IndieBRAG Holiday Blog Hop


I have joined indieBRAG Medallion honorees for the month of December, on  http://www.bragmedallion.com/, for  this Christmas Blog Hop. Participating authors will share tales of Christmas traditions and more. Enjoy! And Happy Holidays to you!

Traditions…
Dad worked on the Christmas tree lot for the Optimists Club every year, selling beautiful and fresh-smelling pines and cedars. He could have brought home the fullest, tallest, most gorgeous tree, but money was always tight. We didn’t get the Charlie Brown tree, but we’d inspect the ones in the back of the lot and find one that was misshapen – you know, that one that had a noticeable gap in the branches. But it was our tree! Covered in lights, balls, and tinsel (and with that gap facing the corner wall), it was perfect.

When I was growing up, the tree would go up in the first or second week of December. My mom made the holidays so festive – she loved to fill the house with greenery, sparkly lights, Christmas candles, even Christmas-y soaps in the bathrooms.

The dining room table would be decked out in holiday colors, except when it was laden with presents being wrapped! One present that wouldn’t be there was Dad’s gift for Mom. Around 3 or 4pm on Christmas Eve, Dad would say ‘let’s go.’ We were off to the store to find a gift. He always knew exactly what he was going to buy, so we weren’t parading from one shop to the next. Straight to the appliance section for that new microwave; or to the jewelry counter – sometimes to both!

Mom made food gifts every year. Fudge, a dozen variety of cookies, and lasagna! We had lasagna-making parties. Four or more of us would sit at the kitchen table. Four types of cheeses would be shredded (none of that already shredded package stuff). Cooked noodles were in one bowl; more were cooking on the stove top. And the sauce – oh my! Mom called it her ‘meat sauce’ recipe, but Grandma Natale called it gravy.

My old card with Mom’s recipe is well-splattered, and I use the kitchen counter now to pull together my versions of sauce and lasagna. My pot is about 1/8 the size of the one Mom used. If you want the recipe for the meat sauce, I blogged about it 3 years ago; and Mom’s lasagna was delicioso! Lasagna has been our traditional Christmas dinner since I was a kid. Last year, we continued the tradition at my daughter’s house. My sons couldn’t join us, but they do remember that wonderful lasagna.

Nowadays at my house the tree trimming begins the day after Thanksgiving. I want to enjoy the holiday lights – including my Yoda tree-topper –  for several weeks. In my single-parent household,  we usually celebrated the holiday a week early every other year. The kids got two Christmases – one in Kansas and another in Florida. We enjoyed the tree when they returned, sometimes until the end of January. I do admit, I stop playing Christmas music on New Year’s Day.

What is or was your favorite stocking gift(s)?
Chocolate. Do people put other things in stockings?

What is your favorite Christmas story?
That’s a tough one… How about 3?
The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens; and
How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss.

Egg Nog or Cocoa?
I can have cocoa anytime throughout the year, so egg nog is a real treat during the holidays.

What is your favorite part of Christmas day?
I love the smell of spaghetti sauce bubbling away on the stove top for hours, the lasagna & italian sausage cooking, garlic bread baking, and just relaxing with family with Christmas lights blazing and music playing.

Do you go all out on Christmas decorations?
That would be a “yes.”  

(I had to include the blizzard picture – that was Christmas Day a few years back!)

What is your favorite Christmas movie and why?
White Christmas
. I love the music & singing, the dancing, the story. I cry every time the General sees what his friends and family have done for him. A favorite memory is of Mom and her sister Betty doing the sisters’ routine for a party at their retirement community.

Thank you for stopping by. Check out the other indieBRAG holiday participants. The next stop on the indieBRAG Christmas Blog Hop is tomorrow, December 13, with Martha Kennedy 

Happy Holidays to you & yours.

  1. Anna Belfrage Avatar

    Seriously, lasagna? If I tell my kids that, out goes the traditional Xmas food, in comes the pasta 🙂

    1. Char Avatar

      haha! When my oldest moved half a continent away and planned to visit for Christmas, that was the first thing he asked – ‘are we having lasagna with hot Italian sausage for Xmas dinner?’ 🙂

  2. Jackie Weger Avatar
    Jackie Weger

    Gosh! Love reading about different Christmas customs…especially the foods.
    Wishing you and yours a lovely holiday season.
    Jackie Weger
    Setting Up House

    1. Char Avatar

      Thanks, Jackie! And the same to you. 🙂

  3. jadey36 Avatar
    jadey36

    I want snow!

    Have a lovely Christmas, Char. May it be filled with lots of joy and laughter and yummy food!

    1. Char Avatar

      Same to you, Jadey! And I’ll take some of that snow too!

  4. AuthorJoePerroneJr Avatar

    No fair! Reading and envisioning all the delicious dishes has made my mouth water. I have been on a strict diet for nearly three months now, following a small stroke, so reading your post (as delightful as it was) has been torture. Lasagna was the main dish served by my former wife’s family on Christmas, and no one made it better than my former mother in law. (Maybe I can stray a bit this Christmas…but don’t tell a soul!)
    Thanks for sharing.

    1. Char Avatar

      Your secret is safe with me, Joe. Merry Christmas & happy lasagna! 🙂


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