Ole St. Nicholas

Jolly Old St. Nicholas 

Who was St. Nicholas anyway, well we know that he was wealthy and his parents died at a young age and he was a fellowship of God.  His riches he spread among the sick, the needy and the poor so he could dedicated his life to serving God. 

Memory:  When the girls were young I remember my girlfriend Lorna and I spent hours wrapping presents to put under the tree and in the stockings.  The next day I mentioned that we didn't put a name on any one of the gifts and we had to open them to find out who's was who's. 

Song:  Jolly Old St. Nicholas.

Jolly Old St. Nicholas;

Learn your ear this way;

Don't you tell a single soul

What I'm going to say;

Christmas Eve is coming soon;

Now my dear old man,

Whisper what you'll bring to me;

Tell me if you can.

Tradition:  One of my long time favourites was having traditional Montreal meat pie Tourtiere

 on Christmas Eve. These meat pies are wonderful, tasteful, juicy, and hearty. 

1 lb ground beef

1 lb ground pork

1 large onion chopped

1 clove garlic chopped

3/4 cup water

2 stocks celery chopped fine

4 Tbs beef bovril

left over mashed potatoes

1 bay leaf

salt  & pepper

Put meat, onion, garlic, celery, bay leaf into a pot and boil for 45 minutes.  Make pie crust.  Remove bay leaf. While hot add your mashed potatoes, and brovril. Pour into pie crust and put a lid on it.  Pinch the edges closed and bake 375 for 40-50 minutes.

School:  Each year the kids would put on a Christmas play at school and at Sunday school.  I always enjoyed watching the kindergarten classes and how the teacher would crouch down and instruct the kids when it was their turn to speak next.  There was always one kid who sang the loudest or just stood there and when everyone left the stage they kept standing there.  

Cards: It was a big thing in our family to mail out Christmas Cards, I still do.  But I remember Grandma had a cord strung across the living room ceiling and the cards all hung on it.  Then more came in and we would run the string another way and start hanging more cards on that one.  Soon the living room was full of cards.  You don't get many cards hand written these days but I like to keep this tradition even with the many cards you get in email today. 

I hope you enjoyed my Christmas Memory today.

I've finished my baking for the Christmas Cookie Exchange.

And someone has dropped their baking off, it is looking yummy here already.

xoxo Grandma