What One Food Is A Holiday Tradition In Your House?

Pimento stuffed green olives. The cheap ones in the jar. Mom always put them in my Christmas stocking because I love them, and because if she didn't, I'd end up emptying the dish on the table at Christmas dinner.

My stocking was always my favorite part of Christmas. One year when I was in my early twenties, mom decided I was too old for a stocking and announced it a day or so before Christmas. I didn't say anything to her, but I told a cousin how disappointed I was, and she told mom on Christmas Eve, when it was too late for her to do anything about it.

So I got up on Christmas morning to find one of those crocheted mini stocking ornaments tacked to the kitchen wall, with a rolled up $50 bill and, on a toothpick, one green olive attached to the top.
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It's a tradition in our house for my oldest son to get a gift box of gourmet hot sauces, the weirdest and spiciest ones I can find. He puts hot sauce in everything except ice cream (and I won't swear he hasn't tried that), and goes through the entire box by February.

My mom has a tradition of giving my brother a summer sausage gift box from Hickory Farms. He loves those things, and hides the box in his room so no one else will eat it.
 
Little mince pies...

iu

I don't think I've ever tried those, but they look good.
 
Pimento stuffed green olives. The cheap ones in the jar. Mom always put them in my Christmas stocking because I love them, and because if she didn't, I'd end up emptying the dish on the table at Christmas dinner.

My stocking was always my favorite part of Christmas. One year when I was in my early twenties, mom decided I was too old for a stocking and announced it a day or so before Christmas. I didn't say anything to her, but I told a cousin how disappointed I was, and she told mom on Christmas Eve, when it was too late for her to do anything about it.

So I got up on Christmas morning to find one of those crocheted mini stocking ornaments tacked to the kitchen wall, with a rolled up $50 bill and, on a toothpick, one green olive attached to the top.
.

It's a tradition in our house for my oldest son to get a gift box of gourmet hot sauces, the weirdest and spiciest ones I can find. He puts hot sauce in everything except ice cream (and I won't swear he hasn't tried that), and goes through the entire box by February.

My mom has a tradition of giving my brother a summer sausage gift box from Hickory Farms. He loves those things, and hides the box in his room so no one else will eat it.
A friend used to send me one of those Hickory Farms Gift boxes when I was in college. One definitely never shares the gift box.
 
Gingerbread men and cookie press butter cookies. I hate cookie presses, so it's gingerbread men.
 
Little mince pies...

iu

I don't think I've ever tried those, but they look good.


I got hooked on them while married to my first wife, they're a British thing, she's a Brit. The girlfriend and mother of my second child was a Brit as well... well, her mother was, so the tradition continued for a couple of more years. Mince pies and sausage rolls. The only two things I miss from those two relationships.

The Mrs. now makes them for me, well, the mince pies anyway...
 
Pimento stuffed green olives. The cheap ones in the jar. Mom always put them in my Christmas stocking because I love them, and because if she didn't, I'd end up emptying the dish on the table at Christmas dinner.

My stocking was always my favorite part of Christmas. One year when I was in my early twenties, mom decided I was too old for a stocking and announced it a day or so before Christmas. I didn't say anything to her, but I told a cousin how disappointed I was, and she told mom on Christmas Eve, when it was too late for her to do anything about it.

So I got up on Christmas morning to find one of those crocheted mini stocking ornaments tacked to the kitchen wall, with a rolled up $50 bill and, on a toothpick, one green olive attached to the top.
.

It's a tradition in our house for my oldest son to get a gift box of gourmet hot sauces, the weirdest and spiciest ones I can find. He puts hot sauce in everything except ice cream (and I won't swear he hasn't tried that), and goes through the entire box by February.

My mom has a tradition of giving my brother a summer sausage gift box from Hickory Farms. He loves those things, and hides the box in his room so no one else will eat it.
A friend used to send me one of those Hickory Farms Gift boxes when I was in college. One definitely never shares the gift box.

I always liked to go to the Hickory Farms kiosk that appears in the mall this time of year, and get their cranberry mustard. Goes well on literally any type of sausage. Somehow, ordering it online isn't the same. Maybe it's because online doesn't have the little tasting stations for the various cheeses and stuff.
 
Gingerbread men and cookie press butter cookies. I hate cookie presses, so it's gingerbread men.

I was waiting for someone to bring up Christmas cookies. :) Do you ever make gingerbread houses for Christmas? I used to make them with my youngest, until my hands got too arthritic for me to squeeze the frosting cone comfortably.
 
Little mince pies...

iu

I don't think I've ever tried those, but they look good.


I got hooked on them while married to my first wife, they're a British thing, she's a Brit. The girlfriend and mother of my second child was a Brit as well... well, her mother was, so the tradition continued for a couple of more years. Mince pies and sausage rolls. The only two things I miss from those two relationships.

The Mrs. now makes them for me, well, the mince pies anyway...

