Old Fashioned Christmas Favorites

I checked out this book when I was at the library a few days ago. It is chock full of ideas for Christmas decorating, handmade gifts, recipes and holiday menus. It also has lots of memories and traditions from hundreds of families, which is the section I most enjoyed.

Here are a few of the traditions I particularly like:

Because the holidays are so busy and the grandchildren seem to receive so many gifts from Santa, my husband and I started a tradition of having the grandchildren open their gifts from us on Christmas Eve. After church, the children come home, settle down with hot chocolate and cookies, and open their special gifts from Gram and Grampa. This way it makes the holidays seem a little longer and more special. It gives the children a chance to realize what Gram and Grampa gave them instead of the gifts being lost in the excitement of Santa's gifts. People on fixed incomes can't afford large gifts, especially when they have several grandchildren, so this special time makes their gifts see more important and much more fun. When some of the grandchildren live far away, this also makes a special time on Christmas Eve to remember the grandparents who sent the gifts.

We have a tradition in our family that was started many years ago by my mother, called "Santa's Sleigh." We have a Santa doll and a little wicker sleigh, which sit on a table filled with tiny, but brightly colored, decorated packages. There is one package in the sleigh for each friend and family member who will be sharing Christmas dinner with us. The gifts are not opened until Christmas evening when we are having dessert. Then one of the children gets to pass out a gift to each person. It could be a pair of earrings, a small bottle of cologne, or a toy. The gits are small, but everyone looks forward to opening them, especially the children, because even after all of the festivities of Christmas Day they know that they will still have one gift left to open.

Each year my father would read from Dicken's A Christmas Carol to us in the evenings before going to bed. This would take a full week and the story would end on Christmas Eve.

And a recipe that looks yummy:

Scottish Shortbread

1 C butter, softened
1 C margarine, softened
1 C powdered sugar
4 C all-purpose flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt

Preheat oven to 300°. Mix butter and margarine until creamy. Gradually add the sugar. Next add the remaining dry ingredients. Turn the dough out onto counter and knead gently about 10 times. Shape into a rectangle on a large cookie sheet. Pierce at 2 inch intervals all along top of shortbread. Bake for one hour. Once properly browned, cut immediately into small rectangles. Leave in pan to cool for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.