Holidays are as much about traditions, including food, as they are about celebrating! Our traditions are handed down from family, and we've created some of our own. Growing up, Christmas Eve was spent with grandparents and cousins. As we had our own families we started our own traditions.
As a mom, I try to make sure my boys learn our family traditions and pass them on the next generation. I am a scrapbooker and I've tried to take on the role of preserving family memories by creating memory books for both sides of the family. Gathering photos from past Christmases and other photos, I made Shutterfly books and sent them to Aunts, Uncles and cousins. I captured our family traditions and memories in those books.
Christmas Eve at Grandma Irene's with cousins and Great Uncle Leo always featured a table (now mine) laden with appetizers, candies, and baked goods. With our German and Polish roots, we enjoyed Polish sausage, summer sausage, cheeses, pickles and olives, pickled herring, and the Wisconsin specialty "cannibal sandwiches"—ground sirloin, raw on rye bread with salt, pepper, and raw onions. As a child, I loved them; now, as an adult, perhaps not as much. Christmas Eve at Papa's included card games and Grandma Helen's fruit cakes and stollen.
Over the years, we've enjoyed various Christmas Eve traditions with our immediate family. Sometimes we grill steak with shrimp cocktail, while other times we prepare a charcuterie, crab cakes, or even a tuna noodle casserole! When my hubby and I first got married, we lived in Philadelphia, where the Italian families celebrated the Feast of Seven Fishes as a Christmas tradition. Although hubby's family is Sicilian, they didn't celebrate the Seven Fishes tradition, but we did attempt it a few times. We almost always have some type of seafood on Christmas Eve. Our boys love all kinds of seafood! Living in the Bay Area, we have access to incredibly fresh seafood, and one of our favorite dishes is cioppino from Phil's Fish Market in Moss Landing. I suggested the idea of Seven Fishes to the boys, and they were enthusiastic... we started listing what we would get, and as we made the list, it reminded me of cioppino, so I asked if they were interested -- and the answer was a resounding "Yes!"
We headed to the fishmonger (yes, there's one at our local farmer's market, with fresh catches from Monterey Bay!) and the nearby Italian grocery store to purchase fish. Our selection included sole, Alaskan crab leg meat, littleneck clams, stone crab claws, mussels, scallops, shrimp, and salmon. Although technically eight types of fish, I don't particularly like salmon, but the boys wanted it, so we served it separately. We referred to Phil's recipe and merged it with another one I found intriguing.
(Pictures courtesy of #2 son)
Making the cioppino was truly a family effort. Our #1 son chopped onions and garlic, #2 son was the total sous chef, cleaning the fish, taking pictures, stirring the pot and hubby took care of the crab. We had actually wanted squid, but the fishmonger gave us scallops instead! We've never prepared clams or mussels at home before, so there was a lot of stirring and monitoring each type of seafood. I must say, the sauce turned out amazing, and the cioppino was even better. Now that we know how long the shelled seafood takes, we can better time when to add it to the sauce next time. Hubby picked up sourdough bread, making it a perfect Feast of the Eight, not Seven Fishes.
No matter where we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, breakfast on Christmas morning always included Polish sausage and eggs. Dad would visit the butcher shop to buy Grappi's sausage. My brother and I have continued this tradition with our own families and enjoy it when we visit Mom and Dad for Christmas. Growing up in Wisconsin and the Midwest made it easy to find quality Polish sausage. After relocating to California, we discovered a German butcher shop that crafts homemade Polish sausage! We took it to Grandpa and Grandma's, and they approved!
The Polish sausage was excellent. Dad and I enjoy our Polish sausage with a blend of ketchup and fresh horseradish. Our family is evenly divided between preferring over medium fried eggs and scrambled eggs. Every year, including this one, I set the table for Christmas morning breakfast, and usually, it's Fiesta.
A few years back, Zulily featured the cutest gnome pattern on white Fiesta. I truly wish they had introduced a few more variations because it's just so charming! The white luncheon plate, layered on Scarlett and Shamrock, makes for the ideal Christmas table setting, and the tartan plaid brings everything together beautifully! The Fiesta Christmas tree plates and salsa bowls serve as fruit bowls, while Noritake Breeze glasses are used for juice, and Mikasa Harmony silverware completes the setting.
The final Christmas tradition for Christmas Day is my dad's recipe lasagna for dinner, but that is another post!
Happy Holidays!
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