is so sweet. it's amazing how special traditions are 🙂
For sure! I think it is really cool that our generation is starting to recognize that and see the value in re-creating/creating our own! 🙂