WAITING FOR CHRISTMAS . . .

“It’s a great treat to be at home and to have had Christmas here. . .  Thursday a.m. we pulled down the blinds and had the tree. It was piled full at the foot, besides the table. A huge Christmas was had by all. Myrtle Dobson, Christmas 1933

As we await the arrival of Hallie and Nick today, December 27, I thought of the Dobson Christmas of 1933, when my dad was supposed to join the family for Christmas but didn't. There was a storm that year, with lots of precipitation down the west coast into California. Evidently my dad decided the weather was too bad for travel and gave up the trip to spend the holiday with friends in Seattle. His sister, Myrtle (quoted above) came by train from Portland without much difficulty. The problem was that my dad didn't send word that he had changed his plans -- if indeed he had ever really planned to come -- and that was regrettable, of course. 

Anyway, they held the "tree" for him for several days, finally determined he wasn't coming, and went ahead to open their gifts a day or two after Christmas. I thought of this particular correspondence because by pre-arrangement we are holding our "tree." The new tradition is "flexibility." Nick and Hallie are on their way -- woo-hoo! -- and we anticipate no travel difficulties today.

I spent Christmas Day afternoon making sacks for gifts out of holiday fabrics. This past year I gave away all but a few rolls of my large, slowly-dwindling stash of holiday wrapping paper, and now I stash fabric instead -- much more satisfactory and better use of storage space. But -- I was still slow to get started with the holiday bag production. It feels good to have made some progress. 

Here's Vance's recipe for shrimp aspic which he always made for the Christmas Eve buffet. He wrote the recipe on the back of a piano recital program from Tuesday, April 15, 1958. We always used the left-over recital programs for scratch paper. Because this piece of paper is well-worn, I am confident this is the recipe he used.

SHRIMP ASPIC

1 tbsp gelatin softened in 1/2 cup cold water

Bring to a boil 3/4 cup of water and 1 tbsp of lemon juice

Dissolve gelatin in hot mixture.

When cool add 3/4 cup of cocktail sauce.

Add a little red coloring, 1 tbsp of finely chopped onion, 2 tbsps of finely chopped celery, 2 tbsps of finely chopped green pepper and ditto chopped dill pickle. Add 2 tsps sugar.

Layer gelatin mixture with 2 cans of shrimp or crab meat and 4 of 5 hard-boiled eggs coarsely chopped.

Mother had a set of molds that hung on the wall in the kitchen, and Daddy set the aspic in one of the molds -- the fish, I think. Sometimes it unmolded beautifully, sometimes it didn't. Oh well.

Hmmmm. I don't know if I want to try this recipe or not. I'm not sure about that dill pickle thing . . . The shrimp aspic was popular with the family, though, and many still make it. KW

I WISHED FOR DICKENS . . .

The shops were beautiful with all sorts of gay and clever Christmas displays. The markets were a dream of luscious foods, and I wished for Dickens to describe them for me; turkeys, geese, ducks, fat chickens, beef roasts and cuts of all kinds, hams, bacon, pork roasts and chops, cranberries as big as cherries, bags and baskets of nuts (the biggest walnuts and filberts I ever saw), jars of mincemeat, pies, cakes, and cookies of every sort, baskets filled with the finest fruits, and all wrapped in colored cellophane. I kept falling behind to admire things, while Lynn [Ina's daughter Myrtle] went blithely on her way among the happy people. We got a small young chicken, ripe olives, cranberries, huge filberts, and some holly sprigs to make it complete; all this to be added to our supplies at home. About noon we went into Mannings (tea and coffee importers) who have a fine lunch room and serve their famous coffee. We had Scotch scones and coffee at a little table and rested. Got home about 3:30, tired and happy. I had captured the Christmas spirit which had eluded me for some time past. Ina in Portland, Christmas 1946

