I know that traditions passed down from family member to family member connect each of us to our heritage and to those who came before us. These traditions give meaning to the strange and sometimes superstitious behaviors or activities we involve ourselves in every year. Most of the time we reflect on family traditions around the holidays and continue the legacy left to us from our ancestors.
However, last year, on New Years Eve, my daughter and I began a new family tradition that I have and will carry out until my dying day. I'll do this for two reasons: one, I love cake and two, I love thinking of those who also used to bake this delicious dessert.
Last year I decided that on New Years Eve I would bake a red velvet cake and that for all of the years to come, on New Years Eve, I will bake a red velvet cake. Now, this isn't no ordinary cake, mind you, and the recipe is one that has been in my family for a long time.
Growing up, my mother would bake this cake for me each year on my birthday, and her mother used to bake this cake each year for her on her birthday. Now, I know that in order to continue on with the 'birthday' tradition of baking red velvet cake, I must still be baking this cake for my daughter on her birthday. If it comes in the near future that she would prefer this cake on her birthday, then of course I will not neglect her wish for this cake; however, because I'm still a child at heart, I want this cake at another time of year as well - not just on birthdays.
Last year I plopped my daughter up on the counter, we measured and stirred and measured some more. We baked and cooled and ate this delicious cake. Now that New Years has arrived this year, we continued with the tradition established last year. Today, I plopped my now two-year old daughter on the counter, we both wore our aprons and while I was measuring the sugar, she was also measuring the sugar (and then eating it). I read the directions line by line very carefully and she would mumble something along with me. At one point she was holding the recipe and, half jokingly, I asked her to tell me what ingredient came next. She scanned the recipe and blatantly told me, "Um...cake." Yes, that was right, cake came next!
Needless to say, the cake has cooled and has been topped with homemade icing and yes, we have already eaten a bit of this cake for lunch. I am anticipating next New Years Eve, with my daughter as my co-pilot reading me ingredients from the recipe and furthering this newly created tradition. In fifty years, when I'm almost 80 years old and she's in her fifties, I'm hopeful that we'll still come together and bake this cake on this day. Possibly then I'll fumble while reading the recipe and when she asks me what ingredient comes next, I'll quickly tell her, again half-jokingly, "Cake."
For the recipe of my Nannie's homemade Red Velvet Cake, see the 'Baking, Crocheting, Creating' column.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
The Creative Holiday Season
Now, to preface this post, I will acknowledge that I am not the only person on the planet who creates homemade gifts for friends and family at Christmas. I completely understand that possibly more people actually make gifts to give than buy gifts to give; however, I want to take the time today to share with you the memories I have of gift-giving and a few ideas I have for creative homemade gifts I'm giving out this year.
Although I'm sure there were lucrative Christmases for my family: I remember presents being stuffed under many a tree; there were also many years that money might have been an issue for my parents. (Though, like most children, I never recognized if we were poor or not). I have very early memories of my mother resorting to creativity and giving gifts from the heart. I remember her encouraging me to resort to ideas for gifts that we could make to give to our neighbors, friends and family. I'll never forget the famous cassette tapes she shipped off to each family member of my brother and I singing Christmas carols.
These gifts were long lasting as memories in many of my family's minds. I'm not sure that I necessarily remember all of the toys I received as a child, but I do remember and cherish the gifts that were homemade and/or passed down to me from past generations. I remember the feeling of elation and gratefulness when I received the gift and look upon the gift frequently in order to recapture those feelings over and over again.
Every holiday season, about the month of October, I begin preparing ideas for Christmas gifts. (To be perfectly honest, I list ideas all year long as they come to me, but really get serious about it in the month of October). In times past I've given crocheted hats, crocheted fingerless gloves, homemade vanilla extract, lavender salt scrub, scarfs, and so forth. There actually was one year that I spent two month crocheting 20-some scarfs...it was endless, and I learned my lesson.
This year, during the week of Thanksgiving, I finally got serious about brainstorming gift ideas. If I can just be honest for a second, I was not just brainstorming, but freaking out! I had nothing and no energy (as I just found out I was pregnant and was continuing to chase my two year old around). Somehow I came up with one great idea that I'm proud to share with you! This idea did not just come to me in the form of an hallucination, I found similar ideas at my local craft store, took them to Google and somehow my ideas manifested into something else.
This year many of my family members will be receiving Rapunzel Scarfs. In essence, this is a wonderful way to use up all of your left-over yarn that has been accumulating in the dark corners of your home. See the full description and explanation under 'Baking, Crocheting, Creating'. Basically, you measure out many strings of your previously used yarn to about 10 feet in length and then braid it. Once the scarf is on, it creates this very cool layered look! The inclusion of all sorts of colors and textures of yarn really adds to its uniqueness and allows you to wear this scarf with anything! I'm quite thrilled to give this colorful gift to my family members this year!
Although I'm sure there were lucrative Christmases for my family: I remember presents being stuffed under many a tree; there were also many years that money might have been an issue for my parents. (Though, like most children, I never recognized if we were poor or not). I have very early memories of my mother resorting to creativity and giving gifts from the heart. I remember her encouraging me to resort to ideas for gifts that we could make to give to our neighbors, friends and family. I'll never forget the famous cassette tapes she shipped off to each family member of my brother and I singing Christmas carols.
These gifts were long lasting as memories in many of my family's minds. I'm not sure that I necessarily remember all of the toys I received as a child, but I do remember and cherish the gifts that were homemade and/or passed down to me from past generations. I remember the feeling of elation and gratefulness when I received the gift and look upon the gift frequently in order to recapture those feelings over and over again.
Every holiday season, about the month of October, I begin preparing ideas for Christmas gifts. (To be perfectly honest, I list ideas all year long as they come to me, but really get serious about it in the month of October). In times past I've given crocheted hats, crocheted fingerless gloves, homemade vanilla extract, lavender salt scrub, scarfs, and so forth. There actually was one year that I spent two month crocheting 20-some scarfs...it was endless, and I learned my lesson.
This year, during the week of Thanksgiving, I finally got serious about brainstorming gift ideas. If I can just be honest for a second, I was not just brainstorming, but freaking out! I had nothing and no energy (as I just found out I was pregnant and was continuing to chase my two year old around). Somehow I came up with one great idea that I'm proud to share with you! This idea did not just come to me in the form of an hallucination, I found similar ideas at my local craft store, took them to Google and somehow my ideas manifested into something else.
This year many of my family members will be receiving Rapunzel Scarfs. In essence, this is a wonderful way to use up all of your left-over yarn that has been accumulating in the dark corners of your home. See the full description and explanation under 'Baking, Crocheting, Creating'. Basically, you measure out many strings of your previously used yarn to about 10 feet in length and then braid it. Once the scarf is on, it creates this very cool layered look! The inclusion of all sorts of colors and textures of yarn really adds to its uniqueness and allows you to wear this scarf with anything! I'm quite thrilled to give this colorful gift to my family members this year!
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