Anticipation is ruling our house these days. The holiday season is upon us, which includes family celebrations in addition to several birthdays that fall the week before and after Christmas. This means presents, late nights with games and laughter, a trip to our favorite Ethiopian restaurant, and an abundance of Good Food!
The boys have a basic understanding of this season. Ian can draw a manger scene with all the notable attendees, while Suki oscillates between shouting "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Bir-day, Jesus." Both can sing a mean version of Jingle Bells and a lovely Away in a Manger. And of course, they know about presents. While we down play the whole Santa mythology of the season, he sneaks his way in through other kids and relentless advertising.
My own anticipation is percolating as well. As an enthusiastic eater, I have no problem admitting to the joys of holiday eating. As I was making today's recipe, Zakin Ridi, a sesame cookie with just a hint of sweetness, I noticed the Swahili proverb on the bottom of the page in Extending the Table. "Eating is sweet; digging is weariness." Many of my posts reference my own daily 'digging,' the day to day grind of the working parent, but this season is a time for me to let go a little. I'm on vacation the week of Christmas after all. So I have a few more recipes in the works for the holidays (which means a few more blob posts:) that I hope will bring meaning and joy from reaching for new global experiences and traditions to weave into this celebration.
Today's cookie is already a merging of two traditions. The Christmas cookie is a staple of the season as I've come to know it, but I am not a keen cookie baker (despite my cooking adventures), though I won't pass up a sweet treat. We usually make cookies with my mom and the cousins, or John's family, and I take on more of a supervisory role. But today I made these cookies, mainly because the directions said that you could cut them to any shape you like. So I made snowmen, stars, bells, trees, candy canes, and stockings. The second tradition comes from the Nigerian cultural anecdote on the same page of the recipe. In Nigeria, the tradition is to share food on Christmas day with friends and neighbors because "food is a symbol of joyful sharing." Indeed! These cookies are on their way to my mom and stepdad and my coworkers.
One of the delights that comes from this blog is wondering where in the world people are reading this. If you have a tradition that involves sharing food, at any time, not just a holiday, please consider commenting here. The journey to experience a global community can be a shared one!
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Back in August I commented that one of my neighbors and I had exchanged our over-flowing stockpiles of fruit: she gave me a large flat of plums, and I gave her a ton of apples. I used some of the plums right then, and froze some. On the eve of Christmas Eve I used the frozen plums to make four loaves of Plum Spice Cake laced with Maple Sauce -- from another Mennonite Cookbook. I had the joy of taking one loaf to my neighbor and telling her it contained her plums.
-- from Lindsay in Glasgow
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