Thoughts on Christmas, Food and Legacy

Thank you to Pillsbury for sponsoring this post.

For my family, this Christmas will include a lot of remembrance of those lost. My dear grandmother passed away last November, just a month before Christmas. With my surgery just two weeks after my grandmother’s passing, my recovery distracted me from mourning perhaps in the same way I would have otherwise. My Uncle Jim passed away just 6 months later.

This Christmas I am feeling the weight of both of them not being here. When we celebrate Christmas with my Dad’s side of the family this week (we are headed to Wisconsin for an early holiday), I know we will feel their absence.

As I think back to Christmases gone by, food makes me very nostalgic. My grandma was an amazing baker. She taught college home economics in the 40s and 50s and was the embodiment of June Cleaver. The holidays were filled with many homemade treats like sugar cookies, butter horns and William’s tea cakes.

I loved everything she made, but especially the William’s Tea Cakes. A super simple recipe that only requires crescent rolls, cream cheese, cinnamon, sugar and an egg, I remember my grandmother and mother making these often. My grandmother called them William’s Tea Cakes after my papa, Bill. After doing a little research on Pillsbury.com, I found almost the exact recipe.

This past weekend I decided to make them with Adeline and Ezra. I called my mom to make sure I had it right. We then put on our Christmas aprons and got to work.