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

  

Fresh Cranberry Roasted Almond Scones

Hello Friends! I can only hope your weekend has started off on the right food so far, and if not -  Let me try and help by sharing this scrumptious recipe and get you off on the right foot again, easy peasy sweetness in these fresh cranberry roasted almond scones. A perfect colour combination for this time of year and the flavours will tantalize every perfect bite. I use buttermilk in my pastry and sometimes cream to make a light and fluffy, stuffed with fresh Nova Scotia, dark red, ripe and juicy cranberries.  This is a perfect recipe to share with friends for the holidays.  They look so wonderful I took extra pictures of them just because of their vibrant colour. 

The taste of these scones really drives it home, all the way to walking in the back door of Grandma's when she has just taken hot butter biscuits from the oven and the smell is dancing around you so inviting. These scones taste amazing and like every scone they taste best the day they are baked. So don't fret, make these up ahead of time, cut them and freeze the unbaked scones on cookie sheets, then wrap them and freeze until the day you want to bake them fresh.

Lets get started, shall we?

Fresh Cranberry Roasted Almond Scones
2 c flour
1 TBS baking powder
3 TBS butter
1 c fresh cranberries
1 tsp almond extract
1 c butter milk, or cream
1/4 tsp salt

3 TBS sugar

Directions

Add flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, butter/margarine together in a bowl and cut in with a pastry blender.

Wash and rinse your cranberries and drain.

cutting the cranberries in half if they are large ones.

Don't they look festive? 

mix in the 1 cup of butter milk or cream & extract.

turn out onto a floured surface and kneed the dough.

roll out into a rectangle, put cranberries in the centre then fold over and put cranberries on top.

pour yourself some slivered almonds, brush the tops of your scones with milk.

sprinkle with almonds and a little sprinkling of sugar.

cut scones evenly.

place apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 400 F for 18 to 20 minutes.

Batch makes 8 scones, so invite over 4 people.

Take out the China and put on the tea.

let everyone choose their favourite cup

Serve up the scones nice and hot.

And be sure to copy and share the recipe of the one you just got.

I've been busy changing my colour scheme from Orange Pumpkin to Red Cranberry and I've put my tree up today over at "The Trails of Hats'N Hospitalitea"  so be sure to come by and have a look, I put it up but will take the next 25 days to decorate.

Grandma ~oo~