Day 6 of the CCCBH

Wow!  What a day yesterday.  Thanks to everyone for stopping by and taking the time to leave such nice comments.  I’m glad to hear that everyone is enjoying the blog hop, the fun projects, and our different themes everyday.

Today’s theme is Family Traditions.

Our family doesn’t have many specific family traditions.

For example,we don’t have a set day that we get together and open presents (we just squeeze it around all the other holiday celebrations)

Sometime we do a Christmas cookie bake day, sometimes we don’t.

On one side of the family we draw names, the other side we don’t.

We always have a tree, but don’t usually have a Santa.

So, I don’t really have a heart warming family tradition story to share. . . . .

However, I did want to share something that we have been doing the last few years that might turn into a family tradition.  All of our family gatherings seem to always revolve around a meal.  The holidays are so busy with get-togethers, that you actually get a little tired of all the meat and potato type meals.  To add a little variety to the Christmas meals, my immediate family decided to start doing a Christmas brunch.  We get together at 10:00 a.m. and have breakfast type foods, then open presents and hang out together for the rest of the day.  It’s fun because nobody else serves caramel rolls or waffles for their Christmas dinner and it’s something fun and different.

I thought I would share a couple of our family favorites for Christmas Brunch, just to give you an idea of what our brunch is like –

#1 – There must be caramel rolls.

My husband’s favorite caramel recipe is one his mother uses that has marshmallows in it.  They keeps the caramel from getting too hard.  It’s very simple:

1 stick of butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup whipping cream

1 cup mini marshmallows

Bring to a boil and simmer 5 minutes.  Let cool before adding the caramel rolls.

My MIL makes the caramel rolls and freezes them.  Then the night before she needs them, she makes the caramel, puts it in a 9 x 13 pan, adds 12 frozen caramel rolls, and leaves them out on the counter all night to rise.  The next morning you bake them.  It’s a great way to have fresh caramel rolls without having to get up at 5:00 am on Christmas morning.

#2 – There must be homemade waffles and syrup.

Our favorite waffle recipe:

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp soda

6 Tbsp melted butter

Beat everything together and cook 2 minutes in waffle iron.

We top the waffles with whipped cream, peach pie filling with 1 tsp almond flavoring and my husband’s homemade syrup.  He brought the recipe home from school in 4th grade, and his family has been making it ever since.

Joey’s recipe for syrup:

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup water

3/4 cups corn syrup

Bring to a boil and add 1/2 tsp maple flavoring.

#3 – There must be something with fruit

My favorite hot fruit recipe

1 – 16 oz can of pear halves, peach halves, apricot halves, and bing cherries

1 – 20 oz can pineapple chunks

1 – 11 oz can of mandarin oranges

1/3 cup melted butter

1/2 cup light brown sugar

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 cup slivered almonds

Drain fruit well and layer in a greased 9 x 13 pan.  Stir brown sugar and spice into melted butter.  Pour mixture over fruit and sprinkle with almonds.  Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

To make the fruit extra special, we top it with this:

1 – 8 oz cream cheese, softened

1 pt whipping cream

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp almond extract

1 tsp orange rind

1/8 tsp nutmeg

Whip together and serve on top of warm fruit.

I’m looking forward to Christmas brunch already!

It seems every family get together has food involved.  Are other families like that, or is it just us?

I’m also looking forward to what our featured designer will be sharing with us today.  Head over to the Pam Kitty Morning blog for a special project and be sure to leave a comment to be eligible for the grand prize!

You can check out the family traditions of the other blog hop designers by clicking on any of the links below:  Gudrun from GE Designs,  Sandy from Pieces from my Heart,  Terry from Atkinson Designs,  Pat from Pat Sloan and Co,  Pam from Pam Kitty Morning,  Kari from New Leaf Stitches,  Terri from Whimsicals,  Sherri from This and That Pattern Co,   Carrie from Miss Rosie’s Quilt Co,  Roseann from Rosebud’s Cottage and  Linda Lum DeBono