Do you remember...

The first time you cooked the holiday meal.

many people have fond memories or mom or grandma making Christmas dinner and it is a really big deal when you finally do it yourself for the first time.

Do you remember that day? Are you looking forward to that day? Do you do thing the same way or different?

I can't remember holiday meals when I was growing up so I have no idea who actually did it. I have been doing the holiday meal for so long I can't even remember the first time. However, I do remember when I have taken over certain food items. My godmother used to make rum balls. She has been sick for many years and hasn't done them so a few years back I decided to give it a go and the number demanded has grown since then. The first year I did a couple dozen. Now I can do upwards of 10 dozen.

And this year I have decided to take on peanut brittle. I have been wanting to for a long time but I decided this is the year.

Share yoru holiday dining stories.

I don't rememebr holiday meals...it was always so different and different foods i grew up eating mostly italian and vietnamese cooking so was very different at times looking in from the outside...i know for one thing we always had food leftover for weeks and would send food home with people. personally i make a lot of rum cakes around the winter season and let them soak and sit for 2-3months than they are ready by christmastime.
i think it should be all about different kinds of deserts...but than again i went to culinary school so yeah i love food but desserts my specialty!
one thing i don't like though is when people make the same recipe every holiday i like to try new things and mix it up...but that's just me.

I too like different things but I like to stick to a few basics. First, there is always pie. The exact pies change according to the wishes of those who want them. I make no fewer than 6 pies every year. I also do various cookies and sorts including a few different variations to rum balls, russian tea cakes and other odd things. I like to try something new every year.

When I was about nine, my Mom quickly figured out that I was better at baking than she was, I'd been helping her cook since I was about 4, so I officially took over all the baking for the family. Plus I liked doing and my mother didn't like cooking. I'd go nuts at Christmas making Christmas cake, two kinds of shortbread, stoelen, and then every year I'd also try a completely new desert from somewhere around the world. I don't do much baking now, single, no close family, usually spend the holiday with friends & they always have so much food, anything I'd do would be redundant.

But whenever I go out to visit my brother, I get asked to bake all his favourite deserts. I tend to go out there for Easter, so I tend to bake Easter deserts, plus stock up his freezer with cookies and butter tarts. But the main thing I absolutely have to make is Oatmeal rolls. They're my great grandmother's recipe and dead simple to make & he loves them. I've offered to teach his wife to make them multiple times, but I think she's afraid of making bread with yeast, so I'm pretty much guaranteed a day of baking when I go out there. It's actually kind of fun.

--splitimage

I remember my first Christmas away from home and first time I cooked. I had been overseas for 9 mos and my folks sent me two care packages with all the fixings for what was traditionally a Thanksgiving meal but for Christmas. The one box had a dry iced small turkey, peas, green beans, butter, and a pumpkin pie. The other had candied yams, potatoes, stuffing, french's onions and soup for green bean casserole, cranberries, seasonings, a browning bag, a turkey pan, a baster, stock, a meat thermometer, and recipes for each thing specifically because up until that point I had never made any of these things; they always had. All I needed to get was cream. The turkey still was too big for the oven I had, so I had to borrow the neighbor's. I invited them plus some others over for dinner that night as I had enough food for 8.

Thank goodness it actually came out as it was supposed to and didn't kill anyone either. There were still leftovers that enjoyed until New Year's. It was so nice having a touch of home in that moment being so far away and feeling so isolated. The comfort of the food and new company was just amazing, and also how food brings people together.

A big thing at home, is baking for my family, every year my mom goes on a baking frenzy, we all sort of team up and bake, try different recipes, and just enjoy each other's company, another tradition this time of year is fudge, we make fudge and hand it out with presents.

Another food that stands out in my mind is fried sweet potatoes, I don't know why, but I remeber watching my great grandmother slice them and fry them in her cast iron skillet and watching the butter and oil bubble and cook the sweet potatoes, my great grandmother has passed on, but we carry on the tradition with the same cast iron skillet now

The first time I cooked a holiday meal was Christmas 2004. My mom was very sick (cancer) so I cooked the family meal that day. It was an awesome meal if I might add lol.

I remember my first holiday meal after I was married. I was stressed and all but everything came out pretty good. I had helped my mom cook for a long time so I pretty much had it all under control. It was the timing of having things done together that had me going the most LOL.

I feel badly this year as I haven't had the time to bake like I normally do. I took over the baking after my mom passed in 1981. She used to be known as the "Cookie Monster" because she made tons of cookies and sweets. Boy were they good!

If I have time during the month of December I usually make the following:

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Peanut Butter Cookies
Empire Biscuit Cookies
Shortbread cookies or bars
Banana Bread
Pumpkin Bread
Jewish Coffee Cake
Chocolate Pistachio Cake
Pepperoni & Cheese Bread

I've never gotten along with dough so baking pies has never been one of my things. I can't even make homemade pizza dough I'm so bad with it LOL.

I hope everyone enjoys their special treats!

all i remember are terrible holiday meals, where we got hit on the head with spoons for not having any manners at grammas, and not being welcome at the relatives, and when it was my turn, i didn't like having all those people in my little apartment, drinking,,, n stuff,, no,, i much prefer to celebrate the Winter Solstice in Peace and Quiet~! but for all you who do go to the trouble to feed the family, i congradulate you, and wish you well ~!! Gus

[quote=Dark_Dreams;1623975]The first time you cooked the holiday meal.

many people have fond memories or mom or grandma making Christmas dinner and it is a really big deal when you finally do it yourself for the first time.

Do you remember that day? Are you looking forward to that day? Do you do thing the same way or different?

I can't remember holiday meals when I was growing up so I have no idea who actually did it. I have been doing the holiday meal for so long I can't even remember the first time. However, I do remember when I have taken over certain food items. My godmother used to make rum balls. She has been sick for many years and hasn't done them so a few years back I decided to give it a go and the number demanded has grown since then. The first year I did a couple dozen. Now I can do upwards of 10 dozen.

And this year I have decided to take on peanut brittle. I have been wanting to for a long time but I decided this is the year.

Share yoru holiday dina Yes I remember on christmas day when I was a little girl my mom would bake cakes and sweet potato pie and mac n chesse and glaze ham.I am looking for her christmas cooking .Now I like to bake cookies and cakes .I love the holidays pop In our netflix movies and enjoy ourselves.Hope everyone have an good christmas huggs