Christmas Recipes and Traditions

The Folklore of Family Christmas Traditions;

Recipes and Occurrences that Happen Yearly

Katelyn Ankenman

ENG 365: Folklore

Dr. Adam Davis

March 30, 2025

Introduction 

Family Christmas traditions and recipes have long been known to bring joy and togetherness during the holiday season. Whether it is decorating the tree or baking cherished family recipes, these traditions create lasting memories and stories to spread through the generations. Sharing festive meals and special moments strengthens bonds and makes Christmas a time of love, togetherness and celebration. This is a deep look into my family in missouri and their Christmas traditions that are unique to our family.

Background

The traditions and recipes I did my fieldwork over are specifically ones found in my family, however when doing my outside research I found some overlap. In my family it is very common on my dads side to make cinnamon rolls, holly candy, and turtle pieces and give them out as gifts. On my moms side, we make bacon grease green beans and bring in an assortment of pies. All of these recipes are either recipes from a great grandma on the respective side or a recipe learned from a coworker. As far as traditions go, my moms side decorates the tree together the week after thanksgiving and my dads side doesn’t put one up at all. My dads side goes ice skating and my moms side watches Christmas movies the day before Christmas. Most of these traditions have been going on since at least 1960. While the story of how each tradition was created or the skills used to make each recipe have changed over time, the impact they still have on my family is very evident. I haven’t seen many of these outside my family.

History on my Dad’s Side

My great grandma was born in 1918 to Irish immigrant parents who came over through Ellis Island. She got married and had five children very young. She worked as a nurse for a short while before opening a cafe in her hometown, The Norton Cafe. This is where the most treasured recipe and tradition on my dad’s side originated. For as long as I can remember, homemade from scratch cinnamon rolls have been a staple on Christmas Eve. Before she passed on when I was 13 I would always hear her from the kitchen telling my aunts, “more butter. Spread it evenly, not thin enough.” As I grew older I was let in to help since she learned I wanted to attend culinary school. While we still make the cinnamon rolls every year, we no longer make the dough from scratch and we now grate the butter frozen instead of cutting them into the world's smallest fragments for 30 minutes until it is enough. This shows conservation and variation. To gather the research on this side of the family I talked to my aunt that I always bake with a few times to learn the history. She told me, “My grandma Marie always helped in the kitchen until she couldn’t anymore, and even then she’d still supervise.” My grandma cries every year when we make them because of the memories with her mom.

The next recipe is holly or green marshmallow corn flakes with red hots. This one has been around since the 1990s. My grandma Charlene gathered this recipe from an office cookbook her coworkers put together and since then we can’t keep it stocked for longer than three days and the request list grows each year. The change comes from the requests received. According to my aunt, “your great aunt asks for two dozen, your mom likes hers less green, and you, you like yours so green it's almost black and your teeth are stained,” she said with a laugh. It's a hit and telling stories of how my aunt stained the countertop or accidentally set the cornflakes on fire brings everyone together. This is why it is my favorite recipe and tradition each year. 

The last recipe is turtles which are pretzels with Rolos and pecans. My grandma found it in an article in the early 2000s and we have made it every year since. The tradition brings togetherness in my family because we all gather in the kitchen to unwrap at least 70 Rolos together. When I interviewed my grandma, she said, “While it is the least eaten of the treats we make, everyone gets a kick out of unwrapping the chocolate and being together for at least an hour out of our busy lives.” This recipe is more about love and togetherness than the food itself, which honestly is a rare time in my home. 

On this side I only have two traditions, the absurd white elephant exchange and ice skating. White Elephant is a kind of secret santa where you are tasked with getting a random gift and going around to each person picking  or stealing a gift and guessing who bought it,  For the absurd white elephant you have to be at least 18 to participate. There is a theme each year and that is continuous. The change is the theme like wrapping the gift in a pair of boxers or what is in your junk drawer and also how the host gets chosen. In the past it was a debate, but now it is whoever gets the toilet mug. It's a time full of laughs and nobody ever misses Christmas Eve because this tradition is so cherished. We also ice skate on Christmas Eve’s Eve. At one point we did this in the crowded Crown Center Plaza, but now we go to the Maverick’s stadium. This started four years after I was born as a way for me and eventually my brother to bond with our extended family. It causes a lot of laughter because of my brother and I’s lack of balance but daredevil ways. While it involves a smaller group, it is always a blast.

History on my Mom’s Side

On my mom’s side the history is arguably a lot shorter. Unfortunately that is due to some feuding on that side off and on as well as the sudden death of my great grandma from an aneurysm. However, we have preserved some tradition. This includes green beans, pie, and Christmas trees. Christmas is much less chaotic in some ways on this side and conducting research was harder given the fading memories of those who uphold the traditions. 

