Tradition

I am fascinated by holiday traditions. This year, I enjoyed reading about my friends' Christmas traditions as they posted on facebook. One family hops in the car on Christmas Eve in their jammies and goes out to look at Christmas lights. Another family reads by candlelight the story of Jesus' birth. Some families open one present the night before Christmas. Others get new Christmas pajamas.

For as long as I can remember, my mom has served the same Christmas breakfast. I think she learned the recipe from a high school Home Ec teacher. On Christmas Eve, she prepares a Pillsbury hot roll mix and lets the dough rise. Instead of shaping it into hot rolls, she rolls it out with butter, cinnamon, sugar, and pecans and fashions it into the shape of a Christmas tree. She bakes it that night and leaves it for Christmas morning.

After all of the presents have been unwrapped, she quietly slips into the kitchen to reheat the tree, and she "decorates" it with green icing and sprinkles. In previous years, the tree has also contained raisins and been ornamented with candied cherries, but since most of us don't like either ingredient, they have been omitted. The tree is then served on Waechtersbach Christmas pottery with orange juice, coffee, or homemade hot chocolate. Leftovers don't usually survive to lunchtime.

Considering that some years she has made more than one cinnamon roll Christmas tree, I would guess that my mom has made well over 50 of them through the years. I have made a few of my own, too. I love sharing it with my coworkers and friends. And I plan to pass on this family tradition to my children.

My mom and the 2011 tree

2009 tree (We didn't have any candy sprinkles that year.)