Thanks to Iris Page (daughter of Morley and Grace Page) and her daughter Michelle for sharing their memories of Christmas.
Christmas at the Farm
Christmas dinner at the farm was a big affair with lots of
good food. We always started with a glass of tomato juice, we never had it at
any other time. We would eat chicken, not turkey as we had chickens on the
farm. We would have 3 vegetables, always potato, turnip and peas and carrots.
Mother would make gravy and the chicken was always carved at the table. For
dessert we would have a choice of plum pudding with home made ice cream or
minced meat pie with home made ice cream. The plum pudding would have lots of dip,
Dad always loved lots of dip for it. There would be light and dark Christmas
bread, shortbread and squares as well.
We would have family come for dinner, Aunt Edna and Ruth,
Uncle Herm and Aunt Gert with their kids and sometimes Aunt Glad and Uncle
Harry from Detroit. Herm and Glad were Dads brother and sister. We would switch
each year with Uncle Herm and Aunt Gert, one would do Christmas dinner , the
other New Years. At home after dinner we would go tobogganing, there always
seemed to be lots of snow.
Recipes:
Mince meat pie and plum pudding recipes have been lost, the
plum pudding recipe did not have any suet type ingredient in it, it was very
much a plum pudding and always had a dip with it to pour over it.
Christmas cake recipes also not found although the dark
Christmas cake was the usual type, and the light Christmas cake was basically a
white cake with raisins, peel and candied cherries in it.
Squares and shortbread :
Shortbread:
1 cup soft butter
½ cup brown sugar
2 cups flour
Cream butter and sugar, gradually add flour ¼ at a time.
Roll out to ¼ inch thickness and cut into shapes, decorate with cut up candied
cherries.
Bake at 325 for 9-12 minutes will be done when golden
around the edges
Cherry
Squares:
Bottom:
1 ½ cups flour
¼ cup brown sugar
½ cup butter
Mix like pastry and press in 11x7 pan. Bake at 350 for 8
minutes
Top:
2 egg whites (beaten stiff)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 ¼ cups brown sugar
2 tsp flour
1 cup glazed cherries , chopped up
½ tsp vanilla
Mix all the ingredients together and spoon on top of cooled
bottom
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes
Butter
Mallow Squares:
Bottom:
¾ cup soft butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 ½ cup flour
Mix like pastry, put in 9x12 pan and prick well. Bake at
325 for 15 minutes
Top:
2 envelopes of unflavoured gelatin
½ cup cold water
2 cups sugar
½ cup warm water
½ tsp vanilla
Food colour , red or green
Options – ½ cup maraschino cherries, cut up and /or ½ cup
walnuts in small pieces, if you do both then use ¼ cup each
Soften gelatin in cold water
Combine sugar and warm water in a pot, boil for 2 minutes
Dissolve gelatin in hot syrup
Beat with mixer until stiff
Add vanilla, food colouring and cherries/walnuts, mix
Pour over shortbread bottom
Cool
Cut with hot knife