I'm not sure, but I think more traditional European holiday food is more of a thing back east than it is here in the Southwest. Kind of a shame, because I'm always willing to try something new in the food realm.

Another big Christmas tradition around here is tamales. If you aren't Mexican, or don't know a little old Mexican lady, you can always find one outside the supermarket this time of year, selling packages of homemade tamales to the gringos. I make excellent tamales, but unfortunately, my kitchen this year does not have the space necessary.
 
Little mince pies...

iu

I don't think I've ever tried those, but they look good.


I got hooked on them while married to my first wife, they're a British thing, she's a Brit. The girlfriend and mother of my second child was a Brit as well... well, her mother was, so the tradition continued for a couple of more years. Mince pies and sausage rolls. The only two things I miss from those two relationships.

The Mrs. now makes them for me, well, the mince pies anyway...

I'm not sure, but I think more traditional European holiday food is more of a thing back east than it is here in the Southwest. Kind of a shame, because I'm always willing to try something new in the food realm.

Another big Christmas tradition around here is tamales. If you aren't Mexican, or don't know a little old Mexican lady, you can always find one outside the supermarket this time of year, selling packages of homemade tamales to the gringos. I make excellent tamales, but unfortunately, my kitchen this year does not have the space necessary.

I lived in California during that time...

And I do miss tamales... Iamthisclose to making them myself... I haven't had any real good ones since I left Albuquerque in 2009...
 
Little mince pies...

iu

I don't think I've ever tried those, but they look good.


I got hooked on them while married to my first wife, they're a British thing, she's a Brit. The girlfriend and mother of my second child was a Brit as well... well, her mother was, so the tradition continued for a couple of more years. Mince pies and sausage rolls. The only two things I miss from those two relationships.

The Mrs. now makes them for me, well, the mince pies anyway...

I'm not sure, but I think more traditional European holiday food is more of a thing back east than it is here in the Southwest. Kind of a shame, because I'm always willing to try something new in the food realm.

Another big Christmas tradition around here is tamales. If you aren't Mexican, or don't know a little old Mexican lady, you can always find one outside the supermarket this time of year, selling packages of homemade tamales to the gringos. I make excellent tamales, but unfortunately, my kitchen this year does not have the space necessary.

I lived in California during that time...

And I do miss tamales... Iamthisclose to making them myself... I haven't had any real good ones since I left Albuquerque in 2009...

Homemade is THE only way to go with tamales. Sadly, it takes two days and an assembly line to get any reasonable number of them made. I usually make mine with a combination of pork and chicken, but green corn tamales are also amazing.
 
Either Indian food or Chinese - as those were usually the only places open on Christmas. ;)
 
Little mince pies...

iu

I don't think I've ever tried those, but they look good.


I got hooked on them while married to my first wife, they're a British thing, she's a Brit. The girlfriend and mother of my second child was a Brit as well... well, her mother was, so the tradition continued for a couple of
Gingerbread men and cookie press butter cookies. I hate cookie presses, so it's gingerbread men.
LOL I love good gingerbread too, but I've made it exactly once. I don't have a lot of patience or luck with roll out pastries, anyway, but gingerbread is the damndest dough I ever encountered. It nearly burnt out the motor on my little Sunbeam hand held electric mixer and it is sticky as hell. Stuck to the bread board, the cookie cutters, the cookie sheet, my fingers...had to use so much flour just to work them that they tasted pretty doughy.
I let others make them now, although hardly anyone adds enough spice.
 
Baked Candied yams/ sweet potatoes - brown sugar, walnuts, butter, orange peel.... simple recepie but delicious!

Homemade Pecan pie

Both passed down from my Southern.... land of Dixie paternal grandma. She taught her daughter in law, my mom, and my mom taught my older sis and me.

Also, it's not the Christmas season without that Panatone bread....It's like a light and buttery, Italian form of fruitcake.
 
Little mince pies...

iu

I don't think I've ever tried those, but they look good.


I got hooked on them while married to my first wife, they're a British thing, she's a Brit. The girlfriend and mother of my second child was a Brit as well... well, her mother was, so the tradition continued for a couple of
Gingerbread men and cookie press butter cookies. I hate cookie presses, so it's gingerbread men.
LOL I love good gingerbread too, but I've made it exactly once. I don't have a lot of patience or luck with roll out pastries, anyway, but gingerbread is the damndest dough I ever encountered. It nearly burnt out the motor on my little Sunbeam hand held electric mixer and it is sticky as hell. Stuck to the bread board, the cookie cutters, the cookie sheet, my fingers...had to use so much flour just to work them that they tasted pretty doughy.
I let others make them now, although hardly anyone adds enough spice.

Did you try chilling it before you worked with it? I had the mixer problem with a lot of things, until I finally broke down and bought a better, more-powerful one. What I really want is a Kitchen-Aid stand mixer.
 

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