Precious Time with Family Members

Aunt Liz was our "consultant" since she has been making the plum pudding since 1960

Nancy and Diane sporting the "required" head gear

Janet was very unhappy with wearing this!

Nancy being instructed by Aunt Liz in filling the pudding mold

Aunt Liz and Cousin Diane

Cousins Pat and Diane admiring the ornaments

Aunt Liz relating the giver the this ornament - Tony Dadey

L to R: Standing - Diane, Nancy, Janet; Seated: yours truly, Pat, Aunt Liz

Delicious dessert: Plum Pudding and Vanilla Sauce!

Pat, happily decorating her snowman

Our finished project

Cookie Exchange

Donning our "Holiday Specs"

Burgers and fries at Convention Grill - one of my favorite restaurants

Burgers on the grill

Nancy

Saturday Cousin Diane, Janet, Cousin Pat and my friend, Nancy, gathered at Aunt Liz's with several things on the agenda. The first item was to make 4 batches of English Plum Pudding, using my great-grandmother's recipe, which is over 100 years old. Pat, a retired school teacher, took charge of giving us assignments in making the pudding. My assignments were to assemble the utensils and measure all of the dry ingredients, plus grease the plum pudding pans - 6 in all. Once the batches were mixed, they were put on the stove in roaster pans filled with water and set to steaming for 4 hours.

After a little coffee break, we moved to the living room to decorate Aunt Liz's tree. Traditionally, the first item on her memory Christmas tree is a pair of booties that Wayne, her first-born, now deceased, wore. Following that are Pat's baby mittens. There were ornaments from Aunt Ginny, Tiny, Gemma, a pipe that had belonged to Uncle Vic, pictures of some of the grandkids and great grandkids, and many more. There must have been 50 or more ornaments - each bringing back pleasant times.

Lunch time came next. Each of us brought part of the meal, and it was delicious - including a plum pudding for dessert. Yum!

After cleaning everything up from lunch, we set up the dining room table to make our craft - a snowman for each of us. It was fun to see how each snowman took on a personality.

Finally, we had our cookie exchange: each person brought a dozen cookies for everyone. These cookie packages covered the entire dining room table.

We all agree that this was a very fun event and possibly the start of a new tradition!

While driving home, Nancy and I were hungry for something "solid," so we stopped in at Convention Grill in Edina for burgers and fries. Delicious!