I'm not sure Ina needed Dickens to help her. I can picture the holiday scene quite well on what she says. The card shown here was given to Ina by Myrtle the year prior -- Christmas 1945.
Hallie and I were visiting about traditional holiday reunions and how that happens for some families and not for others. Our family seems to have moved on from that experience. The branches of my extended family now celebrate in their various homes, and when it comes to us, just Hallie and Nick join us annually. But, I tell her, if you did want to do something else at Christmas, I would want you to do it and I wouldn't want you to be afraid to tell me. Then she said in substance, as I recall: I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but I don't do it for you. I do it for me. That was exactly the right answer, and I give that same reply to those who have expressed appreciation for my advent project here at the "Homestead": It warms my heart that you came and enjoyed, and I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but I did it for myself. The bonus was that you came to visit and shared your thoughts.
And the project isn't over. I'm just not finished – that's all there is to it. Though Christmas 2010 has officially passed, we still have ours to celebrate in giving and receiving, playing board games, sharing favorite foods, and planning for next year. I like to get ready for Christmas – and getting ready happens all through the year.
I know my mother reviewed our Christmas celebration and made plans for the coming year, and I found evidence that Ina, too, was planning. Check out this recipe for date cake at the bottom of which she notes, "This for next year."

DATE & NUT CAKE

1 lb. dates cut in pieces

1 lb. walnuts, cut

1 lb. sugar [?]

2 eggs beaten

1 cup flour

salt

vanilla

Mix together. This is quite stiff but o.k.

This for next Christmas.

I think that one pound sugar should be one cup, don't you? Obviously she wrote it in haste. If you want to make date & nut cake, you can probably find a better recipe. KW

A BLESSED CHRISTMAS TO ALL

 

[A Hallmark card from open stock, c. 1970]

PUTTIN' THE PARTY TOGETHER

Aunt [Bertha, Ina’s sister] helped me out by dressing a fat young rooster and bringing it ready for the roaster. She also insisted on making pies since I had my hands full – mince and pumpkin. One of each would be plenty, I said, but no – here came two each and ginger cookies frosted. She’d tried a new recipe. So we had mince and pumpkin pie with whipped cream on it, ginger cookies, fruit cake and do-nuts, and fruit and whipped cream for that, coffee, oranges, nuts and candy besides the after dinner mints. Well, we just parceled out the leftovers. Mr. Boehm got half of each kind of pie. I believe Mrs. Cordell got a whole pie, some donuts, cookies, and buns. Mr. Boehm also got some of each. Bertha got the remains of the roast, buns and donuts, and this is how we do. It was a good day. Ina Dobson on Christmas 1935

You know, when it came to December 23, my mother would pull an "all-nighter" in order to be ready for the Christmas Eve party. One year I stayed up and helped her. Something inside me said, "It isn't worth this," and to me, it isn't. But if people are coming to your house, you must be ready for them -- with food, gifts, accommodations.

One day as I pondered my mother's ability to pull together this event, I realized she had a lot of help. My dad could be trusted to do something beautiful outside. Nina helped with the baking. Harriet and her husband would arrive early with a cheese ball and help with last-minute details. Joni was a great Santa helper.

CHEESE BALL (Harriet's recipe)
1 jar Roka Blu Kraft spread
1 jar Old English Kraft spread
12-16 ozs. cream cheese
Cheeses should be a room temperature. Blend with spatula or wooden spoon. Chill. Form in one large or two small balls. Roll in chopped nuts. (Substitute any cheese spreads.) As I recall, Harriet often rolled the balls in crushed cereal rather than nuts.


The card here was sent to Ina by Naomi Stinson Long, my maternal great-great-aunt. Yes, she was my Grandmother Nina Portfors' aunt. And she's the lady that insisted on dressing my rag doll, Mopsy. Yes -- all these people knew one another. KW

PRALINES

I think the best time I ever had working for that especial time was that very first Christmas “on the hill” [Gilbert / Russell Ridge] when those little evergreens inspired me to attempt another something out of nothing and I enlisted Mabel’s interests and we put in all those long, long afternoons and evenings that otherwise would have hung heavy on our hands into doing things for the little folks and you remember how it surprised you when we had come and gone -- tramping thro the snow. Jack had you light the lamp again and together you inspected our handiwork. I think there were some funny-shaped eats in there, too, weren’t there? Well, anyway, it pleased everyone and the way you four Dobsons looked when we presented our trees was pay in plenty. Ida Jane Dickson Patchen on Christmas 1896, written March 5, 1922

PRALINES (Vance's recipe)

Servings: 20

Source of recipe: several

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar packed

3/4 cup medium heavy cream

2 tbsp. butter

1 tbsp. water

1/4 cup white Karo

1 tsp. vanilla

Dash salt

1 cup pecan halves

Combine sugars, cream, syrup, water, butter and salt. Cook over medium to low heat to 235. Stir frequently with wooden spoon. Remove from heat, add vanilla and cool for 10 minutes. Stir candy briefly and add pecans. Continue to stir but stop before candy loses gloss. This is very iffy. I guess practice makes perfect. -- Dobson. Try using muffin tins and put pecans in first, then spoon candy over. Grease foil or tins with butter.

