Holiday traditions you’ve brought back from your trips

Panettone at Christmas and Colomba at Easter after living in Italy (thanks to my local Italian import shop). 😀

No need to order mincemeat from the UK, I've been using Delia Smith's recipe for some time now and it's far better than what you can buy in the shops.

https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/books/delias-happy-christmas/home-made-christmas-mincemeat

Last Christmas we went back to England for a few days and took some traditional Spanish Christmas polvorones with us. I would best describe the reaction of those who tried them as "politely unenthusiastic" . This year we're staying in Spain and my wife made the Christmas Cake weeks ago and has been lavishly feeding it since; it'll be interesting to see our Spanish neighbours reactions especially when told to eat it with cheese. Some traditions don't travel well, I suspect.

I brought back little silver clip on candle holders but couldn’t actually bring myself to attaching lit candles to the tree like I’d seen families in Germany do. We clip a lit candle and holder to our plates on Christmas Eve for a festive Christmas sparkle. So far, no table cloth disasters. We’ve been doing this since the 90s.

We tried the Christmas crackers and decided it was too messy for us. We do have a German Christmas pickle. Its a pickle-shaped ornament you hide on the tree. On Christmas Eve, the first child who finds the pickle gets an extra present. We heard about this from German friends here, and got one while in Germany. You can get them here too, if you look for them. Not sure its a universal custom - maybe northern Germany?

Mona- Your candle story reminds me of my dad’s childhood memories. His family originated from Bohemia/Germany and his parents always bought a tree on Christmas Eve and would close the door while they decorated it. In the early evening my grandpa would ring a bell and only then could the children come in and see the tree.

All of my great grandparents used candles on their trees up until the 1960s. The trick was to buy the tree as late as possible so it wouldn’t dry out. Unfortunately today, by the week before Christmas most trees are sold out.

Nick's story reminds me of when I first moved to Switzerland.
Some colleagues in the office (also English) had been sent a Christmas Cake by their parents. They bought some into the office to share.
One of the Swiss colleagues asked whether it was OK, would it not have gone bad in the time it took to sent it to Switzerland? The reply was no, you traditionally make Christmas Cake in September, and feed it alcohol slowly up until you eat it at Christmas.
You could feel him mentally take a step back, he clearly did not like the idea of 3 month old cake.
And the cake owner said "and in northern England you eat it with cheese". Relief and smiles, this was clearly the famous English sense of humour.
They were all happy eating it, until someone actually bought out some cheese to eat with the cake.

I learned that the phrase "funny foreign food" can also apply to what you grew up with.

And Chris’ story reminded me of a missing Dresdener stollen sent to us one year by some friends in Berlin. When the holidays had passed and the missing cake hadn’t shown up we at some point needed to tell the sender that alas, her gift hadn’t arrived. She said not to worry because ”stollen were meant to last from Christmas to Easter so just give it a bit more time”. Sure enough the stollen eventually arrived, about a month and a half after she mailed it. I won’t comment on it’s texture.

Stollen is easy to make - I did so for many years. I, unlike many, am fond of fruitcake. The recipe I use can be found as "stollen london hotel" - link http://allrecipes.com.au/recipe/9358/stollen--german-christmas-bread.aspx

One tradition that we have adopted, not a holiday one, is ayvar from the Balkans. It is a roasted pepper-eggplant spread, which is common in all FRY (Former Republic Yugoslavia) countries. It's great. It can be either spicy or not.

Lebkuchen! During our Christmas markets river cruise a couple of years ago, my daughter and I tasted them at the famous Confiserie Simon in Passau and liked them so much we bought quite a few bags to bring home. Since then I've added them to my Christmas baking repertoire. I know I can never replicate exactly the ones we had at Simon, but after trying several recipes I think I've found one that comes quite close.

Maybe not technically a holiday tradition, but I cherish the Christmas ornaments that I bought in the Kensington Palace gift shop. Better quality and selection than at Harrods - much to my surprise.

I now celebrate Christmas on Jan 6, like in Spain. Not really, try selling that one to the family. I would totally do it though, imagine buying all presents after Christmas! ;-)

The last several years, our tree has had a travel/international ornaments, including a glass passport.

Because we are a dual national family, we do celebrate the Epiphany with the Galette des Rois, as described in this NY Times recipe. https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019114-galette-des-rois. Sometimes I make it, sometimes a French pastry chef has arrived on the scene, or Paul in downtown DC.

One addition to the Times: as I cut the galette, the youngest child is under the table dictating who gets which slice. The person who finds (bites into) the hidden trinket in their slice is declared king or queen and chooses a consort. We lift glasses of wine or cider and drink to the health of the royal couple. Everyone keeps their heads in this French royal family. This year the four year old will crawl under the table and the 30 year old is finally able to relinguish his duty.

A little background: originally a bean, a fertility symbol and hope for springtime, was baked into the galette, for this post-solstice ritual. Today we have all kinds of cute plastic shapes.

Bets, you brought back happy memories of my childhood and our yearly Galette des Rois... : )

Nuremberg wurst, Gluhwein, Pffernusse, Asbach. I don't do a tree anymore, but have a bowl full of the ornaments I've picked up over the years. I like to sit and remember each trip, and the how and whys they came to be on the table. There's always a Poinsettia to remind me of the one my grandfather grew in southern California. Lights on the house to remind me of hanging them with my dad. Stollen for breakfast Christmas day to remind me of my great grandparents. So many memories...