When I was in college, for a Western Lit. final project, I collected my favorite family recipes, one for each letter of the alphabet. I then compiled a recipe book and each page consisted of the ingredients and directions for each dish, as well as my own reflections/memories related to that particular food. The recipe book earned me an excellent grade in my class (this was in the days before Picaboo and iLife so the whole thing was hand made—with the help of my graphic designer husband of course.) I made a copy for my mother as I finished up finals, and have since made copies for each of my siblings—because the recipes are among our very favorites.
This year was my first time making a classic from the book: my mom's cinnamon rolls. And the smell, the taste, the flour all over the counter and dough rising by the heater vents will forever and always remind me of Christmas. This is a portion of what I wrote about them in the recipe book:
"I love to watch my mom make cinnamon rolls every Christmas Eve. She's always happy to be in the kitchen and creating a treat we have all come to love as part of a family tradition. I wonder if she remembers watching her own mom do the same thing as she knowingly kneads and rolls the dough. Carols accompany her rhythm and sing of her favorite holiday."
Those tasty treats are a key part of our Christmas celebrations—along with huge handmade stockings, German carols sung by Heintje, Wechtersbach dishes, and reading Luke 2 on Christmas Eve, gathered together as a family. I love that each tradition is rooted in a specific part of our family history: my big sis, born in December, came home from the hospital in a stocking big enough to fit a new baby—so my mom made each of us a big stocking to set out each year; we lived in Germany for 3 years when I was very young and all learned to speak the language fluently—German carols became so familiar and we learned to sing many of them...) I fill my home with these same things each year, in part to remind myself of the happy Christmases of my childhood but also in the hopes that they bring my darlings the same joy, the same anticipation, and the same reverence that I felt, and feel, every year.
*For the original recipe click here
3 comments:
I can't believe this was your first year making them! Nice PJs ;-)
Aren't those pjs the cutest? You should have seen me in mine with my huge belly poking out of them!
Love the cinnamon rolls. How is it that you have never made them?
I'm glad you finally made the rolls, Carrie. After writing about them so beautifully years ago, it's fun that you tried them. They are delicious, and taste like Christmas to me. Rarely I have made them at other times of the year, and never enjoy them as much because it isn't Christmastime. And, yes, they do remind me of my childhood, watching my mother make them for my dad's December birthday (to take to work), and then again for our family on Christmas Eve. I love that my children are continuing that tradition, and my mother would be so pleased, too. And all those other traditions--dishes and carols and stockings--I hope, too, that your little ones will remember Christmas with affection and joy and reverence.
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