This recipe is an example of my dad's experimentation. He started altering amounts and methods before he even tried the original. If you want to make pralines, I recommend that you find a recipe in a good cookbook or on trusted website and go from there.

 

The card here is special to me because it was sent to my dad by my maternal grandmother. This was Christmas 1946. My parents were married before Christmas 1947.

THE FORD FAMILY OF FINE . . . RECIPES

As we became teen-agers, we took an active part in Christmas. My brother and I went out on the hill and brought home a tree. I helped decorate it and we began putting it in a day or two ahead of Christmas Eve. Dorothy Portfors Dobson, c. 1990

My maternal grandfather was in the right place at the right time when he entered a partnership to operate a Ford garage. And when he retired, my uncle and partners continued the business. So, the car my parents drove was always a Ford. I considered myself a member in good standing of "The Ford Family" until I married Mike, who loves Mopars. But let's not digress here.

There was a little magazine for Ford owners called "Ford Times," and my parents had a subscription compliments of Portfors-Johnson Ford. I also remember that it was a pretty good little magazine and my parents read it. The articles were interesting, and each magazine had several recipes from a renowned eating establishment somewhere along the highways of the world. According to Wikipedia, Ford Times was published continually on a monthly basis from April 1908 to 1996.

Mother found her recipe for Praline Ice Cream Pie in a Ford Times magazine and it became a traditional Christmas dessert at our Christmas Eve buffet.Oh yes! We had dessert. Did you think the goodie buffet would be enough for dessert? No, following a buffet of sliced turkey and ham, dressing, rolls, and various salads and side dishes, we had dessert -- usually a variety of pies -- followed by the goodie buffet of holiday cookies, candies, and fruitcake.

PRALINE ICE CREAM PIE
Heat 1/2 cup brown sugar until it reaches the point where it begins to turn brown (darker). Mix with 1/2 cup whipping cream and 1 oz. melted butter. Add 4 oz. (1/2 cup) crushed pecans and 2 tsps. vanilla. In a separate bowl whip 1 1/2 qts. of vanilla ice cream and then mix until well blended with the brown sugar mixture (praline). Place in a deep 9-inch baked pie shell and top with meringue. Brown quickly under broiler.

Mother decided the ice cream pie was just fine without the meringue and didn't bother with it.
 
Here's a card that speaks to an understated Christmas. The warmth of the scene is completely natural -- the snow, the light from the house, the open door. It could almost be a winter note card rather than a Christmas card. Inside the card is unusual, too, with the printed greeting on the left and the plain page on the right. I don't believe I've ever seen that before. KW

DONUTS

Well, to continue and go on, after one late dinner I made donuts for I must have fresh donuts for Christmas, and you know “do-nuts and coffee never hurt anyone.” Ina Dobson on Christmas 1934


She must have donuts for Christmas, says Ina. But I couldn't find her recipe, so while at the farm I went through her recipe box and came up with two. 

RAISED DOUGHNUTS
1 cup yeast mixture
1/2 cup hot water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter (ample)
2 eggs
cinnamon
Don't mix as stiff as bread but let rise just the same as bread. Raise once, knead down, raise again, cut and let them raise amply twice their size. Put upper side down to cook first.


DOUGHNUTS (written in Drain, Oregon, on March 2, 1951, while Ina was visiting relatives)
1 cup sugar
butter the size of a walnut
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sweet milk
2 eggs
4 cups flour
3 heaping tsps baking powder
Flavor to taste.
And -- that's all she wrote.


I have a faint memory of my parents making doughnuts in a deep fryer when I was a very little girl. I can even remember how the doughnuts tasted. But they gave it up early and I don't know why, except for all the reasons we know: fried foods aren't good for you; the aroma lingers in your house and becomes stale; frying leaves a residue on the walls that eventually becomes dinginess. I think all of that is reason enough not to fry. It seems like Mother said the fat has to be really hot or it absorbs into the dough, and I think that's why my parents quit using their deep fat fryer.

