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Sundancer7 14 years, 7 months ago.
Christmas Breakfast
More than our Christmas dinner, our Christmas breakfast reflects my family’s Pennsylvania Dutch heritage, and later some Swedish additions in the form of in-laws. For many years, we had "Ob’l Puffers" (apple fritters) and sausage (SMOKED sausage of course – I never tasted fresh sausage till I was a teenager at the county fair – with onions, peppers, on a hero roll, etc.) for Chistmas breakfast, after a round of opening presents (with more to come after we ate.) We, too, open presents one at a time and ooh and aah over each. Dinner was generally roast beef, with Parmesan scalloped potatoes, salads and vegetables, and either Peach Kuchen (the world’s BEST dessert) or apple crisp for dessert.
Later on, my brother married a girl of Swedish heritage, and we had the MOST amazing Christmas morning buffets – cold meats and cheeses, home made coffee cakes, fresh squeezed orange juice, fresh homemade croissants (crisp, not soggy like from the grocery store bakery), thin Swedish pancakes with ligonberries, and I don’t remember what all, but it was a huge table full of stuff. We nibbled all day and then sat down to a huge dinner, too. However, my brother and his then-wife got divorced, so those Swedish buffets are now just a memory, alas. She’s now a caterer and doing them professionally, I suppose.
We are traditionally up very late on Christmas Eve with a church service that ends at midnight and the final touches that always seem to be done that night. Now that my kids are teens, we actually sleep in and I no longer spend the entire Christmas Day in a fog. However, our other traditions remain the same. We spend most of the day opening gifts to the accompaniment of recorded Christmas music, because we do it one at a time and we take our time. Sometime around mid morning, we take a break and have a huge platter of scrambled eggs, bacon and some nice crisp croissants with raspberry jam. Orange Juice, coffee and hot chocolate complete the menu. It is simple, satisfying and keeps us until dinner time with ample sampling from everyone’s chocolate boxes. Dinner is usually at 5:30 and varies between ham or beef. But that leisurely breakfast is the high point of the day for me, after that first cup of coffee when the girls bring their stockings to our room and we empty them piece by piece. The main point of Christmas Day for us is that after a very hectic season, we don’t have to go anywhere and we just enjoy spending the day together, relaxing, watching the inevitable A Christmas Story on TV and nibbling. Our tree goes up the Sunday before Christmas (it used to go up Christmas Eve when the girls were little) and comes down on 12th Night.
quote:
Originally posted by Sundancer7
Breakfast is my favorite meal. I cannot tell you why and perhaps it is the breaking of the fast. Perhaps it is the taste of breakfast potatoes with onions, peppers, jalapenos and spices, perhaps the taste of country sausage with sage, bacon seasoned with maple, country ham with red eye gravy, Texas toast, East Tennessee bisquits, East Tennessee corn bread, eggs fried many different ways, orange marmalade, apple butter, myple syrup, sausage gravy and cinnamon rolls.All of the above makes one hellavu breaking of the fast.
I sure do love breakfast.
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN
Sundancer, SO and I looked at the above menu…..well, for quite a long time. Looked at each other and said……wow…….that is…..well……orgasmic. Whew! We can’t imagine all that food on one table at the same time in the same house in the morning! We feel like we’re splurging if we have 2 strips of bacon and one egg….and that’s out on the boat or in the camper! Enjoy the above cuz it sure sounds wonderful!
I do not care what your politics or religion is, you are welcome to the Sundancer’s residence and I assure you that we will have enough for all of the roadfooders.
I cannot imagine what it would take to feed you all, but I am sure that Walmart would have enough that I could buy.
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN
Being Jewish, I’ve never had any Christmas morning eating rituals (although Chinese food usually shows up on the dinner menu). But, I’m changing that this year: Sundancer, I’ll be there by 6 a.m. I’ll be the drooling guy, holding a knife and fork (which is how I usually walk around the other 364 days as well, except for the fork. But, I figure it’s a special occasion). [;)]
Breakfast is my favorite meal. I cannot tell you why and perhaps it is the breaking of the fast. Perhaps it is the taste of breakfast potatoes with onions, peppers, jalapenos and spices, perhaps the taste of country sausage with sage, bacon seasoned with maple, country ham with red eye gravy, Texas toast, East Tennessee bisquits, East Tennessee corn bread, eggs fried many different ways, orange marmalade, apple butter, myple syrup, sausage gravy and cinnamon rolls.
All of the above makes one hellavu breaking of the fast.
I sure do love breakfast.
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN
My wife’s family has an interesting tradition for Chistmas morning. They all have a shot of whiskey (they are not a drinking family) and then eat homemade pickled pig’s feet.
Go figure.
quote:
Originally posted by lleechef
Sundancer, you’re making me hungry…….those bisquits SURE sound divine. i95, choose the (c) option, Jack Daniels is good in coffee in the AM!! [:o)]
Alright, lleechef. I’m aiming to be a convert to your and Sundancer’s evil ways come Christmas day. [;)]
A Stollen–if i can find one–with coffee–mine is of the Irish persuasion—while opening gifts then a frittatta afterwoods usually with lots of parmesean and diced genoa salami in it. oh yes —-and my friend for life’s homaemade fruitcake![:D]Goes GREAT with that Celtic coffee!
Sundancer, you’re making me hungry…….those bisquits SURE sound divine. i95, choose the (c) option, Jack Daniels is good in coffee in the AM!! [:o)]
I make sticky cinammon rolls every year for Christmas morning. My kids expect them, and heaven help me if I deviate from tradition.
Baileys Irish Cream in coffee is the ideal "Christmas morning spirit"!
Two things:
1. For Christmas morning, our house is graced with a pancake-dish my wife makes called "Wooden Shoes" (served with syrup and or fruit). It resembles a Swedish breakfast dish phoenetically called "fess-pen-cocker." I wish I knew the actual spelling but, regardless, it’s good. This is usually followed by my discretely "lifting" as much German chocolate from the kids’ stocking hoping they don’t notice.
2. Sundancer7:
"Mello Joy coffee with Jack Daniels" for breakfast ?? I don’t know whether I should be: (a) outraged; (b) visualize your Doctor Denton-outfitted kids opening their gift cases of smokes that morning; (c) or book my flight to Knoxville for December 25th.
[:D][:D][:D]
Our family Christmas morning tradition is that we have oyster stew for breakfast, along with whatever other breakfast the individual in question wants to eat (cold cereal with fruit, leftover baked ham on home-made rolls from the night before, or buttered raisin toast, for example).
Ruby Rose: We take down the tree on the afternoon of Christmas day because my mother in law leaves later on in the day and she always assist. I really appreciate that because I always dread putting the 30-40 boxes of stuff in the attic.
East Tennessee bisquits are my mothers version of bisquits. She uses lard instead of vegetable oil and she coats them with sweet and slightly salted butter before putting them in the oven. A portion of them she adds sugar and cinnamon to the top. The rest of them come out brown and crusty. I like them hot and small. I generally coat them with some brown sausage gravy that has a lot of pepper in it. In addition we always have red eye sugar cured ham gravy that mom always adds a degree of coffee to. Great for dipping your hot bisquit in. Mom fries all her eggs hard and sunny side up.
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN
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