Starting off with the world's best green beans. My great aunt got this recipe from her mom. They are potato and bacon grease green beans. No nutritional value, tons of flavor. Everyone in my family has tried to recreate great grandma’s food and nobody gets the flavor right, except my great aunt. During my second interview with her, she helped guide me through making them. She told me, “everyone loves them not only because they taste good but also because my mom was so incredibly special to so so so many people.” In this case it is about the food, but more so remembering a massive matriarch in my family and remaining close to her memory. 

Second is the pies. This is also linked to great grandma and is a whole slew of recipes none of us could master. Que the store bought pie assortment. It used to be tradition that every Sunday up until 2003, to go over to my GG's house and she would make three pies from scratch of peoples request. She would make even more at Christmas time. After she died, Sunday dinners stopped and making pie was never the same. Now we bring in two pumpkin pies, a french silk, and a pecan pie (the only one still sometimes made by hand). My great aunt said, “pie was mom’s thing, it was her niche, everyone knew that. It just became too much for me to uphold after she died and grandkids started being born, but I wanted the tradition to still exist in essence still.” 

Lastly is the decorating of the tree. This one mainly occurs in my direct home. My mom actually hates Christmas, it is her biggest time of stress. However, the tree brings her a lot of joy in that stress. As soon as the turkey runs out after thanksgiving, the tree comes out. I’ve always been the decorator with her, though now she doesn’t move the ornaments when I, “put it in the wrong spot; sorry not sorry.” We have never had a real tree, especially since I am allergic to them. Our original tree that we have had since 2004 was recently cast to the curb and I got to help find the new one and I have to say, I can not wait to decorate it this year. My mom told me that when it comes to decorating, “ the tradition for us comes from your dad and I wanting a creative outlet for you and your brother growing up to keep the Christmas spirit alive. Now, it is a way I get to stay close to you by allowing us time to do something we love, together.” This is all about family bonding and is my favorite tradition of all time.

Discussion of Outer Group Tradition

I found a lot of information regarding traditions around the world.  I was fascinated by a tale from Iceland about the Yule Lads or 13 Gnomes (Sheposh, 2024). They leave thirteen gifts leading up to Christmas Eve, which is clearly like a pre-Santa figure that parents in Iceland use to keep excitement up in the children. I found another source that talks about a pie tradition and how after a round of board games they sit down and always have a second serving of apple pie and talk to bring the family together (Grow, 2010). Another article talks about Santa coming to their house and telling him what they want. Regardless of what they wanted he would still give them an orange, a candy cane, and a small random gift (Hepner, 2018). They then discussed how they always liked the fruit more and that once they learned that Santa wasn’t real, they would get bowls of fruit instead of candy. They appreciated the fruit continuation because it showed their family always cared about what they liked and took notice of what they appreciated from house Santa years prior. I realized through this research that most people value their traditions because it was a way their loved ones could show unequivocally that they care. Traditions also don’t typically break the bank which is why they are so easy to carry down for most families. Recipes join generations together, traditions uphold spirit and bring together those who aren’t around eachother often. This is why they have families in a chokehold for so many decades in most cases and why new parents yearn to make new ones for their children.

Conclusion

Christmas is a time for love, warmth, and togetherness. It is a time to show the younger generations what Christmas spirit is all about and a time to show our matriarchs and patriarchs that we still care about what they have built. For my family that is done through food, trees, and ice skating. For others it is about Santa, Yule Lads, and board games with a side of apple pie. Regardless of what the recipe is or the extent of time the tradition has been upheld, the fact is that they bring everyone together, at least once a year to participate in a beautiful holiday with the ones you love while appreciating your own special slice of history.

  

Citations

Beitin, Ben K., and Mireille Aprahamian. “Family Values and Traditions.” SpringerLink, Springer US, 1 Jan. 1970, link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4614-8238-3_4. 

Grow, Christin. “Family Recipe.” Seton Hall University eRepository @ Seton Hall, Seton Hall University, 2010, scholarship.shu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1634&context=dissertations.

Hepner, Shayna. “Christmas Traditions.” DigitalCommons@USU, 2018, digitalcommons.usu.edu/student_folklore_all/349/. 

Klassen, Pamela E., and Monique Scheer. “1 the Difference That Christmas Makes: Thoughts on Christian Affordances in Multicultural Societies.” De Gruyter, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 15 June 2019, www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780773557956-003/pdf?licenseType=restricted. 

Sheposh, Richard. “Christmas Traditions around the World: EBSCO.” EBSCO Information Services, Inc. | Www.Ebsco.Com, 2024, www.ebsco.com/research-starters/religion-and-philosophy/christmas-traditions-around-world.