I also reviewed my maternal grandmother's recipe boxes and found recipes for doughnuts. I mentioned to Mike that back in the day, people must have made doughnuts. He agreed, saying that he remembered his mother making doughnuts occasionally when he was very young.

I recall that Ina sent doughnuts to Vance at Christmas when he was in basic training. To tell you the truth, I couldn't imagine that they were good. Doughnuts must be fresh. 

Sorry -- I couldn't find a single Currier and Ives print amongst the collection. The candles continue. KW

DELUXE SUGAR COOKIES

“Your holly and candles were a treat and have served more than once. I have about half of the candles left on the mantel. They are such a pretty red. You do think of the nicest things! I suppose that is what is called ‘having an imagination.’ Well, thanks a lot for everything – the card with its message was doubly appreciated. Ina Dobson to her son, Vance, at Christmas 1935

Frosted sugar or ginger cookies are my favorite traditional Christmas cookie. I always thought I would eventually grow up and Swedish spritz would be my favorite, but no, I still like frosted shapes. I've sought long and hard for the ultimate frosted sugar cookie recipe. Maybe you have a favorite sugar cookie recipe in your files that you would share with me.


Here's the recipe my half-sister, Joni, used to bring it to Christmas baking sessions. You can find it in Betty Crocker's Cookbook, 1969.

DELUXE SUGAR COOKIES
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
Mixed thoroughly butter, confectioners' sugar, egg, vanilla, and almond extract. Blend in flour, soda, and cream of tartar. Cover. Chill 2-3 hours.
Heat oven to 375. Divide dough in half. Roll each half 3/16" thick on lightly floured cloth-covered board. Cut into shapes. Decorate with colored sugar (or frost after baking). Place on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake 7-8 minutes or until lightly brown on edges.

I like to frost my cut-out cookies and decorate simply with red hots, colored sugar, and marshmallows. But Mother and Nina piped the frosting onto the cookies. They spent hours working over those cookies, and they were charming. Well, you know how I feel about all that fuss over something that's gone in two or three bites, but they took a lot of pride in it. KW

SWEDISH TEA RINGS

We used the holly and silvered sprays in the decorations. The holly makes the very prettiest I think. We used the silvered bull [pine] sprigs of last year again as a centerpiece and the candles. They are so festive; we burned them all evening. We used up one pair of white ones and part of one short pair of red ones and greatly diminished the tall red ones. Ralph remembered how last Xmas you had said to light the candles to eat by and thus you’d be blessing us as we dined. After the dinner Shirley reduced the table to a round, removed the decorations, added candy, nuts, and fruit and fresh candles. Ina Dobson on Christmas 1937

My Grandfather Portfors, my mother's father, was a Swede. He immigrated to the United States at the age of 16 in 1891. But we know nothing about our Swedish heritage. Grandpa's goal was to assimilate the American culture as quickly as possible. He wanted to be American, not Swedish. With the exception of a few childhood anecdotes, we know nothing about his life in Sweden. If Mother had a burning interest in Swedish traditional foods -- you know, like Swedish spritz and Swedish tea rings, she didn't say so in my hearing. I think they were just the popular traditions of the era.

One day early in December, Mother would make her Swedish tea rings for Christmas morning. There would be two of them -- one was cinnamon raisin and the other holiday fruit. She baked and then froze them for warming Christmas morning. 

 

I found an old recipe card for Swedish tea rings in handwriting I don't recognize. I also found recipes in Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book and Meta Givens' Encyclopedia of Cooking. I decided not to post such an involved recipe. We're all busy in real time, right?

Oh -- and on Christmas morning my mother set out her tea rings for early risers, but my dad served biscuits, eggs and bacon.

The card: Candle centerpieces were apparently a popular card theme. Are candles still important? KW

DIVINITY

Oh, yes, I, too, read A Christmas Carol. It was reprinted in Coronet magazine and I found I had forgotten most of it. Vance Dobson, December 27, 1942

I've written about divinity before and was going to omit it from this series, but divinity was as important to my mother as -- well, as all the other traditional goodies. She loved to make it as much as she loved to eat it. 

