What are you doing for the holidays?

The holidays are a very special time for me. When I was growing up, my mother created a lot of excitement around Christmas. It’s always around this time of year, I begin feeling that same excitement all over again! My husband Myron does a beautiful job decorating our home as you can see from the picture (here he is finishing up).

I’m in charge of decorating the inside of the home, which is equally as lovely (if I do say so myself!) The fun and festivities begin on Christmas Eve for our annual prime rib dinner. Myron is the chef behind this meal, which we enjoy with my stepsons Matt and Nick. On Christmas morning, my children Jacob and Jamie join us for stockings, gifts and traditional turkey dinner. This is the meal that I lovingly create in the memory of my Mom – Turkey (cooked breast down so all the juices run into the white meat), stuffing (recipe below), cranberries, mashed potatoes, carrots, green beans and of course homemade gravy! On Boxing Day, we travel to Cambridge for another turkey feast with my side of the family. And then January 6th and 7th, we celebrate a traditional Ukrainian Christmas with Myron’s family.

What’s your favourite holiday meal?

All the meals we enjoy around Christmas are delicious, but the turkey dinner is my favourite. I mean, how often do you get to enjoy turkey, stuffing, and cranberries all at once?!

Here’s my bread stuffing recipe, which dates back many generations of women in my family!

BROWN FAMILY STUFFING
For a 12 pound turkey:

12 cups of small pieces of bread picked by hand (I use a nutty whole wheat bread, but traditionally white bread is used)
1 cup of melted butter
9 tablespoons of chopped onions
¾ tsp of poultry seasoning
¾ tsp of savoury
¾ tsp of sage
3 tsp salt (I use a little less)
Ground pepper

Mix ingredients together and stuff your turkey!

What’s on your holiday playlist?

I love the traditional holiday classics sung by the great artists of the 1950’s. The Christmas CD’s of Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Elvis are always in rotation.

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