Food that says Holiday!

[user 26]

the recipe for latkes got me wondering ... is there something that you cook or smell cooking that means 'holiday' for you?
in my family we've been making an old fashioned plum pudding with flora dora sauce for generations. for my brothers and sisters and me, the smell of that is totally christmas.
but, for my kids, it's simple cinnamon rolls with icing. one year, just on a whim, i picked up a pack of the refrigerator kind and made them on christmas morning with coffee. the kids went crazy. now they are all adults and 'must have' them at gift opening time. what a riot! one year, i bought cinnabons at the mall ... OMG ... amazing. another year, a woman i knew made them from scratch. over the top! but my 'kids' are just as happy with the refrigerator kind (but not the store brand, they were a disappointment) ... last year, one of them rushed to a convenience store to get some to make before gifts could be opened.

 

[user 26]

one year, at the inn, i was baking a pumpkin pie and some guests came rushing to the kitchen. 'it smells like christmas in here!' they were very excited. i would have thought thanksgiving, but to them it was christmas.

 

[Morticia]

We didn't have any sort of 'traditional' food thing we had or that makes me think of Christmas, but whenever we have dinner rolls, everyone is reminded of the time my mother put the Pillsbury dough in a can into the freezer and it died. Hockey pucks.
However, my oldest grandson makes a wicked good applesauce and I was JUST thinking before I sat down at the computer that I should have him make that here for Christmas.

 

[bbinnsitters]

Every Holiday I have to make "floor cake" (Xmas, T-day, Easter) We call if floor cake in my family becos the 1st time my sister made it (at age 13) she proceeded to drop it on the floor when trying to turn it from the bundt pan to the plate as soon as it comes out of the oven. We ate it anyways and we all loved it. My father took over making it, and one year (1979) when most of us were moved out of the house he made one for everyone for Xmas (they freeze well) and also gave us the recipe. I have been making them since about 1985 for our breakfasts on holidays! The original name was Chatterbox Coffee Cake and altho I have never made it at a B&B I did one time take our leftovers to a local B&B and made the guests yummy grilled floor cake! (Think Grilled sticky buns)

 

[JBloggs]

Yes we just made iced decorated sugar cookies tonight in the shape of stars. Now I have a bit of left over cream cheese frosting - in lime green that I need to use for something else.
When we lived in the PAC NW we at one point had a group of friends who each and every Christmas eve made the trek out to every friends house locally and delivered a basket of home made cookies - all sorts. I really loved that and looked forward to it, you never stayed or hung out you just made the rounds and it was so much fun!

 

[Morticia]

Yes we just made iced decorated sugar cookies tonight in the shape of stars. Now I have a bit of left over cream cheese frosting - in lime green that I need to use for something else.
When we lived in the PAC NW we at one point had a group of friends who each and every Christmas eve made the trek out to every friends house locally and delivered a basket of home made cookies - all sorts. I really loved that and looked forward to it, you never stayed or hung out you just made the rounds and it was so much fun!.

That's a nice tradition. My December recipe for my guests was a link to all the great Christmas cookie recipe sites so they could think about doing their own cookie exchange.
I may think about that for next year for a cookie walk around town.

 

[gillumhouse]

Thanksgiving and Christmas it is the homemade cranberry sauce for my group and New Years Eve DH wanted a pot of chili. For our radio news director who comes here for his holiday dinners it is scalloped corn - and i make it for him.
When the kids were at home, I would spend a week's grocery money for New Years Eve and if I did not have the day off would take a vac day so the kids & I could make fancy things like mushrooms stuffed with crabmeat, shrimp, all sorts of horse's ovaries as a friend of DH called them. I wanted them to know they were as important as any muckeyt-mucks, We would put the food on a bench in the living room, light a fire in the fireplace and have at it. After they moved out, everyone came home a 6 PM for the New Years food before they went partying. That is one of the things we miss now.