 NINA'S DIVINITY RECIPE (double batch)

4 medium egg whites

4 cups sugar

1 cup corn syrup

3/4 cup water

2 tsp vanilla

Blend in saucepan sugar, corn syrup, water. Cover and cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil, then cook to 255 on candy thermometer. In the meantime, beat egg whites until stiff. Pour hot syrup in fine stream into egg whites while continuing to beat. Add vanilla. When mixture becomes too heavy for beaters, stir with a wooden spoon until it loses its gloss and begins to set. Working quickly, drop divinity onto waxed paper by teaspoonfuls.

Mother was a practiced divinity-maker, but someplace along the line -- about 1960 -- she lost the knack. The divinity failed to set in lovely little mounds, spreading into flat circles. It was Nina who said, "Mother! Look at your eggs. They're huge! That's what's wrong with your divinity." And it was true. The folks had changed "egg ladies" and the eggs were suddenly much larger. And that just illustrates why old recipes sometimes don't work for us. Ingredients can change over time. 

A little foil edging sets off this old Christmas card. KW

FRUIT SALAD

Well, I’m so bedeviled and bemused with everything around here that this evening I trimmed the Aladdin lamp on the library table [in the living room], then finding no matches on the mantel went to the kitchen, took one, lit it, and carried it carefully back to the living room. When I came to, I was so tickled over my own foolishness that I nearly blew out the lamp. I was laughing and I get silly every time I think of it. I mean all this Xmas packing, sorting, carding, lettering, mailing, etc., etc. Ina Dobson, 12-19-35

I thought maybe we could use a break from all the super sweet stuff. Here's the recipe for "Joni's Fruit Salad," which she brought to the Christmas Eve Buffet for many years.

JONI'S FRUIT SALAD

pineapple chunks

bananas

strawberries (fresh), optional

mandarin oranges

Drain pineapple and mandarin oranges. To the juice, add 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup water, 1 beaten egg, and 1 T cornstarch. Cook 'til thickened. Add 1 Tbsp butter. Cool before dressing the fruit.

Mother loved fruit salad, but it bothered her that this dressing contained an egg. So, she developed the following fruit salad dressing:

DOROTHY'S FRUIT SALAD DRESSING

1/2 cup sugar

1 T cornstarch (or 2 T flour)

1 T butter

1 1/2 T lemon juice

3/4 cup pineapple juice (boiling)

Mix sugar and cornstarch. Add juice gradually, stirring constantly. Boil slowly 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add butter.

Here's another unsigned, probably un-used Christmas card from my dad's box. I think back in the day cards were more readily available in assortments. Sending cards was a thoughtful process of choosing the right card for the right people. KW

VANILLA FUDGE

The moon was shining in brightly and lighting the tree and everything else in sight. Ina Dobson on Christmas Eve, 1932

Of all the considerable goodies my parents prepared for the holidays, my favorite was "vanilla fudge," but I can't find the recipe. Someplace along the line, Daddy quit making it. I don't remember any discussion about it, and obviously I never asked him.

But yesterday -- after all these years of searching and thinking -- it suddenly occurred to me that maybe the vanilla fudge was just the chocolate fudge without the chocolate. That might explain why Mother omitted the chocolate on one of the recipe cards. Daddy later wrote in "2 sq. chocolate."


What do you think? Would I dare invest the time and ingredients to test this theory? I remember that the method was the same -- the stirring, the kneading, the rolling of the fudge into two logs, which he then sliced.

Both Mother and Daddy were recipe clippers. For many years my dad didn't have a recipe box of his own. He relied on Mother to save clippings or write out recipes and file them. I remember when she gifted him with his own recipe box -- probably in the '70s. When our son Clint left home and began asking for recipes, I removed the contents of Daddy's recipe box and gave it to him.

I like this red Christmas card, and the scan is as interesting as the actual card. The card takes on different characteristics as it's moved in the light, and I get somewhat the same effect with the monitor. As you can see, the card was sent by Mr. and Mrs. Charles McCoy. Charlie grew up in Little Canyon below our homestead and was a childhood friend of my dad and his siblings. Leah will recognize his name from her genealogy research. Her grandfather was married to Charlie's mother.  KW